What to do with all the Art?

I do so much art and take part in all these swaps but I guess the ultimate question is what to do with it all. There is so much lovely stuff and I would like to display some of it but there is only so much space in the house and if I am to display it - How?
I have had in my mind for a while about making my own coffee table book with ATC's in it which would mean making the whole book myself and different pockets to display the ATC's - hopefully making pages in a theme to relate the the ATC's being displayed (I don't have a coffee table) but one of those kind of books people see and have a urge to flick through.
Apart from that I am unsure what to do with it all as well as the many postcards I have collected from penpals and such. I don't want to throw them away because that would be a waste but I don't think storing them forever is the way forward either! Hmmmmm

I did a journal page for the journals we are doing as an ATC group so that one is on its way to Belgium. I did take a picture but don't have my camera at work so will add the picture at a later date. The theme of the book was about the journey of life so I did a page with plants on it showing how we grow.

I am off to Paris tomorrow for a long weekend for a hen do and plan to take a small journal with me (yes I bought a moleskin) so it will be coming with me to capture any great moments or thoughts. My plan is glue, scissors and a couple of pens to keep me going. Don't want to be carrying too much stuff round!

Been quite a while since an update

and for that I apologise. I had intentions to add those pictures the next day and even started a post but never finished it or added the pictures, last week was a very busy week with work and I was travelling all week hence no update but I have done loads of artwork which I want to share with you guys.

Firstly to the buttons which you were all expecting. So as you can see I had lots of fun making paper buttons and put them to good use making many things. First I made a background for an ATC not exactly sure what I was going to use it for but then inspiration hit me and an unusual alphabet ATC appeared which was nice as it had been a little while since I had made an ATC having founf they were turning out right so it was nice to make it without the pressure. I have quite a few unusual alphabet ATC's to make to send back to people but I am trying not to push myself on them otherwise I feel they are not turning out as well as they can.

I then made the postcard not totally sure what I was going to use it for and originally thinking I would send it to a penfriend but instead I used it for an original art swap on swap-bot - my very first on there which meant I only had to make one other for the swap (partly breaking my not signing up for anything rule but only a tiny bit) and I made a zen postcard for that which I will show later.

Lastly I felt I should share my button fun and so I made this journal page in my journal which is heading to Lia to work in as part of our round robin. They all just look so cute on the page.

Following on from this I have been doing alot of work in journals, finishing up Linda's journal and sending it on to the next person in the group as well as doing some work in my journal for my round robin with Lia and sending that off as well.

This page was painted quite early on in the journal being with me, it was fun to do as I don't paint with acrylic often and I haven't quite sussed out how to stop it bleading onto other pages and such. Luckily it only slightly caught a couple which were my pages so it didn't affect anyone elses work. It looks so nice that for a while I didn't know what to add to it and so I ended up just adding some words to it so that you could still see the strokes the brush had made and still feel the texture of the paint.

This is a page about how our trip to Afan had to be called off leading to us driving back ome from Wales and needing a plan B as we had days off work and we didn't want to waste them. Then the page next to it is about our plan B and how we went to cardiffd for a couple of days having many boozy drinks and wandering the city. I added some bits about the places we went from leaflets and such.

This page was inspired on one of my travels with work. I was thinking about how much I love to touch stuff and so I drew the bit in the middle whilst on the train and then added the rest when I got home making use of many different textures. This page is more about how it feels that how it looks. I touch so many things in shops and with the journals I have look at the and feel all the pages as I feel like its another aspect to them

This was the final page in Linda's journal, a farewell page to see the journal off. The stamp of the butterfly didn't turn out as well as expected and I drew over some of it with a silver pen however you cannot see that in this picture :)

Buttons

This weekend it has all been about buttons but not actual buttons but paper buttons. I made an envelope a couple of years ago and I felt like making more paper buttons again. However this time I made an ATC background, a journal page and a postcard. Thats right I made an ATC this weekend - one about buttons for my unusual alphabet. I liked the way it turned out but then I didn't originally plan to make an ATC so maybe that was the key.
Due to having to come back from Afan due to bad weather (lots of rain does not mix with Mountain Biking) we ended up going to Cardiff for a couple of days which was cool. So when I got back I journalled a couple of pages about it.
Well I did a page about needing a plan B due to having to abandon Afan. I had already done a couple of backgrounds using ink pads so I could take the journal with me to Afan but obviously it didn't get used. I did take it to Cardiff but didn't write in it. However I did pick leaflets and such up from places we went so I could make use of them. Which I did when creating my page about our trip to Cardiff.

Pictures to be added tomorrow!

Ticking off the list

Thats right I managed to tick some thing off the list which I had to complete. A couple of things sent out which I needed to send out but still things needing to be done. Hopefully I will get there in the end.
Still working in the journals and loving it. I did a couple of background for journal pages yesterday so I could take my journal on our trip. I painted a background with blue paint which slight dyed the strong holding it together but only for a couple of pages - need to figure how to stop it doing that. I also used ink pad to lightly colour a couple of pages - one side yellow, one side red.
I have done some actual pages in the journal though - I added another sketch to the bottom of the other page although it didn't turn out how I wanted but I left it in anyway - after all its development.

I did a sex and the city page from last week where I went to see Sex & The City movie whilst I was in Leeds for Work. It is the first time I have ever been to the cinema alone so its about that experience and how it made me feel.

Another page I did was some purple striped paper as a background and originally I was going to write on it but then I thought, no this will look nice as just a picture page. So I got out my silver ink pad and some hand stamps and left lots of handprints all over the page. I like the effect it created so decided not to add any words as I don't think it needs it.

Thats was fun I liked it. I have alos been working in my journal for mine and Lia's swap but I will post them once we next swap back as I like her to see them in person first.