Fabric Art Journal Cover

 I am so in love with this project right now! I'm getting ready to head to a women's retreat with my besty who happens to be a knock out artist (www.rcrunningwild.blogspot.com). She is going to be leading some art journaling sessions and asked me to do a cover as an example. I fussed over the idea for a bit then decided I would make a fabric book of my own since I always drool over the ones in Sew Somerset magazine and Cloth, Paper, Scissors. This is so fun!!

 I wanted a heart theme for the cover and I wanted to play with the Angelina Fiber I just bought.

 Swirls are a pattern I am always drawn to and these are some of my favorite fabrics pulled from the stash-o-plenty in my cabinet.

Stamping on fabric was one of my first creative efforts and I love it. Here the stamping adds depth where it shows through the mesh fabric. I planning to use this journal to try new techniques on a small scale before using them in projects. I will continue to share as it grows!

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Art Journal Expression

I have never been comfortable with drawing or painting - not my forte to say the least. But forcing myself to ignore my inner sensor and just play, without concern for the end result, is a big, big step. I've been finding that letting go of a "plan" and letting my creative mind wander allows for other ideas to flow. Often I will stop and write them down on a notepad nearby to keep things going without stressing over remembering those great ideas. I am a mom and my post-its have post-its, but that's how I roll!

This journal spread was put together with book pages, fabric scraps, images torn out of magazines and newspapers that caught my eye for one reason or another and whatever color I was feeling at the moment.

There is no "right" way to art journal and I do it strictly for myself as the mood strikes me. The first time I picked up a paint brush it felt foreign and wrong in my hand but I'm glad I worked past that block. I hope you will try something new, maybe something that scares you a bit or feels foreign - its how we grow!

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Project 12 - Week 1

This week was a busy one! Lots going on with the family so I was determined to get my 12 minutes and am proud to say I did! I was in the mood to play in my art journal which lends itself very well to small bits of time. My BIG PROJECT of the week was cleaning the studio! It feels great in there now and I am excited to get going on purses for the market this summer!

Day 1: Preparing journal pages...not super exciting but must be done in order to go forward.

Day 2: Slapping some Gesso and paint on there!

Used this cool utility tape from Lowe's for some texture. My friend Renea' gave me some to use and I don't even claim to know the actual purpose for it.

Day 3: Adding some Sharpie doodles and stamps. Starting to think a lot about getting to visit Paris this fall!

Day 4: Renea' and I geeked out on some serious You Tube craft videos and saw a super cool way to fancy up a picture. This is junk mail I had snagged from work!

Tore off the face and Collage Pauged it to the page.

Then Gesso'd over it.

After the Gesso dried I used oil pastel crayons to redo her look.

She might be a little intense (my son says creepy! HA!) but in my not so highly traveled mind I think she actually looks a little French!

Days 5 and 6 were spent painting the purse I shared in my last post and day 7 consisted of me in a ball on the couch surrounded by magazines, scissors and a box of fabric scraps....NOBODY wants to see that! Ha ha! But seriously, this week was a perfect example of taking a little time for something I really want/need to do and how much better I feel when I have even the smallest of outlets! On to week 2!

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Today's Gratitude

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." - A.A. Milne, and/or Winnie the Pooh.

Another journal spread.



A friend put this picture on Facebook. She said it came from Mothering magazine. It made me think about how nice it is to snuggle with my kids so I printed it from Facebook to include in a journal page.



Paint, vintage wallpaper, scraps of paper and a piece of fabric from the Grandma quilt.

Doodling is becoming fun!

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Mixed Media Journal

MY INSPIRATION JOURNAL...


Mixed media art is everywhere and my addiction is growing! My friend Renea' is an awesome paper artist and after months of oogling and wishing, we took the plunge and decided to give mixed media journals a whirl. With her support and a few supplies I bravely stepped away from my sewing machine to try out our new craft.

But where to begin??

There are tons of amazing project examples on the internet and in magazines but I was still lost and not even sure if I had what I needed to get going. (I didn't even know that Gesso existed, or how to pronounce it for that matter.) Fortunately for me I came across Ashley at lilblueboo.com during my search. If you wanna be completely, overly, stupendously amazed at the crafting ability of a single human being I highly suggest you check out her site. And, again, I say WOW!

We chose her "composition book art journal" example to get us going and took it from there! Renea' dove in like a mad woman while I took a slower approach. (I'm still afflicted with flashbacks from grade school art class where it was painfully obvious a master painter I did not make!).

Some tools of the trade.



Doodle artist Traci Bautista's brand of mod podge.


So, half a glass of wine and a few loose directions later, I let myself be seduced by the no-rules approach to slapping on mod podge, colored paper, paint and whatever else tickled my fancy. I've kept a written journal for years and decided I wanted to make an Inspiration Journal; a place where I can put favorite quotes or images that inspire me and insights I want to remember and look back on later. These journals take time so instead of powering through I decided this will be a great project-in-progress. No pressure and I can apply different techniques to new inspirational ideas as they come along. I figured since it's for me and me alone I could let go of worrying about whether it actually looks like a first grader made it (besides, some of those kids are crazy good!!).

Here are some humble beginnings and I will be sure to share new pages and fun things to try as they come along. I'm excited to see how my journal grows. Hope you like it and maybe decide to try one of your own!




My first flower doodle. The ladies were printed from Stampington's inspirational quote of the week email and the big flower was outlined and painted from craft paper. I love how the typed lettering torn from a vintage dictionary and my writing add a layered look from under the paint.



This tag was soaked in coffee to age it, painted and covered in glossy mod podge. I love the loose texture of the ribbon.



The page as a whole.

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