My digital bullet journal set-up and some flowers

Firstly, I want to say thank you all for the caring messages regarding my Mum. She is still in horrible pain but they are trying different medications to see if they may help.  

I did end up having a lovely Christmas with three of my sons. Quiet but nice.

 

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My potted Frangipani is in bloom, known as Plumeria to some. I'm still waiting for the 2 I have in the backyard garden to bloom.

Also my potted Canna Lily. The flowers are very fragile and, this particular day, I was in love with how the sun shone through the petals so had to snap a pic.

Canna Lilies are also known for their spectacular leaves. The leaves on mine are not as spectacular as other varieties because this one is the dark leafed variety - Tropicanna Black

 

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With the new year approaching, I have been busy setting up my bullet journals for 2022. I keep an paper AND a digital bullet journal. I've shown my paper journal before. If you didn't see it, you can check that post HERE. I love working with both. I usually work month to month in my bullets. What I write in one, gets updated in the other.

I don't carry my paper bullet journal with me as it would add to the weight. I'm one of those people who carry everything but the kitchen sink. I usually have a small cross-body bag for wallet, phone, keys, and sanitiser, as well as, a tote for utensils, small torch, multi-gadget tool, tissues, wipes, etc...well, you just never know if I'll need them. On top of that, I also carry a couple of sketchbooks, pencils, pens, etc. in my tote so as you can guess, space and weight are an issue. With my Digital Bullet, I love that I can access all my bullets from my phone, no extra weight at all. I can even use the Search feature to look for something specific.

Anyway, I thought you might like to see some screenshots of how I set up my Digital Bullet Journal. I used Tables in OneNote where I created Templates for different spreads/collections which I can then copy and paste over into a new month. All I need to do is add the dates which are done in a jiffy.

 

As with the paper Bullet Journal, I also use a Key for my Digital Bullet. 

Below are the Annual Sections. I password-protect my journals hence the little lock. I love that I can access any of my bullet journals, anywhere, any time.

If I click on TEMPLATES, you will see all the Spreads I can utilise. These are the blanks that I created using the Tables function in Microsoft OneNote. Each month, I just copy and paste them where needed. The beauty of Tables is that I can add or remove columns/rows easily.  

 

(NOTE - You can click on any image to see a larger view of them all)

 

An expanded view of December with Monthly and Weekly sections

This is the Month Template view. I add the dates for the new month when I paste it over. Easy-peasy.

Below is the December month view where I can add more as needed. The Teal and Orange highlighted days let me know at a glance which week we put 1 or 2 wheelie bins down at the roadside for collection. Believe me, it's so easy to forget. Orange = 2 bins; Teal = 1 bin.

And the weekly Template view 

 

Dates added and the weekly spread is in it's place and ready for filling in each day.

You will notice I use Dark mode for my digital bullet journal as it's less strain on the eyes. I love Dark mode and use it everywhere I can, including my Social media apps. However, if I wanted to, I could easily switch to Light mode with the touch of a button in Options. Below is an example of a Weekly spread filled-in, after selecting Light mode.

I also use a Brain Dump spread for the year, rather than monthly. I like that I can see the whole year at a glance. This is where I quickly note anything of interest to me throughout the month that I don't want to forget. An example below. The highlighted text is for art-related notes. 

 

I also have a Future Log which most Bullet Journal users will be familiar with. Basically, it's where I place future appointments, events, To-do's, that are not yet active. 

 

Those are pretty much my main Bullet Journal sections and then I have the Collections which are different for everyone.

 

My Book Log for 2022 at the ready

Part of this year's Book Log

I donate throughout the year, mostly to animal sanctuaries, so I felt it warranted a Collection too. 

 

A partial screenshot from this year.

And set up and ready for next year

Trackers are a big thing with lots of Bullet Journal users. I did create one of those too using Tables in OneNote. I must admit that, with all my back and hand issues this past year, I gave up on filling it in. Maybe I will be better at it in 2022. I just copy and paste this Template into a given month to start tracking my habits by ticking the boxes.

And the same Habit Tracker in Light mode view

(remember to click on any image to see a larger view of them all)

 

And that ends this very long post. If you managed to read it all the way to the end...thank you. I understand Bullet Journals aren't for everyone but I sure do love mine and have been keeping the analogue version since 2015. 

This will be my last post for the year so I hope you all enjoy a great New Year's Eve whatever you do. Let's hope 2022 will be a better year for all.

 

As with our usual New Year's Eve tradition, I will be partying and staying up to welcome in 2022 with three of my sons. Not sure if I will be staying awake the whole night to greet the dawn like Bradley (son) and I normally do...but we shall see.

See you in 2022! 

Love, Light and Peace to All!

rose drawing and happenings

Another week has flown by. This winter has not been kind to me as far as my asthma goes. Cold, winter air is a big trigger for my asthma and I had another bout of Asthmatic Bronchitis, though not quite as bad as the previous one. Poor Aaron has been sick with flu and his brother Beau was also sick with flu...negative on the Covid test. Phew! 

I thought I might have been getting their flu too but was spared a severe dose, probably thanks to the annual flu shot and taking cold medication as soon as the first sniffle appeared. 'Nip it in the bud' as my ex used to say.

This is another graphite drawing I did in January, back when I was on a roll. I used charcoal for the background. 

 

 

And below was the graphite drawing I did before adding the background and a bit more detailing.  I love how the dark background made the rose pop. 

 

The reference image credit goes to Karsten Paulick on Pixabay. A direct link to his photograph can be seen HERE. Thank you, Karsten...much appreciated. 

 

You may remember this Sumi ink painting of daisies I did back in 2017 for INKtober. I think I might try painting the rose above in Sumi ink also.

 

 

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Over the past few months, I've been hearing a lot of buzzing/whirring from the sky...kinda like a remote controlled car.  Earlier today, I snapped a rather fuzzy pic of the culprit. It was some distance away. A commercial drone!

 

 

After further investigation, I discovered that our area now uses commercial drone delivery! Cool! Apparently, commercial drone deliveries are only active in our area (Logan) and Canberra, as far as Australia is concerned. Do you get drone deliveries in your area? The company hopes to expand which could well happen as it seems to be quite popular around here. You can order coffee/tea/hot chocolate drinks, snacks, hardware, hair products, clothing, pet products, and even some grocery items, etc...as long as it weighs 1.2kg (2lb 10oz) or less. You can learn more about commercial drone deliveries HERE. I wonder what the delivery costs are?

Another thing I saw in the sky recently was a cloud funnel. I get a kick out of seeing stuff like that so ran for my phone to take a pic.

Apparently, a cloud funnel is made up of condensed water droplets, associated with a rotating column of wind and extending from the base of a cloud but not reaching the ground or a water surface. Interesting!

To end this post, here is a pic of sleepy Kya wondering what that thing is that I'm always pointing at her.

Her look makes me think of the following meme that circulated around social media ages ago. So true...in Kya's case anyway. lol To be fair, she is the perfect cat 99.5% of the time.

 

Will post again soon, 

Serena x

AEDM - Day 30 - Succulent

Hi everyone, 

We made it to the final day of Art Every Day Month! I'm so happy that I managed to post every day. I'd like to thank Leah for hosting this wonderful challenge for November each year. It has been so nice to be a part of this community of amazing women! I hope we will continue to catch up via each others' blogs. 

I sketched a Succulent for the final day.

First a rough pencil sketch. 

Followed by watercolours and black ink pen

The full journal page 

To see what my fellow participants did for today, click HERE.

Thanks to everyone who has visited 

and left such lovely comments on my posts. 

Each and every comment is greatly appreciated.

It has been an absolute pleasure to visit you all too. 

Where to now?

My gardenia shrub is flowering. 

So a couple of gardenia pics to end this post for November. 

Their perfume is amazing! 

Thanks again to all my fellow AEDM participants! 

Love, Light and Peace to All.

AEDM - Day 28 - Fish and Flowers

Hi everyone, 

We had a fun night at cards and I did win a few rounds. YAY! I crawled into bed around just after 2am and was back up again at 4:30am. Needless to say I'm feeling very tired and zombie-like right now (8:30pm) so it will be a photo post today. 

My Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum) is in bloom so thought you might like to see some pics. I'm a big fan of succulents and this beauty is around 13 years old. It started out as a small cutting from my Mum's Desert Rose. After nearly three years, it barely grew at all and never flowered to the point where I nearly gave up on it. 

Then the following year, it just took off and look at it now!

Its bulbous belly has fattened up quite a lot over the years.

In January last year, Aaron (son) set up a fish pond under our pergola 

You can't see it in the pic but there is an aerator (bubbler) in the pond. 

He bought 1 Shubunkin Goldfish and 2 Oranda Goldfish to live there. 

They have grown quite a bit since then. 

I took the following photos a couple of weeks ago.

 The Shubunkin is the darker one with black markings

When they see me coming with their food each day, 

they gather at the edge of the pond 

with their mouths open. 

It's really hard to get decent photos of them as they are 

constantly moving plus the water is very reflective. 

To see what others have posted for AEDM today, click HERE.

See you tomorrow...

Love, Light and Peace to All.

AEDM - Day 26 - Rose

Hi everyone, 

Today, I give you a rose for Day 26 of AEDM

I need to fix a few things I'm not happy with but, 

for the most part, it's finished.

To see what other participants have done for today, click HERE.

I can't believe tomorrow will be Friday! 

Where has the week gone?

I will catch up with my fellow AEDM-ers in the morning. 

Love, Light and Peace to All.

AEDM - Day 12 - Frangipani flowers WIP

Hi everyone, 

I sketched some frangipani flowers for Day 12.  I used one of the photos I took of our frangipani tree in bloom last year. It is a work-in-progress at this stage as they are not quite finished.

I used only ballpoint pens this time around.

A closer look 

To see what my fellow AEDM-ers have been up to for today, click HERE.

I hope your week has been going well. 

Love, Light, and Peace to All.

Scribble Picnic - Finland

Hi everyone,

This is a crazy time of year for me as I'm sure it is for many of you so, needless to say, I'm late with my entry this week for Scribble Picnic.

Michael chose the theme - Finland/Scandinavian. I did a little research and discovered the Finland invented the Sauna as well as Ice-skates...who knew? Well I knew they were big into saunas as my brother-in-law was Finnish. My neighbours in a previous house were also Finnish and they had a sauna specially built as an add-on to their home. I was going to go with sketching ice-skates but opted for Finland's National flower instead - Lily of the Valley.

This was done with a mix of graphite, Prismacolor pencils, and watercolours...even a wee touch of black ink too.  I sketched it in a Strathmore Tan-toned sketchbook.

First layer

Final layer

To see what my fellow Scribblers have done for this week, click HERE.
Next week, the theme is DREDEL/SPINNING TOP/TEETOTUM...that will be an interesting one! Why not come along and join us?
To find out how, click HERE.

I hope you've all been enjoying a lovely week. My son and I have been busy with choir practise for our upcoming performance at one of our major hospitals. This is our fourth year participating in the hospital choir. SO much fun!

Have a lovely week!

Flowers in black and white

I was so inspired by Alisa Burke's recent post about her statement wall 

that I decided to go with a black and white accent in my lounge room.

It ties in perfectly with the black photo frames I bought a few weeks ago.

The piece above was painted, freehand, with black acrylic paint, a liner brush,
and a large round brush for blocking in areas.
It took me 2½ hours to complete.

I had some fabric which I'd bought to make a privacy curtain 

for the slim, tall window beside our front door so I laid it over a chair
to inspire me while I painted.  Of course, daffodils had to be included
being that they've been my favourite flower since childhood.
My sketchbooks came in handy for that because I used a couple of  daffodil sketches
as a guide too. 

And the end result looks quite lovely on the lounge room wall

I sewed the privacy curtain for the long, fixed window beside the front door.

Aaron (#4 son) kept rubbing in that, when we first moved into this house,  

I'd said I would make a curtain for said window. 

It's only taken me SEVEN years! lol 

Well, I have a busy life, ya know.....

For the curtain rod, I simply painted a piece of dowelling rod black
then attached a couple of black, plastic finials at each end.
I LOVE the privacy curtain!
No more do I have to worry about being in my PJs while watching TV
and have someone knocking at the door and peering through the window
into our lounge room.

I felt quite accomplished after all that.