i know i've mentioned Dyan Reaveley - Dylusions products a few times here on the blog but i don't think i've mentioned that i'm actually quite a big fan (and have been for quite a few years) of both Dyan Reaveley - she's one of my absolute favourite artists - and her art journaling products, which include ink sprays, paints, stamps, stencils, journals and much more. when i first stumbled across Ms Reaveley's work i immediately fell in love with her fun and quirky style, her easy-to-use products, her honesty and directness (she really is a truly inspiring human being), the colours and simple techniques...
i started out buying a few colours of ink sprays and played around with some manila tags at first. it all kind of went out of control from there - haha!
i have a large Creative Journal which is a big blank book, roughly A4 sized, with lovely thick paper that takes inks and all sorts of other mediums beautifully.
(since the video i linked to was filmed, more sizes and formats of Creative Journals have been released: a smaller size (A5); square; "flip" which is a narrower, horizontal one in two sizes; and a square and A5 filled with black pages - all with the same great quality paper.)
mine's still far from finished but i use Dylusions stuff for all sorts of other crafts too, not just art journaling or mixed media.
here are a few of my favourite pages so far:
i do a lot less art journaling than i actually want to but i was still surprised just now when i pulled out all of my Dylusions products to see how much i've collected so far - and pretty much ALL OF IT very well used and loved!
(and today i placed an order for some ink sprays that i'm running low on and since the store's having a sale a few other things like stencils and a new Dyalog cover accidentally fell into my shopping cart...)
about one-and-a-half years ago the Dyalog system came out which made my book-loving heart sing...
the Dyalog is similar to other traveler's notebook brands. it's a modular system where you have a cover with elastics across and around the spine that allows you to temporarily "bind" your own books. there are various insert booklets - "logs" - available and you can mix and match and use them for whatever you like.
i've had mine for a while now and i'm particularly fond of the one with the black pages and the one with the pre-printed backgrounds that allow for instant (and mess-free) collaging, drawing or journaling.
i used my first black Dyalog insert as a travel journal when i went on a trip with my husband last summer. i mostly wrote in it but did the occasional little sketch using paint pens and i taped a few things in as well.
my favourite pen to use in this is the white Posca Paint Pen by the way, as it dries very fast and has great opacity. any kind of gel pen works too but gel pens need longer to dry - i have a few pages with a kind of palimpsest-effect from when the paint pen ran out and i had to use the gel pen.
this is what i've created in the insert with the ready-made backgrounds so far. i love how easy it is to just make something pretty by sticking down random pieces of ephemera. and despite the Dyalog insert books being much smaller than the journals, the paper is still the same quality which takes inks and paints and all sorts of altering beautifully.
there are eight different inserts: the black one, a blank one, a grid one, a lined/ruled one, a dotted one (for bullet journaling), a handwriting-lined one (for practicing handwriting and calligraphy), the background one and the agenda one (with an undated weekly overview on each spread).
i've not used all of mine from the first order i received, but i still had to get the ones from the second release which are the same on the inside (except for the background one which was sadly out of stock when i ordered) but came with a different design on the cover. i really couldn't pass on them, now, could i...?
along with the new insert cover designs came a new blank cover (all the Dyalog covers are made of a very sturdy canvas) ready to be painted and decorated. i'm still thinking about what i want to do with this one.
(and as mentioned further up i've placed an order today which includes yet another cover that was originally released as a special, limited edition to be shipped only to a specific chain store in the US and i had no hopes of getting my hands on it. but apparently it was so popular that they've decided to un-limit the limited edition and when i saw it was in stock - and on sale too! - i couldn't resist. when it arrives i'll show you which one it is and why i just had to have it...)
i'm hoping to get a lot more art journaling and mixed media stuff done during the next weeks and months. i enjoy it immensely whenever i do it and i miss it when i don't and yet sometimes i struggle to get the motiviation and inspiration up and running...
here are a few more pages from my Journal and my second black Dyalog insert - i'm trying to practice my doodling:
lots of love! xxx
p.s.: i wanted to mention that this is not a sponsored post! this is just me rambling on about art supplies i like to use and an artist whose work i admire - no-one offered me any money or free stuff for posting this.