Watercolor Pencil Roll

Daily journaling comes and goes with me, unless it's a special occasion.

 Sometimes I make a conscious effort to journal and then sometimes I feel I'm too busy. Since I'm not a good writer and have never been able to express myself in words, I tend to lean more towards pictures to describe how I feel at the moment. 

My process is.... add color first, then simple but brief thoughts in words.  

Throughout my journaling years, I have tried many ways of keeping a journal (acrylic paints, collage, mixed media) and I always return to the easiest and most convenient way. I tend to journal on the couch or laying in bed in the evenings, so for me, watercolor pencils are the easiest and most convenient tools to journal with.
I just added a few more colors to my watercolor pencil collection, and I didn't want to just throw them in my journal bag, so I thought I would experiment a bit.

I came up with a Watercolor Pencil Roll.

I kind of measured the size I would need, but that got confusing, so I just started cutting fabric and sewing.  That's normally how I roll ;)
I just knew that it had to hold at least 24 pencils and fit in my journal bag. The closure was the trickiest part, but after several "rip outs," it all came together.

My journal bag consists of black markers (I love my black markers, so I have about 6 different ones), white gel pen, scissors, ruler, Tombo adhesive and watercolor pencils.
The roll does add bulk to my bag, but I like having all the colors laid out in front of me.

Each pencil has it's own sleeve.
I kind of misjudged the space of each sleeve, so I only ended up with 22 sleeves as opposed to 24, but in the end it all worked out because I discovered that I really don't use the white or the light grey pencil.
Only time will tell if this roll works out to be convenient, but I always enjoy a challenge.

Chau!

Rag Rug Update and Gingerbread Creations

Here is an update on my current rag rug. I felt it needed some blue, so I threw a medium shade of blue in. It seems to stand out quite a bit, but I think I'll work with it for a few rows to see how it blends in. It measures 15" right now.

Moving to a different topic altogether, I wanted to share a few gingerbread creations that the high school kids from my homeschool group made. We usually wrap up our last week before Christmas break with gingerbread houses. The high school kids get to go all out by splitting up into groups and spending most of the day working on their creations.

The Avengers

The Hobbit

Christmas in London
(you can't really see it, but the road is made from hershey bar pieces)

Pretty awesome, huh?

Another Rag Rug, Hopefully A Huge One

I really want a rug for my living room, and I want it to be huge. Well, that's my goal, anyway. 

Initially, I told myself that I was only going to use the fabric in my stash, but honestly.....

a rug this big is going to require some additional fabric.

I found this fabric on clearance at JoAnn's. Look at these amazing colors!

Here is the fabric sprinkled in the rug so far. You can see the fabric in the upper left hand corner of the picture and how it takes on a different look in the rug.

What do you think? 

Can you picture the rug on a beautiful hardwood floor, with brown leather furniture, throw pillows in colors pulled from this fabric?

Yes! Yes! I see it!

Gotta get to work, Chau!

The Pencil Pouch That Turned Out Too Small

Have you ever started a project, and half way through you realize that it's not going to turn out exactly like you planned?

This was one of those projects. This pouch is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I always forget that things shrink because of seam allowance and the zipper.

It will hold about 5 copic markers or a small set of colored pencils, but not big enough for the journal supplies I carry around.

It is cute, though! 

I will try another.