Hummy Bird Part 2

So here it is with the outline inked and a few details added in, pencil marks gone.  I added a copy of the pencil drawing and attached it with washi tape (you can see it on the left side). What do you think so far?


Untitled, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.

Hummy bird

Here is my inspiration photo which I saw on pinterest a few minutes ago.

And this is my initial sketch in my journal.  Come back tomorrow for more! Its graduation night on Glee....gotta go!

Untitled, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.

Small Books

UPDATE: Patti's story

Wanted to share a photo of some awesome books I am putting together with Patti. I needed to clean out my paper drawers and things I have saved up for art journals. I came across all this loveliness and began to sort it into piles to see how many books I could create. Had plenty! Enough to make 10 journals, pass on 2 bags of papers I will never use (donated to me a while ago) and yes I still have some leftover (a far more reasonable amount!).


The smaller ones have painted canvas covers and are waiting to be bound together still. I am super happy about this little stash of books.  I do not plan to use these as art journals or scrapbooks (see why below) so.....what to do with them?




Untitled, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.





MY CONTINUOUS ALWAYS ONGOING BOOKS
You probably know that I keep an art journal going at all times (even if I don't post from it regularly, it exists) and I have numerous sketchbooks as well. I have a Copic Marker Book to practice in, a couple Zentangle/pattern books, my own doodle books, a techniques books and a lettering/italic/alpha book. I prefer moleskine or pentalic books and art quality papers/sketchbooks for all these I have an altered composition Stories Book that I write stories in that I want to eventually add to my scrapbooks. (Filled with family and personal memories and events, not fiction.) I have a 3 up Stories Binder I use to quickly store scraps of stories like things the kids say, or notes from a brain-storming session, snips of memories my siblings have shared, etc. They simply aren't in complete form yet...they eventually get worked on in the composition book.) And of course my Scrapbook Library with all its various volumes. And like most scrappers I use only archival quality materials since I want them to last a while.


So what about all the other stuff that I don't want to scrap? I am not a daily diary kind of person (you can probably guess that from my sporadic blogging) so I have no need for that type of book. I do collect quotes, write poetry/haiku, make lists, and notes galore.

Enter the smash book, junque journal, ephemera diary or known by various other names.
What do you think of these things? Do you use one? If so, how?

I don't think there are very many people actually USING smash, junk/junque journals out there. Seems they make them and that is it. Interesting; but not what I am looking for. To me its a waste of time to create such a great book and then leave it without a purpose. I want it to have a purpose.

This from someone who says "What do you mean what is it? Does it have to be something? Its art!" 
Moving on.

Ideas I've seen where they actually used the books were mainly as planners for upcoming projects and Ikea books. I suggested "notes about wines? keep labels and rate them so you know which one(s) to buy again or avoid? certainly not worth scrapping but maybe smashing? maybe for everything i would put on evernote?" to a friend. I did find a 16 year old who made her own and divided it up in sections of photos, sketches, inspiration and random. And here someone else dares to ask the question how do you use these things?



Here are some titles I am considering for the books in the photos:
What I am Loving Right Now
Quotes (change that - if I moved them from evernote I would want these in a 3 ring binder because I like to add them by topic)
I Don't Wanna Throw It Away But I Don't Know What Else To Do With It (subtitle - Am I On My Way to Becoming a Hoarder?)
Books I've Read (again I think having them on evernote is better)
Art Supplies
This Inspires Me -or- Crap On My Bulletin Board

2012 Books Read Update

More books recently read  (thanks to Kindle!) and in no particular order.
This time I thought it would be good to add a tidbit for each  one. While I enjoy historical novels; especially those with a Christian theme to them, I don't like ones that are just a romance story at heart. I tend toward books about topics that are interesting to me like antiques, travel, journaling, family, Japan, Hawaii, faith, old houses, etc. Since I got my Kindle, I have been challenging myself to find books that appeal to me but are FREE. I also choose certain books because I share them with my daughters (the eldest primarily) and think they might enjoy them. I typically do not consider non-fiction as part of my reading list but since I do a lot of that genre also, I am going to add it here as well.

Heart for Freedom - Chai Ling (Tienanmen Square activist memoir) - recommend
Empress Orchid - Anchee Min (have second in series to read still; bio of Chinese Empress) - recommend
Trapped on the Titanic - Knox (ridiculous ghost story)
When I Found You - Hyde (a hunter finds an abandoned baby and commits to him for life)
The Fence My Father Built - Clare (a fight  to protect Native artifacts and discover a father)
Finders Keepers - Palmer (I got it because it was about antiques and historical homes but its just a love story)
goodness gracious green - Christie (mindless but fun series about small town newspaper owner)
Yoga Cures - Stiles - recommend
World War II London Blitz Diary - Thompson (diary of woman from England) - recommend
Child of the Mist - Morgan (another romance story with Christian theme)
Hearth in Candlewood - Parr (another romance story with Christian theme)
Love Me If You Must - Young (house renovation, dead bodies, romance)
The Crazy Old Lady (in the attic) - Valentine (mystery)
Mill River Recluse  - Chan (abuse, social anxiety, friendship)
Scream -  Dellosso (sort of a Stephen King genre with a supposedly Christian theme; will stick with Peretti)
To Love Anew - Leon (English prisoners sent to Australia; hope and faith) - recommend

Current Read: eye of the god - Allison

Travel art kit

Travel art kit, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.


I wanted to share what I included in my travel art kit: I needed it to be small enough to carry in my purse but keep me going until our things arrive in NC (which may be a couple months). 
-  a small Pentalic unlined sketch book
-  a Compendium lined notebook (the one with the shell on it).
- a bunch of clips, pencil sharpener and a couple rubber bands
- American Craft pens .03/.05 black
- mechanical pencil with refill leads
- 5 drawing pencils various sizes
- 4 water pens again with various brush tips/sizes
- plastic 6 inch ruler
- small scissors (may need to switch those for the airline but I think these are ok)
- mini mister
- small container filled with gel medium
- glue stick
- 2 sketch and wash pencils
- set of watercolor pencils
- white eraser
- post it pad
- black gel pen


The books won't fit in the plastic pencil case but everything else does so I am quite happy with it. I usually carry this with me wherever I go but without the gel medium, and the mister. Normally I have more wc pencils. I debated on including my small Windsor Newton travel kit since I  love the colors so much and it is pretty compact. In the end I decided to send that ahead in a separate mailed box that I will pick up on the mainland. It will include the travel journal that I showed you yesterday.


Oh did I mention  we are driving cross country? We are! Los Angeles to NC. Are we crazy? Probably. But I will stay sane having my art goodies with me. 

Catching up?

Did NOT realize its been since MARCH that I posted here. YIKES!  Lots of stuff going on...
Health wise - working really hard on finding the balance of numerous, short, daily workouts that don't cause fibro flareups and still yield some results for health. I am now seeing a nutritionist regularly to avoid going into full blown diabetes. Reminds of my pregnancy days - was diabetic with all three girls; with each pregnancy being worse. I knew it was always a risk that I would develop diabetes over time but am glad I managed to keep it at bay til this age! Need to work really hard at this though and try and turn it around and not just manage it.
Life wise - getting ready for our final move with the Air Force. Headed to North Carolina for a bit (about a year and a half) and then its retirement! Amazing. Really. Truly. All the things we used to dream about are arriving now. Life is amazing!
Daughter wise - C2 is moving to CO to live with C1 and they are so excited about it! I hope they have a blast living and growing together.  C3 is coming with us for the time being and then will probably head to CO after retirement. Her sweetie is getting stationed to CO in August so they are excited about that and future visits.
Emi wise - so happy she is healthy! She has not had a seizure since Jan 26th so apparently we have her meds at the right dose at last. She is coming with us to NC as well! *S* Of course!

Art wise - have not been doing much recently but I am good with that because...
Scrapping wise - I am getting TONS of scrapping and digital pages being done because of TWELVE.
Writing wise - gathering more and more stories of family history and journaling for scrapbook layouts.

New Projects wise - Patti and I have been working on indexing the 1940 US Census. Its been lots of fun and so interesting to be able to index the Hawaii census. We learn so much about this beautiful place and how things and people have changed over the years. Mainly for the good!  We also both are involved with AWAIAULU which is a transcription project of Hawaiian newspapers dated from the 1800s. What an honor and privilege to be able to assist in saving this part of history for future generations. You do not need to speak Hawaiian to help just be able to copy what you see and save it digitally. I am sure that every little bit helps me learn more of the language though.

This morning I just finished putting together the materials for 8 mini books. Patti and I made and completed 2 yesterday and so I went ahead and got the rest of them ready to be bound together soon. I added some distressing to some music paper and am including that in the books as well. This all came about because I was trying to empty some drawers filled with journal papers, etc. in anticipation of our upcoming move. Two drawers got emptied and future journals of various uses are being created. I will share them once I get them all done.

NC Road Trip Journal

NC Road Trip Journal, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.


Here's a sneak peek at a travel journal I made for our upcoming road trip.