inspiration monday

i can't think of a more perfect way to end a wonderful pottery barn journal adventure than by adding this final sketch of a fabulous little garden bistro!

a quaint little bistro tucked away in a secret alcove somewhere (maybe even your back porch!).....with aromatic lemon trees growing out of ornamental clay pots, placed next to stylish chairs that are adorned with orange-stripey cushions to sit on.   and it's all so inspiring, why not indulge in a special little drinkie (you know, the kind that comes in a special little wine-shaped bottle?!).

 many of you have commented that you'd like to see this journal from cover-to-cover, so i made this video......you can watch it here in larger format, if you like!

thank you, pottery barn, for the many wonderful hours of enjoyment and inspiration you've given me in creating this special journal!  and thanks to all of you bloggy sweeties for inspiring me to create the video!!  xox

{journal page created using koi watercolors, micron pens, graphite pencils, 
uniball signo white gel pen}

inspiration monday

when i created my pottery barn journal,  i used this tutorial by teesha moore (she has a great method for taking a large sheet of watercolor paper and transforming it into a 16-page journal!).  as a part of her design, there are little flaps that measure about 2.25" on the inside front and back covers.  and every time i pulled out my journal to fill another page with pottery barn goodness,  i wondered to myself what in the world i was going to put on those skinny little pages.  and now that i only have two blank pages left in my journal (woo hoo!), i was getting a little nervous about the "skinny little pages" thing, because i still didn't have any ideas.  but, thankfully, inspiration gave me a hand this past weekend.....

and i realized that these skinny little pages were the perfect spot to include an explanation for why i created the journal in the first place......

a place to give inspiration the spotlight!

and while the front-cover-flap was purely about my inspiration, i added some other

details to the back-cover-flap......

because if i don't have it written down, 

there's no way i'll ever remember what materials i used!! 

and since inspiration was giving me a hand, i decided to go ahead and put a little something on the back cover of my journal, too

 (this was another space i had no idea what to do with!).  

even though this is meant to be the back of my pottery barn house, i think it kind of looks like it should be the front of the house.  but then i decided that many times when we find a place we really love, we usually head towards the back door........because that's where we feel comfortable enough to go ahead and hang our heart on the door!


{supplies:  koi watercolors, derwent inktense pencils, micron pens,
graphite pencil}


p.s.  the doors to the letterLAB open today! 
time to have some cursive fun!!   woo hoo!!