Meet My 2 Fancy New Journals

Once I started eating and living more responsibly, for a healthier life, I learned how journaling can be a powerful tool in staying successful in your journey.  I believe that this is a journey that never really ends, you just make a lot of stops along the way and ... how you live determines how much fun those experiences can be.  I've always thought that journaling should be an important part of your life, but I cannot tell you how many times I've cleaned out drawers, bookcases and shelves only to find many, many journals that I started ... and ... that was it ... only a start.
A good friend suggested that I combine my love of art into my journals.  Wow!  What a fabulous idea.  Now, I've started and actually filled up many, many journals.  Journaling has become an important part of my life ... and I need a great journal to do it.  Here are the last 2 journals I recently finished.  I love them!

This first journal cover is one that I made up as I went along.  I couldn't tell you how to do it, even if my life depended on it.  It involves a bit of Pearl X Powders and a lot of gold embossing powder, with a bit of stamping at the end of the process.  As I heated the embossing powder, I kept adding more powder, a pinch at a time.  It was an incredibly messy and wonderfully fun project.

The inside pages are edged with paints and/or watercolors, with random stamping throughout the journal pages.  By the way, I ordered my journals from Amazon.  They are called Dylusions Creative Journals.  These are a 5 X 8" size.  I've tried several sizes and like this size the best.

The pages in the journals are made from sturdy papers specifically designed for mixed media projects, so they are perfect for watercoloring and/or stamping.  You do not need to Gesso the pages before using them.

I added just a snippet of ribbon to the elastic closure on each of my journals.  I love how they turned out!

I loved the first one so much that I started out trying to recreate it for my second journal.  However, this time, the more embossing powder I added, the smoother it got.  (The first one is wonderfully bumpity.)
I soon came to my senses and realized that I couldn't recreate the first journal ... and ... why would I want two the same anyway?  So ... off to a new design plan.  Remember, these are 'make it up as you go along' journal covers.

After I'd finished all the embossing, I decided to use 2 of my favorite butterfly dies.  One die is designed to fit over the top of another.  It wasn't quite long enough, so I added 2 more to the lower part of the journal cover.  The larger die cut piece fit perfectly around the elastic closure.  I cut them from watercolor papers, to give more depth and texture.
TIP:
To adhere pieces like this, I make a puddle of glue on my craft mat and use a piece of sponge to dab the glue onto the die cut piece.

Once the glue was dry, I spritzed them with water and sprinkled on some Brusho.  I hadn't gotten my hands all colorful with Brusho for a while.  It was great!  I love and will always love Brusho.
After the Brusho dried, I embossed with clear embossing powder, to make sure the butterflies were secure, adding in a few pinches of gold embossing powder here and there.  I absolutely love the end result.  It will be hard to top this one, once it's full.  This was a messy, time-consuming project and well worth the effort.  I can enjoy this one for months to come!

It's amazing that you can start out in a similar way and end up with two completely different projects.

In the past, I created journals for several of my favorite journaling projects ... art, quotes, scriptures, funny sayings, inspirational ideas, daily tracking of eating and exercising ...  Now, I combine them all into one great journal.  This is a better system.  I mean, after all, how many journals can you juggle at one time?  I'll probably eventually convert the other partially started journals that have separate topics and areas of focus, all into one - like these.
Have you tried creating a journal, using art as a part of it ... or even a journal that is all art?  Give it a try.  I think you'll be glad you did.

UPCOMING CLASSES / EVENTS …

SALE-A-BRATION (SAB) PREMIER EVENT / 2:00-5:00 / $18.00

February 2 / Pay to register by January 26.

It’s a party.  It’s a class.

REGISTRATION CLOSED.  My class table is full.

I have a few kits available, while supplies last.

SCRAPS AND PRAYERS / 5:30-7:30 / $18.00

February 10 / Pay to register by February 3.

We’ll be making some fun cards at this class.

PAPER PUMPKIN CLUB / FREE FOR MY LOCAL PP SUBSCRIBERS

February 18 / 1:00-3:00 / BRING YOUR KIT.

SCRAPS AND PRAYERS / 5:30-7:30 / $18.00

March 9 / Pay to register by March 2.

Project TBA.

PAPER PUMPKIN CLUB / FREE FOR MY LOCAL PP SUBSCRIBERS

March 17 / 1:00-3:00 / BRING YOUR KIT.

MORE CLASSES AND EVENTS - - - TBA

That's it for now.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog neighborhood.   

Have a beautiful day!

... and then there were 4 ...

Here, once again, are all 4 of my Art Journals.  I'm ready to dig in to working on some inside pages.  Which one do you like the best?   

Yesterday, I finished all of my Perpetual Birthday Calendar.  It was really fun making it.  I'll be sharing it as soon as I can find a good place to do my photo shoot.  I usually use my front porch because the light is so good.  With our recent big and beautiful snowfall, I don't know if that will work right now:)  I also have a bunch of new cards to share with you, so be sure to come back soon.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Art Journal #4... Because I Needed One More

Yes, here's another journal to share with you.  This one is full of large, blank pages... just waiting to be filled with creative goodness.  Oh the joy!  It is actually designed for using as a Mixed Media Art Journal, so I feel like I can get a bit of crazy goodness going and it can take it.  Here's the cover:

The photo does not do this one justice.  It is gorgeous in real life.  This one involves lots of paints, spritzes, sprinkled and heated EP, and lots of messy fingers work.

The elastic slips around to the spine side, when you want to open the journal.  You keep it like this and it keeps the journal closed, even if your pages get a bit bulky.  It opens up pretty flat and there are no spiral rings to work around which, after doing my other 3 journals, I really like not having to deal with them.

I used 2 sizes of our Butterfly Thinlits Dies to cut the butterflies.  I attached them with a layer of gesso and then put a couple of layers of gesso on top of them.  I absolutely love how they look on the cover.

I did not do the back cover yet on this one.  Sadly, I have to set it aside now and work on some other class prep.  I'll dive back into it soon and look forward to sharing the results with you.

 I actually got one more little journal in the mail and it has Kraft pages, so that will be an entirely different story... which may not even be mine to tell, because Aaron has his eye on it and he kind of knows how to give me that puppy dog look.  I have a hard time saying no to books or art supplies for kids.
SCRATCH THAT.  HE NOW HAS IT AND HAS FILLED UP SEVERAL PAGES ALREADY... USING MY NEW OIL PASTELS.  He is so creative.  He keeps it mostly at my house but begged to take it to school yesterday to show a friend who also has an art journal.  This makes my heart sing!

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Art Journal #3... a Journal With a Secret

This is my third Art Journal... for experimenting and just playing around, creatively.  This Art Journal has a secret!  It's our Stampin' Up! This and That Journal ('Documented') and I wanted to see how it would be to use it as an art journal.  I think this is going to be a ton of fun.  This journal will truly be a 'This and That' journal.  I'll share inside pages as I work on them.  For now, here's a look at the covers.

This cover started out with a couple layers of gesso and a sprig die cut from CS.  I used gesso to attach the sprig and then went over it with a couple more coats of gesso.  It worked beautifully.  After that dried, it was a matter of playing with spritzers until I got the look I wanted.  To make the leaf sprig stand out more, I outlined the leaves with our gold Stampin' Dazzle marker.  I added bits of shading with the marker and by dripping bits from the spritzer and then blending parts with my finger before it dried.  Talk about fun!!!  Working with your fingers can be really messy, but necessary, and just adds to the fun, really.  After I felt like it was totally finished, I added the Scrabble Tiles for a title.  I 'aged' them with some Distress (Vintage Photo) Ink.

Here's a look at both covers, front and back:

Here are all the This and That journals that Stampin' Up! has available now.

Because this journal is kind of unique, being a This and That Journal, I realize that I will still need at least one more journal... with big, blank pages... for larger projects.  No problem.  It just came in the mail a few days ago.  Yes, another project awaits me.  Life is good!  The cover is almost finished already, so I'll be sharing it very soon.

I really like how this one turned out and can't wait to share the next one.  Come back soon and check it out.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Art Journal #2... A Small One

Here's my second art journal.  This one will be used for experimenting with smaller art projects.  Is my cover finished?  It is for now... but I may decide to do more later with it.  Time will tell.  For now, I love it.

This cover included bits of paints, spritzes, stencils... and again, it was...
SO MUCH FUN TO CREATE.
This cute little blank journal is one I had left in my 'stash' after it retired from our product line.  I'm so glad I kept it.

I love these little 'findings' I added to the cover.

After completing the inside of the front and back covers using black gesso, I decided that I'll keep this entire journal with black pages.... maybe...  Whatever I decide, I know it will be really fun.

I think gesso is my new best friend.  I can't believe how wonderful it is to work with this product.  It takes the spritz, paint and anything else I can throw at it.  I've always loved spritzing my projects, so this is a win/win situation.

I used part of a stencil to get the 'coffee rings' effect on the back.  There's no right or wrong way to do projects like this, so it's always fun.  If I really didn't like it, I could always gesso over it all and start all over again.  No fear... only fun!!!

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Creating an Art Journal ... Getting Started

If you've been following my blog, you know that I've started in a slightly new direction.  In keeping with one of my goals for 2015, I have promised myself to spend more time in my studio just creating... for the sheer joy of creating.
I decided that, in order to do this, I should start an art journal.  If you know me at all, you know that I don't usually start small on anything.  So... I have been working on several journals.  I decided that I should have a larger journal, to explore and create larger projects and a smaller journal, to explore and create smaller projects.  I felt that I still needed a third journal, as well.  Because Mixed Media often involves experimenting with new products, I wanted to keep a journal of samples of types of products and their colors, as well as brief notes on techniques for using them. 
Here's a look at the journal I'll be using for my color samples.

This is a left-over journal from when we carried the large, blank journals.
The front cover involves a layer of gesso, paint daubers, spritzing, stenciling, and more painting and spritzing.  I may add a title later.  I'm sure I may think of more I want to do with it, but I like it for now and it was SO MUCH FUN TO CREATE!!! 

Here's a close-up of the focal pieces on the front cover.  The butterflies were cut from our Butterfly Thinlits die.  I love the dies and have used them so much since I got them that they haven't even been put away yet.

I love the little 'findings' that you can attach to it.  I tried attaching them with our Crystal Effects and let them dry overnight.  We'll see if they hold up to frequent use and handling of the journal.  It's pretty strong, so I think they'll be fine.

Here's the back of the journal.

Here's a little peek at the first inside pages.  These show a sample of 2 spritzes I used.  I've labeled them, so they make for an easy reference.  I will later add some art work.  Even though the journal is for color and technique samples, I still have plenty of room for a little art play.

I hope my art journals will inspire you to try spending some time creating... just for the joy of creating.  I actually have several journals going right now, so I'll have lots to share as I explore various creative ideas.

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world.

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.