In the Sun- Final Post

The last of my In the Sun pages, unless I find something I want to add. I didn't put as much effort into these as I did some of the earlier pages. I haven't really been feeling very creative lately. But I really have enjoyed the class.

I'm not sure what I will do with the rest of the book. There's probably twice as many blank pages as what I've used. Maybe I'll try to keep up the same sort of pages, through Fall and Winter. But I'm not great at coming up with what to write about. Oh well! I'll come up with something!

Summer Accomplishments

Sum it all up

What comes next?

In the Sun pages 42-44

In the Sun pages. I've gotten a bit behind. There are three more prompts; I just haven't been feeling very inspired this week.

I didn't really follow the prompt, but I had all these pictures of Annabelle. Once I read the prompt "dog days", this was all I could think.

This wasn't for one of the prompts; I just wanted to include it.

In the Sun pages 37-41

In the Sun pages for this week:

The cards at the bottom and the London at the top are from here. The rest is from some mail we got from the cable company.

I had a blank library card and pocket and I thought this would be a good use for it. I journaled on the card and put a brochure from the library program in the pocket as well.

My interpretation of the Hello August/ circle prompt

For the hottest day of the year prompt

This prompt was the music video Colours by GROUPLOVE

In the Sun 32-36

In the Sun pages for this week:

In the Sun 28-31

This week's In the Sun pages:

I'm not a fan of the background. Some of the mulberry paper I used was too dark. I'll probably try it again sometime.

The title looks better in person. It didn't photograph well.

I wanted to include the bands on these watches, but it just didn't look right, so I cut them out.

Security envelopes for a page about security.

The fifth prompt for the week was a craft prompt, which I didn't do, although I did find a project I want to do when I get the supplies. It's here. It's a tutorial for a faux braided bangle bracelet that looks really cute and simple to do. I don't have any bangles to use as I'm not a huge jewelry wearer but I think I'll try to make these sometime.

In the Sun 23-27

More In the Sun pages:

My weakness: I'm a hoarder-in-training.

It wasn't really a great day to do this prompt as it was quite a bit different than the rest of the summer. Also the photo was taken a few weeks before- I just really wanted to use it somewhere.

Our evening routine

If I spent all day in bed

Road Trip- Trust me on this, bring some quarters.

In the Sun 18-22

More In the Sun pages!

Page 18- Natalie had a project prompt for planning a summer party. I didn't make a Pintrest board, because I stay away from Pintrest unless I have several hours and I just didn't have the time today. The summer party I would like to have would be a backyard movie night- with popcorn and candy and sodas and s'mores. Too bad I don't have a backyard!

 

 Page 19- The Taste of Summer- I can't live without my Dr Pepper- no matter what time of year.

 

Page 20 & 21- Fireworks - I might journal on this later. The paper in my journal is very thin, only slightly thicker than newsprint, so I didn't really want to do too much paint splattering and accidentally mess up the whole book. What I did instead was use my watercolor crayons. I dipped them in water and shook them over the journal. That was kinda tiring, so I started just pressing the wet crayon lightly to the page. I like the look it gave me.

 

Page 22 - Treat Yo' Self- I have got to find ways to treat myself that don't involve food!

In the Sun pages 14-17

I really need to get my "real" camera out and get better pictures than my iPod takes. Most of these pages look a lot better in person. It's just so much easier to use the iPod.

For page 14, the prompt was "Perfect Summer Day". I didn't cut out the letters for the title like Natalie did; I just did not have that kind of patience at the time. 
 

 

Page 15: the prompt was Vacation House. I was actually looking for a picture of a cabin we rented several years ago, but I couldn't find it. This is just a random cabin from the internet. 

 

Page 16: the prompt was "active", which I am definitely not.

 

Page 17: Relax.To make the title, I used letter stickers as a mask on a bit of white cardstock, and sponged several shades of green rubber stamp ink over them.

In the Sun pages 12 & 13

Pages 12 & 13 in my In the Sun art journal were not done following one of Natalie's prompts.  I just had some stuff I wanted to include.  These pages have a more "scrapbook-ish" look to them than the rest of the journal, but I'm okay with that.  I'm mostly just trying to make sure that each set of facing pages look okay together.

I've been attending the library's summer reading program, and each of these pages documents one of the meetings so far. My parents are attending as well, so I was able to get some pictures of them to use on these pages.

On June 12th, we made handmade paper, which was cool because I've always wanted to try it, but it seemed like a huge mess and a lot of trouble to go to for me to do it probably only once.

 

One June 19th, we made quilted bookmarks.  I knew I would never use mine as a bookmark (I like my bookmarks to be flat so the book will close), so I decided to put it in the journal as well.  I wanted it to be removable, so it's just tucked under the label.  I'll probably take it out until I'm through with the journal so that the pages will lie flat while I'm working on them.  At that point, it may get permanently glued in, but I haven't decided yet. 

 

In the Sun pages 10 & 11

Yesterday's prompt was "Routine" and there was also a fun background technique that let me use some of my stash of washi tape.  I love washi tape, but since I don't have a lot of money to spend on art & craft supplies, I tend to use my tapes very sparingly.  So it was great to have an excuse to use them on this page.
You probably can't read it, but on the magazine page strips, I've written my basic daily routine.

 

For page 11, it wasn't really a prompt, but Natalie said something about doing an extra page about improving your schedule, and I really liked that idea.  To tie the two pages together, I used the same supplies. (More washi tape- yay!)

 

In the Sun pages 8 and 9

Page 8- Yesterday's prompt was about something you are at heart, something that will never change.  I decided to admit to my band geekery (geekishness?  I like geekery better!).

Can I just say that I love the fact that I am using my stash this summer!  I have had the trumpet and note die cuts I used on this page since I started scrapbooking fifteen years ago!  They've survived several stash purges and I am so glad I've finally found a place for them.  Of course there is more where they came from, but I have new hope that I will use them or find someone who will.  Anyway, here's the page:

Page 9- The prompt for today was the song and video of  "Holiday" by Vampire Weekend.  I'm pretty sure I've heard the song before, but it isn't one I'm real familiar with.  I do like the lyrics, especially the line " To go away on a summer's day never seemed so clear."

Since this page faces the previous one, I used some of the sheet music I used on yesterday's page to tie it together, and wrote out the lyrics.  I also wrote the line I particularly liked on a picture from a catalog that I thought went well with the song.

In the Sun page 7: At the end of the Summer...

I feel like I cheated a bit on this one, but I'm okay with that.  The main thing I want at the end of summer is lots and lots of photos.  So what I did was find a Summer Photo Checklist.  The one I used is from Simple As That and can be found here.  I printed it at 4x6, but it's normally a full sheet size.  I probably won't take most of the photos on the list, but I thought it represented what I want for the summer.

I didn't use the technique for the prompt, even though I like the idea. Maybe another time.

The label says:  "At the end of the summer... I want to be in the habit of taking photos every day."

In the Sun page 6

Today's prompt for In the Sun was "Today I Wish..." as well as a technique prompt for coloring image transfers with pastels.  The only thing I could think of for the Today I Wish... part was that I wished the migraine I've had for the past day would go away.  I didn't really think that would make for an interesting page, but I figured it would work.

I found an interesting picture in a magazine of a woman with her hand at (or near) her temple.  I decided to use this to try an image transfer.  I didn't have any gel medium, but I remembered reading somewhere that it could be done with Mod Podge.  What I actually used was Collage Pauge. I didn't want to do it directly into my journal due to the thinness of the pages, so I used a piece of white card stock.  I think it worked out okay.  There are places that I could have rubbed off more of the paper, but I decided to leave some of it.  I also tore around the picture while the card stock was wet to add to the distressed look.  After all that, I realized that there wasn't really anything I wanted to color, so I suppose I'll save that part of the prompt for another time.

The tag reads "Today, I wish this migraine would go away!" 

In the Sun summer art journal

This summer, I'm participating in Natalie Malik's  summer art journal class called In the Sun.  I read all the prompts from last summer, but I was a bit intimidated with the art journal thing at the time.

I'm really trying to use up some of my stash.  I have tons of paper scraps, ephemera, stickers, scrapbook paper, and various other crafty things.  My collection is almost out of control.  (I'm sure my husband would say it's very much past that point!) The notebook I am using has really thin paper, so I'm not using much paint, at least not directly into the book.

What I really want to get out of this class is to put more of myself into my pages.  To be honest, my art journal is more of a technique book than a journal.  I find it really difficult to write about myself.  I don't think my life is all that interesting, so it's hard for me to come up with something to write about.  I'm hoping that, with the prompts for the class, I will get used to including more "me" in my pages and be able to continue doing that after the class is over.

Here are my pages so far!