Paper & Mixed Media Craftalong 2022

I considered spots of some sort, but my brain refused to do more circles, so squares won out. The irregular pattern was kind of freeing, although I had to fight the urge to be consistent about the groupings :laughing: .

Lesson 6, and I remembered that I canā€™t draw even-looking diamonds:

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How clever to use those postits up like that! I also have a ā€œcollectionā€ā€¦

I really like your marksā€¦I have started a marks page in my instruction journal because I just canā€™t think of marks when I am doing a project without a prompt to help me!

I finally finished off my Fodder Journal from Lesson 1 of Fodder School. I had all the parts done but after talking with @photojenn , decided to make a much larger spine to accommodate the seven signatures I made. I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad for your tip because as I started filling in the pockets, the folders were getting quite fat!

I used my underpaper for the covers.


Inside with painted file folders:


I have plenty of pockets to be able to neatly and safely store my pieces and find them!

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Wow, thatā€™s fab. I never made one, still using all the Talenti gelato jars my mom & sisters save/give to me.

Love it!!:heart_eyes: I might take the signatures out of mine and make another cover with thicker spine. Maybe Iā€™ll make some signatures out of mixed media paper to put in the original :thinking:

I made the holes 1 cm apartā€“it was a bit overkill but the good thing about that is the folders lay flat when you open the book! In my next book, I am going to punch more holes and bind it differently as well. It is a bit floppy for my tasteā€¦I canā€™t wait to make that twirling book and learn more watercolor stuff on Monday!

Plusā€¦I am now obsessed with underpaperā€¦I bought a huge stack of newsprint at Staplesā€¦lol

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I finally remembered the class and did the first four lessons today! I already love to add circles to my doodling, so that was fun for me.

I didnā€™t like the first one, but I walked away and let it dry, and now I added some more things and I like it much better.

My favorite is the dots all over. I think itā€™s because the background is ledt over paint from the first and so there is some dry brush going on.

I already love to doodle with bigger circles, and once I added black to the tiny circles, it changed the appeal. I almost went black like many of you, but decided to do a greyish blue.

These are 4x4 inch paper. I can add my new padding compound and make them a book when Iā€™m done if I decide to. Hehe! I used acrylics and Posca pens.

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I also love the one with the dots all overā€¦it has a lot of layers. The colors are nice and bright and in all of them, they are so interesting! Glad you remembered and did them!

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Iā€™ve just spent a bunch of time watching the gorgeous trailers of the Alisa Burke classesā€¦ how to choose?! Which one have you loved the most?
I like the idea of choosing the Doodle Petite class, to work and share alongside you all, but the homebody, woodland whimsy, earth inspired, ocean alchemy and imagination journal look so great too!

Also, does the paint bleed through on her composition notebooks? Or is there another step going on there? I bought one composition book here, and the pages are SO thinā€¦ not very good at all. Perhaps theyā€™re different to USA?

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I love using the cheap lined composition books. Especially with acrylic paints. The paper gets almost a leathery texture when dry. I use the pages for collage or to journal on. There is some bleed through but if you are going to use the backs, you can cover it upā€¦the bleed through using markers is harder to cover us, especially if you use black.

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Thanks for that information :slight_smile: Maybe I should take @photojenn 's advice and Just Begin? :heart_decoration:

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I have so many unfilled journals, memo pads, etc. because I never wanted to mess them up. If I made a mistake or didnā€™t like what I put in there, whether it was a list for groceries or some doodles, I would abandon it and start a fresh oneā€¦seriously, I moved an entire box of such journals and pads, some only have a few sheets used.

I have learned a lot about ā€œno mistakesā€ and ā€œjust beginā€ that I wished I had learned years ago.

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Same here :disappointed:. After taking Alisaā€™s classes I realize I could always cover the pages with paint and add doodles. You can always add more layers!

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Iā€™m not a big fan of the composition books personally. Theyā€™re cheap and work well enough but life is too short for me to use supplies I donā€™t like working with. I got some of these little sketchbooks and I love them. Theyā€™re not that much more expensive than the composition books and the paper is much nicer.

The main thing Iā€™ve learned from Alisaā€™s classes is use what you have and like working with. She likes her classes to be accessible to everyone so she uses simple supplies you can get at any store and keeps her class price points really low. So if you have a different journal or sketchbook you like working in, use that!

As for which class to take, pick the one youā€™re most excited about. The classes of hers Iā€™ve taken are all 30 days of short (4-7 min) videos where she shows you a technique or style as a starting point and then itā€™s up to you to interpret as you wish. She is not a prescriptive teacher who tells you how to make exactly what sheā€™s making step by step. So I think picking whatever youā€™re most interested in is the way to go.

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Okay, Iā€™m all caught up. I couldnā€™t get my video to play for the diamonds, but the examples were enough.

I definitely like these better using mixed color backgrounds.

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I had a case of FOMO and did a few doodle pages of my own. I didnā€™t sign up for the petit doodle class but Iā€™ve done several of Alisa Burkeā€™s classes so had a good idea and picked up the small journal I already had in progress that had some painted backgrounds already done

I just stuck with black and white paint pens.



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Thatā€™s a clever idea using post it notes if you didnā€™t feel like painting backgrounds.

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@AIMR your fodder journal is amazing!

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I prepped more pages and did todayā€™s lessona

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@photojennā€¦I also bought a few (25) little journals with better paper now that I am moving out of my control zoneā€¦I am even writing my lists in them because I plan on painting over them as wellā€¦lolā€¦

These are the last of the lessons in my little journal:


Look how happy and bright this little journal is!

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Love all of the colorful pages! :heart_eyes:

I donā€™t need more journals butā€¦ which did you get? :joy:

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