Fake Journal Wrap Up

April is the month each year that I

create a Fake Journal.  Four months have passed

and I'm just now getting around to posting

a Wrap Up of this year's project.

Stop by my Fake Journal blog,

Cottonwood Counterfeit Journal to see

all of the images from this year's Fake

Journal, and my thoughts on the process.

I think Eccentric is fun,

don't you?

Hobonichi Techo Collage

Click on any image to enlarge

Hobonichi:  A Japanese company specializing in

planners and accessories, which encourages their

customers to "Make it your Life Book."

Techo:  Japanese for 'planner'.

Collage: A composition or design made by arranging

 and gluing materials to a background surface. 

My Techo is the A6 size English planner, so it's

roughly 4 inches by 6 inches, and the quotes on

each two-day spread are translated into

English. They are not necessarily 'motivational

quotes' but rather quotations from books, and

are often quirky or amusing.

I challenged myself for the month of August

to create a collage each day.

Scrapbook paper, envelope liners, doodles,

painted papers, scraps sent from blogging

buddies...they're all resources!

Our daughter asked us to volunteer at a Nascar

event, to benefit the Music Boosters at her school.

Hubby thought it sounded fun. Above, my pass for

the day. Our job was to help attendees on and off

of the Trams that went from the camping area to

the racetrack. We met lots of happy people from

many different places, including Canada, England,

Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.

Since I dressed for sun protection and comfort,

my appearance that day was very odd, especially

with the addition of the red vest we were required

to wear!  (as my 'selfie' cartoon clearly shows)

The open-air Trams had chains or ropes

as 'guardrails' at the end of each row of seats,

fastened with caribiners.  I found that when you are

trying to be efficient and quick, that is when you

become the most clumsy at unfastening a

caribiner! (I don't think I will ever be a rock climber)

I had taken a backpack with drawing supplies,

but we were kept busy all day, so no chance

to sketch!

When someone comes up and stands beside you and blocks
your view, you might end up with 'half' a person. Can you
spot her?

Always interesting times when we visit the daughter

and son-in-law.  Daughter plays in a praise band

at her church, and they also are 4-H advisers.

So we went to a small-town parade and a barbecue

fund-raiser on Saturday, and got details about

the planning for the 4-H booth at the Fulton

county fair.  I expect we will go to the tractor pull,

and I will try to do some sketching of the 

animals again. Stay tuned...

I recently exchanged some Happy Mail with someone

in Washington state, and received a lovely package

stuffed with vintage ephemera from 

#forgottengems (on Instagram) The above collage

includes some of the goodies she sent. 

Linking up for T Tuesday, where we share a 

beverage related post with our hosts

Bleubeard and Elizabeth.  Last week there

were 10 coffee cups in my post (if you count the

one that was repeated a second time) but you

could actually have counted the magic potion 

as a beverage too, making 11! 

How many cups do you see this week?

Wizard Finale

I rather hated to see the end of July arrive,

as I've enjoyed drawing Harry Potter characters

and creatures so much!  Top left, the Hippogriff: 

a magical creature with the head and wings

 of an eagle, and the body of a horse.

Top right, Hermione's familiar: this cat could recognize

untrustworthy people and creatures. (the model

was a Persian cat image online)

Hubby is doing much better after his fall off of

the ladder last week.  He still has some sore spots,

 but at least the muscle spasms have mostly

 subsided. He even went to the State Fair with my 

daughter and I. He is a good sport, and puts

up with my sketching adventures...

and, our son drove all the way from Tennessee

to Ohio to help finish the dreaded "Gutter Project."

It was good to see him, and we are very 

grateful for his help!

To fill in some information for those who haven't

read the Harry Potter books, the owls carried

wizard's messages, just like our mail, only way

more entertaining!  The Niffler is a magical

 creature that is very fast and cunning,

but so cute. A Niffler will steal any shiny object,

especially jewelry, and is very difficult to

apprehend if allowed to escape. 

The Pygmy Puff was a magical creature that was

sold in the Weasley twins' joke shop. (It looks 

suspiciously like the Tribble from Star Trek) I

don't remember if it had a function other than 

being cute.  The baby dragon, which the Wizarding

School's gamekeeper hatched from an egg, was

pretty fierce even as a baby.  It kept setting

things on fire...

The popularity of Harry Potter's wizarding world

seems unabated, and you can even take a quiz

online to see which 'House' that you would be

in at Hogwarts School of Wizardry.  According

to the  Pottermore site (which has the approval

 of the author, J.K. Rowling) it turns out

I would be in Hufflepuff.  Probably because I 

value Trust and Loyalty very highly. (Plus I don't

see myself as highly brave, for Gryffindor!)

It's all in good fun, and hypothetical, of course.

The Patronus is an ethereal being conjured with 

a very difficult, but powerful spell.  The Patronus

cast by each witch or wizard reflected the strengths

and personality of that wizard.  I think the description

compares with the Spirit Animals with 

which each Native American identified. 

 I was surprised to be a black bear!

And on the last day of the month, the prompt

was to explain what wizarding career you would 

have.  No fighting monsters or Dark Magic for me...

just let me make cool stuff!

I am a bit sad to see the end of July,

as it means...

I didn't find any drawing challenges that struck

my fancy, so I guess I will just make collages.

It will bulk up my journal and make it 

chunky for sure!  Joining

Bleubeard and Elizabeth for T Tuesday,

for which I've drawn many coffee cups!

What are you drinking today?