Art

Bullet Journal. March/April 2018.

March 29, 2018March 27, 2018by Elise Giove1 Comment

I basically failed at showing anyone what I was doing all of March. SO SORRY. Idk. March just came and things happened and now its basically over. I wish I could share more of my bullet journal, but I didn’t realize how much of it is actually pretty private. Maybe I’ll throw some things in photoshop and blur out what I don’t want you to see, because its kind of a shame I do all this work for just me to look at. I kind of would like to share it with the world, or at least my few loyal followers. [and don’t forget I love you, cause with out you, there would be no-one in the world that gave two shits about basically anything I write about, and the fact that you do, is pretty cool.]

I’m not sure what it was about these palm trees, but I loved them so much! If you didn’t read my post a few days back… I went to Florida. We go to this cute little condo the same week every year to see the beach & my grandparents. They live about 20 min. inland so we’ll go to their favorite place and have pie that sucks and try to convince my grandma to wear her hearing aid. For people who are 86 & 88 years old, its kind of incredible they are as self sufficient as they are. My grandpa especially. He doesn’t say much, but when he does its great. He’s witty as all hell and I can’t get enough.

Please don’t look at my nails. It’s my mid-March resolution to try to stop biting them and grow them to normal length like a real adult. I started biting them in the 5th grade, and here I am 20 years later, still doing it. Its an anxiety thing, I know it. You know it. The world knows it, and I’ve quit like 7 times and rewarded myself with a 9$ essie nail polish and I’m so successful and then something tragic happens and I find my nails back in my mouth. Its super gross, and you think that alone would get me to quit, but sadly.. it has not.

WELCOME APRIL. This month I tried using some markers instead of my prisma colored pencils. These markers are two sided, one is a regular like pen side, and the other is a brush side. They were cheap. They don’t bleed through the paper and you can buy yourself a set at Target here. The other markers I use are a black micron pen. They come in a million different sizes, but I use .4mm and .35 mm I believe. Check out my intro post that has more about tools here.

What does your April look like? I always take my photos before I fill in my family/friends birthdays and actually activities planned cause, I really don’t need you knowing where I am every second. BUT, I’ll be here Tuesday/Thursday at 5 pm unless I’m depressed, or its raining. Kisses.

Art, DIY, Holiday

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2018February 13, 2018by Elise GioveLeave a Comment

Happy [cheat on your diet] day! I hope you eat all the heart shaped things your [actual] heart desires. So, Valentine’s day for me is nothing special because my husband works noon to midnight… although I am making strawberry waffles [cut into hearts] It’s not gonna be the flowers & food I shouldn’t be eating dream it could be. There’s something about a romantic breakfast that isn’t that romantic.

If you’re single, YOU ARE NOT MISSING OUT. It’s just as lonely actually having a Valentine and they aren’t even around. Its not his fault or anything, but it still makes me feel lonely and abandoned. SO. Here I am, with you… my favorite company on earth.

Here’s a fun little DIY you can do for your BFF, your work wife, your spouse, your mom… you get where I’m going here.

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Buy [at your local grocery]:

4 different Valentine’s candies
Starbucks 4 pack of frappuccino bottles

Buy [at your local crafty store]:

Valentine Paper [to wrap the box]
Valentine Paper [different prints for lids]
Solid Red/White/Pink Cardstock
Glue stick
E6000 [also glue]
Heart stickers, beads, rhinestones etc.
Cute 1/4″ ribbon [4 kinds if you want each jar different like I did]
Glitter

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I’m not going to give too much instruction, because it’s a lot of measuring & cutting.. but I’ll give you a general idea on how to attack this project. ***[If you just want to give the single bottles to 4 different people & not the 4 pack to that special someone, then skip Steps 2, 3, & 4.]

Empty, rip off label, wash & dry coffee bottles. [If you aren’t in the mood for 4 frappes then just put them in a pitcher in the fridge, they’ll stay good a few days]
Cover your box with the Valentine Print Paper.
Cut out 4 hearts & put cute Valentine phrases on them. [one for all sides of the box]
Now, cutting the paper for the outside of the box is super wild & not that fun so I just covered it really well with glue & threw glitter on it.
Trace the lid of the jar for your perfect circle on your solid colored paper.
Trace 4 smaller circles on your Valentine print papers using something around the house [shot glasses make great circles]
Cut 4 small hearts for the lid.
If you found beads or rhinestones you’ll need to use the E6000 glue to put those on.
ASSEMBLE. Glue together your lid circle, smaller circle, hearts, & letters/beads/etc. onto the lid with E6000.
NEXT… which you cannot see pictured here is the paper on the bottle. You’ll measure the space you need and wrap a print or solid paper around where the label used to be. Decorate with your stickers, something similar to the top of the bottles [like circles & hearts], or make your version of conversation hearts & decorate the front of your new label.
Fill your bottles with candy!
Measure your ribbon so it fits around the bottle, you can tie a bow or just a nice knot, but you’ll also want to glue the ribbon with E6000 onto the lid of the bottle.

Good Luck! You can always use this idea and change it to any Holiday theme. Maybe do some nice rainbow, green & gold ones for St. Patrick’s Day! [Lots of] Kisses.

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Art, Bullet Journal

Bullet Journal – February 2018

February 2, 2018February 2, 2018by Elise Giove3 Comments

Sorry I’m like, a few days late late for this plan with me February spread, but maybe it will inspire you for later endeavors or maybe you haven’t planned your next week spread yet & [hopefully] you’re late in the game like me. I think that bullet journaling is the best hobby I’ve picked up, it quiets the mind & I get to hand letter & doodle & color & all the childlike things adults should actually be doing on the reg for our health. That mental health thing that no one likes to talk about, well… here in wonderland our host Elise [aka me] has the laundry list of mental health [disorders], but who really likes to call them that. Lets call them, character flaws. So much less stigma. Right? Everyone has character flaws.

When it comes to the monthly section of my bullet journal I like to first, give the month its own start & this month I went with a color story. Pinks, Reds, Corals, and some leafy greens. I just felt it was appropriate considering this month is all about love. For a personal preference, I like to put the month’s title on the right side & a nice quote about love on the left.

Secondly, for my next spread I like to write out the actual calendar. I can put really important dates/appointments/birthdays/etc. in here, or just use as a reference. In January, I tracked the weather & temperature everyday. [it wasn’t that positive, let me tell you.] But, you can do whatever you wish here, or leave it out entirely.

& Finally, I’ll start out the week. When Month’s fall with a short week like February did this year, I put the dates 1-10 together. In my weekly spread I mostly just put appointments, meetings, events, & what I ate, I write small, so I don’t need much space each day. Some bullet journalers need more space and color coordinate & categorize all events one color, meetings another, classes, etc.

Some Tips & Tricks…. I get an idea in my head about how I want to attack that week, if I want my days to be horizontal or vertical, where I’ll write the number & day of the week AND I DO IT IN PENCIL. I never ever everrrrrrrrr go in with pen at first. If you are brave, well go get it girl, but I am not. I count dots and try to figure out spacing and such and leave little marks to where everything will lay out.

I use prisma colored pencils & micron pens. Micron pens are archival ink, they do not bleed through the page and they come in all sorts of widths. My favorites are .35mm & .45mm [but I’m sure you’ll have your own preference.] I’ll link my previous post [bullet journal – intro] about tools I use/tips/fun stuff & you can check that out HERE.

I haven’t yet finished February’s weekly layouts, but stay tuned because I’d like to show you some more ASAP. Good Luck! Kisses.

Art, Self Love

Coloring for Adults – Relaxation

February 1, 2018January 24, 2018by Elise Giove1 Comment

Does anyone find themselves overly stressed, full of anxiety, and no time for themselves? It might sound silly, you might think coloring is for kids… but its not. its for everyone. And its so good for you. I’m no scientist, just an avid article reader, but coloring engages a part of the brain called the cerebral cortex & relaxes the fear center of the brain. The cerebral cortex is the largest part of the brain & is associated with higher brain function including your thoughts and actions. So treating it well is good. GREAT for you. Cool, right? It can relieve so much anxiety – especially when you have a weekend full of your in-laws coming to stay. Color the three days before instead of fretting over the things they aren’t going to eat & color before your huge presentation to your boss, before your next job interview, after your rough day at work. Really anytime.

I’ve struggled with anxiety and a laundry list of other mental disorders categorized by someone with a higher education than I, so I suppose I could believe them. After a number of medications, years of therapy, and trying everything under the sun to diet changes, using oils and all sorts of things.. I found the most helpful thing for an anxiety free afternoon is, coloring. I find that getting lost in a simple drawing, and picking colors, and the ease of thought that goes into coloring, my mind finds itself elsewhere. Being more creative, in my writing – in my average life, in dinners even. I find everything a bit simpler, easier, more care free, when I colored for an hour the night before.

Its just such a simple thing you can do. I found myself so much more depressed before I started regularly coloring. I love to use colored pencils. My favorite are prismacolor [and really the only kind worth anything if you ask me ] & you can find them at your local Michaels, Walmart, JoAnn’s, BLICK, and even Target. Check out their site –>[prismacolor]

My favorite books are:

Enchanted Forest – Found at Barnes & Nobles – Buy it HERE.

Creative Cats – Found at Michael’s – Buy it HERE.

Alice’s Adventures – I found mine at Target, but you can buy it on Amazon HERE.

You can really find great ones anywhere. Especially if you are into a certain type. I have about 6 Alice books in my collection. I also love to color flowers. Michael’s has several flower books in their store. Get yourself a couple different ones & some nice coloring pencils/sharpie markers/etc. & get anxiety free. Kisses.

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Art, Bullet Journal, DIY, Uncategorized

Bullet Journaling – Intro

January 8, 2018January 31, 2018by Elise Giove2 Comments

Well. The new year is here. Have you done well with your resolutions? Well, I can’t say I’ve been failing if I haven’t started. I have some goals this year to get back to my weight when I was 22 and a dime.. blog more, bullet journal more, share my creativity with the outside world, get a job to get some social interaction because my husband’s long hours are difficult & the cat doesn’t answer when I talk to her. Go figure.

I’m a bullet journal novice, so that’s kinda tight. You could learn with me? I am a great flower arranger, and baker extordinare? I think I need to try more things. I actually have a fear of change. Anything where there is change, is super scary. It takes me a million years to adjust to anything different. Anyway…

I guess I’ll share my first few bullet pages with you. It’s probably why you read this post anyway. Click bait at it’s finest. My very first page, I put my name, contact information, address, email, instagram, twitter, birthday, etc. I like the book to be, well.. mine. & if i were to lose it {I’D DIE} hopefully some nice citizen would call or email me & I could get it back. SO I’ll leave that page out, cause I don’t need ya’ll sending me hate mail, or showing up to my house uninvited. [sorry.]

I love using prism colored pencils vs. markers cause they never bleed through the paper and you can fade colors and blend colors and do fun things with them. They aren’t as precise as markers, but I kind of like that. I use micron archival pens in .35mm and .45mm [both are black.] I like to write down my goals at the beginning of the book so that I can look back. I kept the left page blank here to add notes and maybe an index later on. I usually don’t number my pages or care, but that is important to some people.

The next spread I put all my important birthday’s to remember [even my own cause celebrating it what I live for] lol. & the yearly calendar to reference. It’s pretty sloppy, but You & I will get better overtime. Don’t let the lack of perfectionism get to you.

I saw someone put a master grocery list in theirs, which.. now that its in there, I kinda hate it, but at least my fruits at the top are cute. lol. I want to track where I go, and when I go there to see how much I traveled and if I went anywhere new, and how great it was, so I’ll fill this in as the year goes. I kinda wish I made this a two page spread, because… adventure awaits.

This was by FAR my favorite page to draw and put together. I love to pick out books, I have a bookshelf in my bedroom with all the books I have yet to read, and all the books I’ve read organized on separate shelves. I’ll add more books on the shelf space as I find others I’d like to read, but I like to know the title before I draw them in, cause you have to write so tiny!

For those of us with a laundry list of issues [ugh, me] I wanted to keep track of how I was feeling day to day & my Dr. Appts & what we talked about. AKA if i was getting a flu shot, or if I was actually dying, or if I was mainly there for a medication check up, which seems far too often, but that’s life for ya.

I then go into a weather symbols page which I doodle the weather in my calendar, so I can see if it was sunny for 5 days and I felt great, or if it was cloudy and rainy for 3 & my mood was crummy at best. It helps figure out if its climate issues, or like, a real issue, or an issue I might think is real.

I’ll get into January monthly planning specifics in the next post. Stay Tuned. let me know if you are bullet journaling & how it’s going! Tag me in your instaposts if you show any pages to the world. Kisses.