2015 Documented Life Project: Weeks 1-4

Sarah and I are doing the 2015 Documented Life Project: The Journal. I so enjoyed my 2014 Documented Life Project that I figured I'd keep on rolling. This year's journal is much larger, about 9 x 12 closed, so a two page spread is about 18 x 12! That's big! Here are my first four weeks. I'll post Sarah's later this weekend.

This page (above and below) was not a challenge page but I didn't want to leave the first page blank! This is the very first opening and covers January 1-4. I included a thought to keep me focused for the year: "Have the courage to take the leap." Given that I've lept into a new job and my family will all be moving to a new town in 2015, I thought that was just what I needed.

 

Week 1's challenge was "book pages" (above and below). I love old children's books so I dug into my stash and pulled out these pages. I think I'll make a book out of the covers! Part of this week's challenge was to write down our goals, so mine are tucked in that envelope on the right.

Week 2's challenge was "gesso" (above and below). So much we could do with this! I like how this year's challenges are a bit more wide open. I used gesso as the center to some flowers. This page includes so many different "stooofs," as Sarah would say (her word for stuff). I used paint, ink sprays, water color crayons, gelatos and gesso! Another new thing this year is the addition of a guiding quote. I included the quote in the close up below: "The beginning is always today," by Mary Shelly.

 

Week 3's challenge was "colorwheel" (above and below). First, I cut some circles from ledger paper and then stamped on top of them and glued them on the page. Then, I used a sunburst stencil to give me a base and then colored in the rays with gelatos and water color crayons for the color wheel. I added in some pen work and gave it an overall wash with linen destress ink and matte varnish.

 

Week 4's challenge was "your handwriting" (above and below). This was a tough one initially for me because, like most people I think, I hate my handwriting. So I decided to keep it underneath! I wrote out a poem a wrote a few years ago and then added inks and a little stenciling. The poem references the stars so I cut stars out of watercolor pages and glued them in, outlining them with a Stabilo All pencil and water brush (thank you Roben-Marie!). This is definitely my favorite page so far! You can see the poem here.

Again this year, this project is free! I really enjoy having a weekly challenge (no matter how far behind I usually am!). Check out the project on the Art to the 5th blog here. These ladies are great fun and inspiration! See my 2014 Documented Life Project wrap-up here.