2021 Topic 15: Journaling Gratitude with JoFY {by Jo Firth-Young}

2021 Topic 15: Journaling Gratitude

A lovely post from Jo where she creates a panel of gratitudes. I am sure every time she catches a glimpse of this, it will induce her to pause and reflect.As she says, the thought bubbles no doubt will vary, but I am sure that having a piece like this nearby is going to have more of an impact on her daily life than she might expect, in the same way that affirmation quotes on the fridge do. ~Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jo Firth-Young with you today, and I'm here to share with you a journaling panel I created. 
When I first started thinking about this theme I sat down with the idea of creating a small gratitude journal, one that was ongoing and could be added to as and when... but then my mind went off in all different directions - What was the subject? Could it be limited to a week of finding one 'thing' each day to be grateful for? Could it be 10 things I'm grateful for during Christmas/ summer/ my home.... the themes were all going round in my head and so to quieten the noise I opened up my sketchbook (where I do my thinking) and brainstormed quietly for 5 minutes - and this is what came out.... a woman (maybe its me?)...(a very stylised me lol) sitting, eyes closed, thinking.

Sometimes its good to just sit quietly and listen, think and focus.

I started with a 10in square panel of mount board (the type used for framing art) - the one I used is cream and has a texture. I sketched out the shape of a head and them washed over the surface of the board with slightly diluted Eggshell Fresco Finish paint. The face is going to be the focal image of the panel and so I want it to be faintly visible through the layers I'll be adding.

I wanted the panel to have stenciled details in the background but I also wanted the panel to be 'calm' (because the woman at the centre is being calm, meditative) and to achieve that each time I added a layer of colour/pattern I washed over it with Chalk Fresco Finish - knocking the pattern/colour back.
In the photos below you can see how I added 2 layers of stenciling using Cerise Fresco Finish paints, each time finished with a diluted Chalk wash.
At the bottom of the head/neck I added a block of Cerise in the shape of shoulders.

Waterfall looks great with Cerise so I dry brushed that on to the edges of the panel.

The handwritten days of the week stamps from JOFY88 are stamped in Waterfall. 

I like how the words fade in and out of the background when they are on top of the Waterfall used on the back ground.

With the background finished I moved onto detailing the woman on my panel. I'm not going to explain in detail how to do this as there are many tutorials on the internet dedicated to creating faces - I encourage you to take a look, they are inspiring.

Following the ghost lines of the woman still visible through the painted layers I resketched the shape and details in pencil.

 

I painted her hair in Chocolate Pudding and Mud Splat, and her skin in Vintage Lace and Chalk.

All the details on her hair and face were created with coloured pencils.

I really like the texture the mountboard gives the piece, similar to canvas.

 

My preferred drawing style is quite sketchy so when the main paint colours were dry I added sketched coloured lines on top of everything.

I always like to add words onto journal pieces - so after trying out several different alphabets I settled on the one on JOFY21 - really useful alphabet if you want to add block colour with an outline or as I've done here patterned paper... I often use book pages but I specifically chose it for this project to link it to words and thought that go round in our heads all time.

 

The letters are stamped onto book pages that were washed with diluted Chalk Fresco paint.

The letters were carefully cut out and glued onto the panel.

The final pieces added to the panel were the thought bubbles.  What to include??
This project had become quite personal so I chose 5 things I'm grateful for - these of course can change on any given day.
A couple of my choices were light-hearted - 'Netflix' for example... though I really am quite grateful for it - it keeps me company in my studio while I'm working by playing my favourite musicals, and music, on repeat! lol
I sketched the bubbles onto Smoothy card, cut them out and added them to the panel.

I wrote the main item in black pen and then wrote the 'reasons' for my choice in grey pencil so they are there but you'd have to really look closely to see the details.

Just a thought - wouldn't it be fun if those thought bubbles weren't glued onto the background and could be changed each day?!  Or if the thought bubbles were plain, the panel was covered in clear self-adhesive plastic and then the 'gratitudes' of the day could be written on the bubbles and wiped off the next day!  So many options!

I added some journaling around the edges of the panel using a white gel pen.

 

I hope my project has inspired you in some way... maybe to draw some faces, brainstorm things you are grateful for (lists are good for this, I love a list! lol) or create a mini gratitude journal.

Finally, I am grateful to PaperArtsy for lots of things, including this blog topic which has been a really enjoyable theme to work on.

This is my last blog post for 2021, so I'll take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for the festive season and coming year.

Take care

Jo, x

Blog: jofirthyoung.blogspot.com
Facebook: JoFYJamboree!! group
Twitter: @jofyjo
Instagram: @jofyjo

Pinterest: @jofyjo 

2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour with JOFY {by Jo Firth-Young}

  2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour

We do love a JOFY mini book, and even better when it's a pink-black-gold combo! Jo goes through her back catalogue to show just how perfectly all her stamps can work well together in the background and of course she also manages to find the perfect focal points to adorn each page beautifully.
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jo Firth-Young (www.jofy.co.uk) here with you today, and I'm here to share with you a small concertina book I made using my 'favourite' colour - I say my 'favourite' colour but it really is so hard to pick just one colour isn't it?!!

I chose PINKS, - including HOT pink - the gorgeous Cerise. Hot pink seems slightly rebellious - it says 'look at me!'  It makes a statement doesn't it. I've teamed it with Sherbet, Gold and black to quieten it down a little... but not too much. lol

The mini book I created (final size 8x8cm) came together quite easily - I didn't start with any expectations of what it was going to be... but I took inspiration from an even smaller book I have on my desk (I do love tiny 'junk'/art journals!). 

It features lots of the small designs that are on my stamp plates and I've been wanting to make a slighter larger project using phrases. 

So I gathered up Smoothy card and paints and just started playing - I used lots of bits of 'this and that' - I had FUN making it, no pressure.  I used many of my favourite techniques - and all that HOT PINK colour!! 

The finished book just makes me smile- it has a really positive feel to it - I chose to feature lots of the little phrases & words that are dotted among my JOFY collection - I wanted to give them their '5 minutes of fame'. lol

I started by creating a master-board on a 13x6in panel of Heavy Smoothy. I painted it with diluted Sherbet Fresco Finish paint, used stencil PS250 to add small spots in Cerise and larger spots in Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide.  

Then, I added letters (JOFY101) in Gold Fresco Finish to break up the pink and add a touch of shine to contrast the matte pink paints. I intentionally left 'open' spaces.

Once all the painted layers had dried I added more details: I stamped blocks of small dots (EM57), and drew around the large dots with Stabilo All pencils in white and black diluting the lines with water.

I folded the panel into 4 x 3in strips, cutting off the remaining 1in strip.

 

I realised that 4 rectangle panels didn't give me enough space to work on - not enough pages, and I thought rectangles might be slightly restrictive so I cut the rectangles into 8 7x7cm squares - much more versatile and more pages! win win!

Now to decide what colour card to mount the squares onto for the concertina structure.  I often try out several backgrounds colours before making a decision - its definitely worth looking at different options - some might surprise you!  I tested white, black and my firm favourite: kraft. The different background colours definitely create a different look - the white is fresh, the black is very dramatic and the kraft gives a softer look. I decided on black for my book- a change from the white or kraft that I might normally reach for.

I measured and cut a strip of black card to mount the squares onto allowing for a border to frame each piece.

.... and when all the background details were finished I sewed each panel in place.

 

Here are pairs of page with the details of stamps used... details on the panels are die cuts, stamping, stenciling - created from pieces cut/created for this piece and from project 'left-overs' - repurposing bits and pieces. I really like adding all these little details to these small pages.

'Life is good.... ' is from JOFY46.  The numbers on the right hand page are from JOFY88 - this was a 'scrap' piece saved from a previous project (its always worth hanging on to interesting bits and pieces). These numbers were part of the planner sets I designed but it great to see them being used for something else.

The left hand page features bud stems from JOFY26 and 'Grow' from JOFY97 is part of a phrase but works just as well on its own.
I heat embossed most of the images stamped in black - the gloss of the embossing is a nice contrast to the matte Fresco paints.
The flower on the right hand page is JOFY61, and this page features one of the background stamps I added for more detail on some pages - the white embossing really makes it pop.

 

 

'Be a rebel' (great phrase) comes from JOFY50 - the ombre painted word uses Cerise and Sherbet. The flowers on the right hand page are from JOFY26 (shown above) - I stamped the flowers directly onto the background and added an additional one for added interest.

Here are the final two pages featuring JOFY72 (I like how the word 'you!' is accentuated by embossing it in gold), and JOFY102. 

Black and pink is such a great colour combination isn't it! and with those pops of gold and white!! Fabulous! 

I hope this encourages you, inspires you, to take another look through your stamps sets - look for the smaller stamps that are tucked in around the bigger images - bring them out, play with them and make them the feature of your pages - there are lots of little treasures in those sets - I'd love to see what you create!  

Take care

Jo

Website: www.jofy.co.uk

Pinterest: @jofyjo

Facebook: JoFY Jamboree! group

Twitter: @jofyjo

Instagram: @jofyjo

Teaching dates - ONLINE workshops
28.08.21  Loobi Crafts, www.loobicrafts.co.uk ...Wonderfully Wintery

Every Friday until December:  Festive Friday, 18.00 (UK time), in my Jamboree group: Free demo/Card making class