Tag: glitter markers

Laminated mandala bookmarks 🔖📖

~ Ari October ~ 2 Comments

I’ve gotten really into reading again lately, and we’ve been frequenting the library. It’s hard to come home with just one book so we often find ourselves short on bookmarks! I’d been meaning to make some personalized ones for a while and I finally got around to doing it.

First I removed a sheet of paper from my sketchbook and divided the sheet into 6 neat rectangles on what would become the back side. My partner helped me with this part, I kept doing something wrong with the measurements and it became very frustrating. She managed to make perfect sixths. Thanks, Jazzy!

The second step was to lay guidelines for the mandala. I used an orange colored pencil so I wouldn’t have muddy graphite lines. Decided to use tools this time, even though I love fully freehanding mandalas. I knew if I wasn’t satisfied with the artwork I would start from scratch, and using guidelines usually prevents that from happening, so I decided to play it safe this time.

Then I doodled away until finally all of the white space was filled! As a finishing touch I added some glitter pen here and there, I just can’t resist sparkles! ✨

Next up was slicing up my work! A bit nerve wracking but I knew the results would be worth it. I signed each bookmark separately on the back before arranging them in the plastic lamination sheet.

Finally, the part I’d been waiting for, running it through the lamination machine! It’s my mom’s and it’s over 15 years old now but it still works like the first day we got it. Shout out to my mom for her help with this project! Couldn’t have done it without her. We ran it through twice, then I cut out the bookmarks to their final sizes and then ran each through the machine one last time.

And there you have it, some cheap DIY bookmarks that are built to last!

I used Tombow water based marker and INC glitter pen on Strathmore mixed media sketchbook paper. I want to try doing watercolor bookmarks next time!

Lamination machines are probably not a common household item, but if you know someone who has one or happen to have one yourself I really do recommend trying to design your own bookmarks. There are some alternative methods to “laminate” things that you could also try.

It’s really nice to have that personal touch added to a frequently seen and used item. I know these babies are gonna be used a ton and I’ll always remember making them! Hopefully they will even motivate me to keep up my reading habit!

An art challenge that did not go as planned- a successful failure!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

Armed with my new monogrammed lidded mug and fresh home-made poppyseed bread, I made a feeble attempt at filling 9 pieces of marker paper in 24 hours or less.

I only accomplished one piece in 5 hours, most of that time spent researching references or procrastinating, and now I’m mentally exhausted!

I’ve had this idea floating around in my head lately- “wouldn’t it be fun to try to fill an entire sketchbook in a day?” And since I haven’t touched this Strathmore marker paper pad in over a year, I asked my partner if she’d like to partake in a silly challenge with me.

There were 18 sheets left in the paper pad, which I divided into 9 sheets for each of us. I thought that if we really gave it our all we could definitely get this done in 9 hours or less… Oh how naive I was! Sure, it’s only been 5 hours since we started, but I can tell for certain there is no way we will successfully fill all 18 sheets in the next 19 hours.

For starters my partner and I are both perfectionists. Part of the point of this challenge was to overcome our perfectionism, but to the surprise of absolutely no one: that’s easier said than done. Second of all, we both have ADHD! That part speaks for itself. It’s probably hard for anyone to dedicate a whole day to one activity, but it’s especially so with ADHD in the mix. And lastly… Making art takes so much mental energy!! I was hoping we would really let loose and just do some really bad doodles… and my partner was attempting to do just that… She still ended up calling it a day after two sheets full of thumbnail sketches. I got totally sucked into wanting to make something that looked good, so in the same amount of time I only accomplished one piece. At the very least my partner got down several different ideas!

Despite all of that, I’m so happy we decided to take on this silly challenge! It got us to draw, it got us to start using up materials that have just been collecting dust, and it got our creativity flowing. We probably won’t fill up all 18 sheets in 24 hours, but even then the challenge still accomplished exactly what I hoped it would!! A very successful “failure” from my perspective.

I went into this challenge with very low expectations, knowing full well that this exact scenario might occur. I accepted the possibility of failure in advance and gave it my all anyway, and in doing so I was able to do more than I probably would have today otherwise.

It’s better to quit 15 minutes into the race than to never pass the starting line in the first place! Trophies for participation might be unnecessary, but I find that participation and the experience that comes with it is it’s own reward.

We will still try to fill up this paper pad as quickly as we can, perhaps modifying it to another “fill one page or more a day” challenge like we’ve done in the past. Definitely more manageable and a lot less pressure!!! Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to succeed at a sketchbook-in-a-day challenge, but I’m content with today not being that day.

That vent art I was talking about in my previous post… (CW: miscarriage, pregnancy)

~ Ari October ~ 5 Comments
I drew this the week after we found out I was carrying our rainbow baby, as you can see I wasn’t feeling very optimistic.
[Glitter markers and black Posca on rough sketchbook paper]

So, I’m pregnant again. I updated my “about” page a while back to reflect this, but unless you’re new here you probably haven’t seen that.

They say it’ll happen when you stop trying. For us that really was the case, I conceived the same month that I completely and utterly gave up. It’s really annoying it worked out that way though because that is the most condescending and insensitive advice you can give to anyone trying to conceive.

Due to how traumatized I am from my first pregnancy ending in miscarriage, I have spent most of this one convinced that something will go terribly wrong. It doesn’t help that I already have a severe anxiety disorder, I worry about everything all the time no matter what!

So far though, everything is going suspiciously smoothly. We have seen our dear “Birdie” (their nickname until they are born) twice now, and both times they were in perfect health for their gestational age. We are now in the 14th week and if everything continues to go as planned they will arrive in October.

Of course, now we’ve been exposed to COVID-19, so I have a legitimate reason to worry about the health of our baby. That hasn’t been fun at all, I had an extreme panic attack the day we found out, and now I’m worried I hurt Birdie from panicking so hard! Hopefully nothing terrible will happen, most pregnant women who get COVID end up fine and have healthy babies. I just can’t forget the stories of loss, those lost mothers and children matter so much to me. I wish this pandemic never happened.

The longer this pregnancy progresses, the more I get my hopes up. It’s impossible for me to regain the naivety I’ve lost though, I’ve read plenty of horror stories about late miscarriages, stillbirth, and neonatal death to know that you’re never truly out of the woods. Life is just crazy like that. If it’s alive, it can die. It’s not fair and we don’t have to like it, but life in general isn’t fair and shit just happens.

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer but honestly that’s just who I am. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m extremely excited and grateful for this child. I even dedicated an entire blog to writing letters to them. (Although frankly a lot of those are pretty depressing too. I’m not the kind to lie to my kid and try to shelter them, life is hard so I’m gonna be honest about it! I want them to get to know ME… not a projection of who I wish I was.)

You shouldn’t be all that surprised that this isn’t a unicorns and butterflies kind of post though, it did say “vent art” in the title didn’t it? Haha.

Well anyway, thanks for reading, if you read any or all of that. Any well-wishes, prayers, words of sympathy, etc. are very much welcomed and appreciated! It’s gonna be a looong 6 more months.

Prompt drawing with our nephew! “Unicorn on a lazy Sunday”

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment
This cute doodle took about 25 minutes total, just a fun little quickie.
Doodled on the white inside of a Banquet dinner box! #Upcycling 🙂
Like I always say, if it’s not glittery, why bother!?

I asked my partner’s nephew if he ever draws. Apparently he does! When he’s not playing video games or bored to death with school work. He said we should all draw together, using this prompt generator he downloaded onto his phone.
My partner and her nephew both went off something I said, since they were having trouble figuring out what exactly to do with the prompt. I said, “what do you guys do on a lazy Sunday, why don’t you draw a unicorn playing video games or something?” So they both did that. Hilarity ensued!
And I of course took a cutesy route, because I am a sucker for cute stuff. Plus, I had already grouped my 3 purple Copic Ciaos together, thinking about doodling a mandala or something, and figured that’d be a perfect pallet for a unicorn 🙂
Certainly not a masterpiece or anything, but this prompt got me drawing something I normally wouldn’t have even considered drawing, and I think the result is quite endearing.
I gifted the finished piece to my partner ❤