Holiday Time

A  Christmas Wreath

Coffee and Fruitcake.

 I love fruitcake, I know most people don't but there is something  very 'christmasy' about for me. There are some really good ones out there. This is a French one from World Market and a German Stollen fruitcake with powdered sugar on top.

Some of the Holiday books I'm reading....

The Quiet Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott

Immoveable feast by John Baxter(a french christmas)

Miss Reads Christmas

Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher

Let there be peace on earth

Winter-Christmas List

This is a list of things that I want to do this winter. It's a little notebook of lists for each season....

1. Make garlands and decorations
2. Light candles
3. Practice embroidery
4. Have a peppermint shake @ chick-fil-a
5. Make christmas cookies
6. Try December Daily
7. Watch Holiday movies
8. Have lots of hot chocolate and eggnog
9. Read Christmas novels and childhood favorites
10. Drive around and look at Christmas lights

Holiday Smashbook

I ordered the huge pretty pocket SMASH folio awhile back and then I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to use it for.So when the holidays rolled around, I thought it would be perfect for all my christmas inspiration and ideas like crafts, recipes and cookies. The large size seems to work well for this fun and whimsical time of year. So here are a few of the pages...

This is a label for the cover. I traced an Anthropologie card onto scrapbook paper and then used Rub-ons from Kand Company and green gems. I added red polka dot washi tape across the cover to look like it's gift wrapped.

This first spread is for ornament ideas and a little article on 'tree trimming 101'. I have room to add more.

 This spread and pocket are for craft and embroidery ideas and I added some washi tape to the yellow paper to make it look more festive. Some of the paper in the SMASH folio had a holiday feel but others needed more christmas embellishments added.

  This spread and envelope are for holding my favorite christmas cookie recipes.(I love the large envelopes that come in this Smashbook...)I also added adhesive borders to these pages.

This next section is for christmas decorating ideas and wreaths

 I put little pictures in the plastic sleeve that comes attached in the book. It has 9 slots on each side.

This area is for ideas on comfort and relaxation during the holidays.

The last part of the book is for more pretty pictures and an envelope for christmas memories. I added a Merry Christmas rub-on and chipboard pieces to the label already on the envelope.

 For the inside cover I paper-clipped a few recipes for the holidays and I have all of the tabs for each section- crafts, ornaments, cookies, relaxation, decorating, wrapping gifts, and memories.                                                                          

 

on the inside pocket of the back I added in extra things like this article from Victoria about the movie Little Women, one of my favorites during the holidays. Also a little quote I taped in:

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Norman Vincent Peale

 

The list journal project

The List Journal

The recent list in the "The List Journal" project is What I collect for Art Journaling, so this one was really fun to do and I covered the page in all my favorite add-ons and supplies like:

letter stickers and stamps

pens and colored pencils

washi tape

all kinds of paper 

labels, embellishments, and quotes

 This project is so much fun and I look forward to each saturday for the new list prompt.

Art Journaling...

Goodies arrived in the mail

I haven't ever ordered art/craft supplies online before now, and it was so hard waiting for the package to arrive but worth it when it did. I ordered a few things to use in Christmas journals too, I can't wait to begin using it all.....

Lots of flower drawings

This past week I wanted to try and make some of my own little labels and things for journaling like "to do" lists, top 10, inspiration, and more.  Plus small labels where I can add the date or a title. It was a lot of fun, I love drawing flowers on everything.... Mostly roses as you can tell :)

Sketchbook Page

I just started a new sketchbook this weekend and I hope to work in it at least once a week...on this first page I drew a couple of pansies and some groundcover and then used colored pencils to add the color. I switch back and forth between watercolors and colored pencils, and sometimes I think that colored pencils are definately my favorite medium to use.

Making Lists in my Art Journal



List Journal Prompts

 

I found this project a couple of weeks ago on ihanna's blog and now I am trying to catch up on the lists. I thought the journal I have been using right now would be perfect because its small and just right for a list of a few words. It's a journal where I've already done the background collages and as it turns out a lot of them suited the list ideas perfectly like this one on Dream Places to Travel  which already had a picture of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

 

My list of 5: Paris, the Cotswolds in England, Cornwall England, Maine(which is the one place on this list that I've been, but I just love it, so I included it) and Hawaii. 

 

The next prompt is Favorite Fruits  and my list includes:Cherries, Peaches, Raspberries, Canteloupe, and Strawberries

 

Art Journal Pages

These pages ended up being all about food....on the left side, with Fall coming on it makes me want comfort food:

Cupcakes, Pasta, Potatoes, and Mac and Cheese, not healthy I know, but I just love them.

 

On the right side inspirations for food and Afternoon Tea:

little tea sandwiches, cookies, and Spiced Tea



 

 

 



Pages from my 'illustrated discovery journal'

I love putting together collages of things that inspire me. I find images in magazines and print things from my favorite blogs and Pinterest. Then I add little labels and bits of decorative paper to add writing and descriptions. It's a very relaxing way to spend and hour, especially with a cup of tea to sip on, while I cut and paste....I think I'll do another one today. It's a good way to spend a saturday. 

 

 



Sketching this weekend

Over the long holiday weekend I spent some of the time doing drawings and watercolors and I finished my sketchbook, so now I will be starting a new one.....

 

 Some of the objects on my desk, a rose and lettering practice

 

Drawings of my desk and my art cabinet holding all of my supplies.

 

This last page of the book is a pressed rose with washi tape holding the stem.

 

It is fun to complete a project because I haven't always been good about finishing ideas once I start. A lot of the time I abandon the idea and start something new, but I'm getting better at it, and it's just really nice to finish this sketchbook before I move on to the next one.

 

 

 

 

August Break 6

Art Journaling "Live well and document along the way..."

The right side of the spread is about some of my favorite yoga poses, inspiration so I will do yoga more often...

susannah conway

August Break 5



Art Journal page...JOY

"We're here to feel joy and absorb all of life's beauty we can."

Melody Beattie

Some of my favorite things:

visiting The McGill Rose Garden

nature walks

painting

afternoon tea

art journals

reading a good book

 

CHERISH JOY

 

 

 

Susannah Conway



August Break-4

More current Art Journals including the cover of a new one that I just started with painted backgrounds. On the left page is inspiration for Fall since it feels right around the corner....



Lit candles

comfy and cozy

snuggling in with a good book

 

a crisp fall morning

chunky sweaters

fleece-lined boots

 

a walk in the country-

fall flowers and leaves.

 

 

susannah conway

 

August Break - 3

Art Journals...



Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Naomi nominated me this week for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award and I was just thrilled! It's really fun to be a part of this...

THE RULES:

1.Display the award logo on your blog

2. Link back to the person who nominated you

3.State 7 things about yourself

4.Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them

5.Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award's requirements

I know a lot of people might be too busy this summer to do this so thats definately ok

7 THINGS ABOUT ME:

1. I love ROSES...

2. My favorite food is Italian

3. My favorite season is Autumn

4. I love and am a little obsessed with all kinds of journals: scrapbooks, mini journals, smashbooks, sketchbooks, notebooks and all kinds of ART JOURNALS...

5. I love the countryside of England and would love to someday go there. I love the cottages and all the flowers and the rolling hills.

6 .I love to to read all kinds of books: novels, memoirs, travel, the classics, crafting, inspiration, some poetry, art and more

7. NATURE is my biggest inspiration...

THE BLOGS THAT INSPIRE ME SO MUCH THAT I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE FOR THIS AWARD ARE:

1.giggling in the rain

2.Mindy Tsonas

3.i hanna

4.Tranqulity du jour -Kimberly Wilson

5.blinks.of.life

6.Elisa loves

7.Leonie Dawson

8.Living Bliss

9.ann marie loves paper

10.Jamie Ridler Studios

11.The creative place

12.Jenni Horne

13.Liz Lamoreux

14.Besottment

15.The White Bench



Each of these blogs inspire me for different reasons, but the thing they all have in common is they are all very happy places to visit.

August Break-2

My sketchbooks and a teacup filled with summer flowers

Susannah Conway's August Break



August Break-1

The covers of my Inner Excavate journals

susannah conways august break



Sketchbook and Art Journaling

On Sunday I spent the day doing some sketches on the patio, Roses and Zinnias. I had been using the sketchbook at an 8x8" size but I find for me I enjoy working in a smaller sketchbook so I cut it down to a 6x6" size and rebound it. Now I find myself sketching in it more often...

This is the cover with a painted label and a little garland on the bottom with rhinestones.

I did sketches of Roses and Zinnias and wrote in a poem from an old book I have called Nature in Verse. The poem is called O Lark of the Summer Morning..   From the Japanese

I love to lie in the clover,

with the lark like a speck in the sky,

while it's small sweet throat runneth over

with praise it sendeth on high.

O lark of the summer morning,

teach, teach me the song that you sing,

I would learn without lightness or scorning,

to give praise for every good thing.

O lark of the summer morning!

give, give me of praying the key,

and I'll learn without lightness or scorning

as I did at my own mother's knee.



 I also added some journaling to my latest art journal, a weekly to do list and peaceful things to remember like...

Cherish Moments of Solitude

Laugh Often

Make Time To Play

and Open Up To Lifes Magic

from a Melody Beattie book