It all began with mixed media artist called Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.
Julie has a great podcast called “Adventures in Arting”. Her Mom is her sidekick in this venture. Together they interview people in the mixed media girl or they chat about Julie’s latest adventure. They are a super engaging team.
In a recent episode Julie introduced me to a “bullet journal”.
A bullet journal is popular with millennials. It is used to track your business life, academic pursuits, your daily activity and long term goals. It’s a catch all for a busy life.
The idea sounded interesting so I checked out some YouTube videos and now I am hooked!
My Cover.
After listening to the podcast and watching a couple of videos; I pulled out a sketchbook from my unused pile. (I have gotten tons of sample sketchbooks over the years at art education conferences)
The sketchbook I selected was a spiral bound book filled with all the sample papers produced by a particular vendor. It included everything from a heavy watercolor paper to vellum. A variety of papers would turn out to help me make unique pages. The journal is small enough to put in a purse if need be but right now I keep it in my studio.
Creating a cute cover
First I gessoed over the vendor’s image and logo. Next, I painted, colored, doodled and stamped until I had a good design. Since I used plenty of dots and circles; I named it my “Dot Journal”. (You can add a title to the cover, decoupage,use stickers or just leave it blank and start organizing.)
Inside my journal is “idea”storage, inventory tracker, shows to enter lists, balance sheets,note keepers, checklists, etc….
It’s my all around life saver.
Look at the things I kept track of when I started. the indexing is growing!
Begin by counting the number of pages (mine is a little more than 40). The first pages are the index. (I used two pages) Write down page numbers in a column. Draw a line for each number to fill in the page title. Next print page. numbers neatly in the upper outside corner of each page.
I started by adding a few pages I knew I would need: inventory, calls for entry , dates to mail accepted work and balance sheet. Leaving a number of pages between titles helped me to allow for expansions if needed. All the titles began on odd numbered pages so would at minimum have the front and back page.
*I couldn’t resist getting out a variety of stamps and pens to give individual pages a little visual pop.
Page with stamps and homemade fabric tab.
(Using small scraps of material for tabs turned out to be a great idea.)
As I started using the journal I began to understand what a great resource this journal would become.
My number of pages increased rapidly . It seemed like everyday I was adding a new page and updating existing pages. For example; I added a page called thread notes after I had a bad hour with thread bunnies on the back of my quilt. After figuring out which needle, tension, bobbin thread, etc… Now I use this page all the time. I have less issues with machine which makes me more productive.
This is a page that really helps when I forget stuff like what tension to use.
I have a section of pages for future projects.
This helps when I am looking through calls for entry. I can match a call with a project that already interests me. I also keep track of entry fees and awards. Having one place where I see what quilts are in a show, heading out to a show and what quilts are just sitting around helps me focus my energy on projects that will be shared with a larger community and steers me away from making a project for a call that does not speak to me as an artist.
I have high hopes that this idea will spread with art quilters.
Until next time….
Margaret
You can see my work…….
Turmoil
International Quilt Festival – Chicago, Illinois: April 2017
Under The Western Sun
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden CO
April 27 – July 25 2017H2Oh!
National Quilt Museum, Paducah Kentucky
June – September 2017Sacred Threads
Herndon VA
July 7 – 23 2017 and Traveling through out the country!Pathfinders
Southern Utah Museum of Art
Cedar City Utah
June 30 – August 26 2017The View
St. George Museum of Art
St. George Utah
April 28 – August 16 2017Untethered Thread
Poway Center for the Arts
Poway, CA
June 1 – June 24, 201735th Annual New Legacies
Lincoln Center
Ft. Collins, CO
July 5 – August 26Interpretations: Conversations
Visions Art Museum
San Diego, CA
October 21 2017 – January 7 2018