Category: art journal

anything challenge…

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It’s ANYTHING GOES week! YAY! So how shall I avoid all actual work/responsibility and just play? hmmm…
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Simon is, as always, offering a generous $50 voucher that will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries each week. Join the fun by creating a project this week – and for your chance to win a $50 voucher you should hop on over and join in the challenge here. It’s “anything goes” this week and so I’ve painted and sprayed up my most recently completed art journal.

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Supplies Used:

 Note: a paper towel in wet gesso is how I got the outstanding texture. LOVE me some paper towels!! My Art Journaling class (which is complete and available as a self-paced course) saw a lot of me working in this journal so I thought it was cool timing to complete the book with a bit of cover décor.

Art Journaling: on the path and exploring…

It’s Friday the 13th tomorrow so shall we talk about something scary?! hee hee

Sharing my personal art journal pages isn’t something I do often. In fact… I would say that it is something like 1% ever have been seen by anyone but me! Keeping that private and just for myself was always a big part of the allure. Total freedom, no possibility for judgment, and absolutely no worries. Doodles or paint, a random list, technique, it doesn’t matter in my space. It’s all accepted and it is all wonderful. Quite honestly? It is how I do what I do.

So the choice to create a class based around my personal art journal process and system wasn’t done lightly. In fact I went back and forth for a long time about it but ultimately decided if I could help even one person break free of expectations and rules that it’d be worth it.

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This class is now (nearly) completed – meaning all the prompts, PDF files, and many hours of video are completed on my end and all will be accessible as of February 18. If you’d like to sign up and take this as a self-paced course you’re welcome to here.

The page you see above is maybe 1/2 done and the final project of class. I love the visual of walking into a dark ‘scary’ unknown and seeing what you’ll find.

I’m still learning, improving, growing… but aren’t we always?

When you see my pages from my art journal some are more successful or polished than others. Doesn’t make them better. It is just how it works out sometimes because I strongly believe that it should be a place for raw creativity. No pressure no rules at all. It should not be a place where you ever have to be concerned about finishing, making it pretty, or what anyone else might think or say about it.

I find more wild ideas and new inspiration by just taking pressure off and wandering in my journal… I hope to have the courage to share more here in this public space in future. In the meantime I keep on exploring and walking down this path…

Let it go… and journal.

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There are new products and lots of fun happening at Simon this month – be sure to check it all out! We’re kicking things off with a fun challenge this week – to be bold!

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I cut out the letters (by hand/my own design), put a piece of plastic down, and got stamping!

1. Stamped with white embossing powder for larger snowflake

2. sprayed the heck out of it with dylusions mists

3. Stamped/edged with silver.

4. Removed plastic backing that was protecting the next page, and glued this page to it!

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I had so much fun with this one – it makes me so happy to play and ‘make like queen Elsa’ in my art journal too.

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Supplies Used:

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Simon is, as always, offering a generous $50 voucher that will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries each week. Join the fun by creating a project this week – and for your chance to win a $50 voucher you should hop on over and join in the challenge here.

Go forth and be bold in your stamping, at least that was this week’s challenge!

Love note to myself. (an art journal of postive writing)

This is a project I’ve been keeping private because honestly? It’s nobody’s business but my own.

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Then this week’s challenge came along, and I kept thinking about my project and how maybe I should share.

So here’s the deal. I have a small art journal and whenever I think of it, I write a whole page worth of nice things. About myself.

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SHOCKING concept, I know.

But I’m raw, honest, and whether it is about a specific situation or more in general – I write as candidly as I can. It can be something hard, something sad – but I don’t write here to vent bad feelings. I write to uplift and inspire myself. Encourage and pat myself on the back.

Then I cover it with gesso.

And do some art.

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This has been SO therapeutic. So freeing. So artistically wonderful!

What I love is that I truly do write my most private thoughts because they get COVERED. They’re out there, but I never have to worry about someone judging me or finding my inner most thoughts and hopes because there is art over them. Oh, but they’re there. Sometimes I can see small glimpses and I like that too.

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I have found that I like to put quotes, mantras, and otherwise positive and uplifting words to finish my art. This week- I found it utterly hilarious that there is no “try” in Tim Holtz chit chat stickers – which made my use of the quote (yoda- a personal favorite and mantra!) all the better. To make “Try” I took a word that started with TR, and another that ends in Y and spliced them together.

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The page itself? Done with gesso, gelatos, and just layering color. In the photo I don’t think you can tell (or maybe you can) but it’s a lady walking away (head + shoulder visible). Well, she’s not walking away – she’s heading into her bright future.

Supplies Used:

50dollar_voucher_600px The challenge this week: “Love Notes/Letters”. Simon is, as always, offering a generous $50 voucher that will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries each week. Join the fun by creating a project this week – and for your chance to win a $50 voucher you should hop on over and join in the challenge here.