A Peek into my Sketchbooks and Notebooks...

A while ago, Silver Moss Jewellery shared her notebook and I said I would do the same. I think a lot of crafty folk quite enjoy having a nose at how others work, be it their sketchbooks or work spaces.

My sketchbooks aren't all that interesting from the outside I'm afraid! Here they are:

The large grey one Mr W gave to me. Not as a present! I needed a notebook, he had one lying around... So, what's in this one exactly? Well, anything and everything to do with my art and craft business really. Sketches, website layouts, avatar and banner designs, craft fair table layouts, costings, tutorials, quotes, acetate images, photos, to do lists, business plans... You get the idea!

• Costings and Christmas ideas:

  

• Sketches for glass painting and an experiment from my Folk of the Forest range:

• Tasmanian Devil images for a polymer clay model someone commissioned, photo of polymer clay Christmas wine glass charms, some mini photos and a teddy bear ready for tracing onto acetate: 

• Book binding instructions, quotes and giraffe for glass painting:

The white one is actually rather lovely. It's from the White Collection, a present from my mum and dad. This one is mostly for polymer clay designs, usually in colour!

I always date everything. These pages are 5 years old already. Wow!

Then I have a few notebooks with little camera images all over them. An old colleague gave me a few of these. I think she'd been given a load and didn't quite know what to do with them! In here I write down camera techniques. Despite being an avid photographer for many years, I still find it hard to remember what buttons to press to get certain effects. I just don't have that sort of brain! The other one has blog ideas. I have a similar notebook for my children's book ideas as well.

The top notepad is one of my handmade books. The cover is a photo of a beautiful Canadian lake. My first ever Folksy sale was a set of these notebooks actually. This one contains mostly lists - swaps, blogs, shopping lists, to make...

What I realised when I looked through these books is just how many crafts I've tried over the years. There are notes on jewellery-making, Fimo, photography, glass painting, book binding, image transfers, illustrations, painting, French memo boards... all sorts!

I thought about starting a new book for The Small Art Company, which is now my focus, but rather than being a completely new venture, I feel it's more of a continuation of what I've always done. It's built on what I've learnt and the many failed experiments... My art and craft has been one long journey, so it makes more sense to just carry on in my old trusty books...

Anyone else want to share their sketchbooks??