Art Journaling the Local Scenery In My Moleskine Watercolor Journal

I have had a series of images floating around in my mind involving the beautiful environment that I live in. Inspired by this, my daughter and drove through the local countryside with our cameras, capturing anything that caught our eyes. We took a lot of photos, most of which we didn’t like, but looking through my images, I noticed a trend. Nearly every photo I took was included vivid blues and greens.

I decided to create a quick  illustration to sum up my  experience using oil pastels in my trusty Moleskine A4 Watercolor journal and this was the result.

I used oil pastels in the Moleskine Watercolor journal to capture the vivid colors on my photo shoot.

I underpainted the illustration using purple watercolor so it would show through the blue. I like this effect better than effect of white showing through.

The final result is not an exact duplication of the photos I took, but a simple expression of my view of the experience. To give you an idea of what the illustration is based on, I have included a few photos from my outing.

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11th Carnival of Pen, paper and Pencil

11th Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper at the Tiger Pens Blog is now open. Be sure to visit for some interesting posts from stationery obsessed people. If you have a blog post about pens, paper or pencils, remember to send in your submissions to next month’s Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper.

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Review: First Look at Daycraft’s Vogue Planners

Daycraft’s Vogue 2010 Planners feature striking, modern designs that are uncommon in the day planner market.  These diaries pack efficient planning layouts, useful accessories and beautiful materials wrapped in a thoughtful, beautiful design both inside and out. The Vogue planners are available in four sizes and two formats, and three different cover designs.

Daily Planner

Daycraft's Vogue Planners are available in both daily and weekly planning formats in several sizes.

Daycraft’s Vogue 2010 Planners feature striking, modern designs that are uncommon in the day planner market.  These diaries pack efficient planning layouts, useful accessories and beautiful materials wrapped in a thoughtful, beautiful design both inside and out. The Vogue planners are available in four sizes and two formats, and three different cover designs.

Daily Planner

The page-a-day or daily planner I reviewed has 408 pages. It has a flexible, brown, suede-like cover imprinted with an abstract floral that wraps around both front and back covers. A vertical ribbon embellished with a plastic repeat of the floral design adorns the front. At first glance, it appears as though this is an elastic strap, but it is not, although you could slide a piece of paper or notes underneath. While I love the design of the planner, I am not a fan of the plastic charm and I think it would get caught on things over time. Fortunately, it can be easily removed. The daily planning format includes hourly lines for 8:00 am through 10:00 pm in addition to three lines for notes at the bottom of each page.  A small monthly calendar is in the bottom, right corner of each two-page spread.

One-page-per-day planning format has hourly lines from 8:00 through 10:00 pm. Each month is distinguished by a color bar at the top.

A monthly overview and lines for notes are at the beginning of each month.

A forward, monthly planning calendars in the back of the planner allow for future long-term planning.

Weekly Planner

The smaller, pink diary has 232 pages and includes a weekly planning format. The cover is flexible and has a spongy feel similar to the cover on the Rhodia Webnotebook. An abstract, circle design has been embossed on the front and back covers. This planner also features a vertical ribbon embellished with a plastic charm. Each two-page planning spread displays one week with Monday through Wednesday on the left and Thursday through Sunday on the right.

A colorful ribbon and plastic charm decorate the cover of the planner. The ribbon is not elastic and it is only on the front of the cover. Its primary purpose appears to be decorative.

The planning format is one-week-per-page.

Each month is preceded by a different color and design and a monthly planning calendar.

Each month is distinguished by a different color and design.

The Daycraft Weekly Planner includes beautiful graphics which are perforated for use as notes or labels.

An address book in the back of the planner is great for storing contacts.

Features

Both planners feature colorful designs throughout the planners with each month having a different color and design that is displayed at the top of each page. Each month starts with a full-page of colorful design, a monthly calendar, lines for notes and a quote. A color-coordinated ribbon bookmark helps you keep you on track.

Small monthly and yearly planning calendars and tons of informational pages are included in the planner. You’ll find information on public holidays, world time zones,  IDD codes, conversion tables, pages for notes and a large address books. Information on Hong Kong banks, airlines, hotels, telephone numbers and rail systems are included, too.

I am unsure if the paper is acid-free or not. The color is fairly bright, but the paper is thin and somewhat translucent. It is on par with the paper in Moleskine’s planners and not suitable for wet pens or markers. It should be fine for those who use ballpoint pens , but anything else has showthrough and a substantial amount of bleedthrough.

Final thoughts

Daycraft’s Vogue planners are beautifully designed, efficient and packed with lots of useful information. The design stands out from the plethora of simple, black planners and would be a good choice for those who crave something unique. The materials appear to be top quality with exception of the paper, which is a bit thin and translucent for my taste. If you are using ballpoint pen or pencil, though, you will be more than satisfied with this planner.

Unfortunately, these planners are not available in the US at this time, so if you want one, you will have to find one from an overseas supplier.

These planners were supplied to me as review samples by Hong Kong-based Daycraft who produces a large line of beautiful diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks and corporate planners. Their products are designed in Hong Kong and manufactured in Dongguan, China by the Tai Shing Diary Ltd.

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