31 Art Journals - Weekly Tips No 2, recaps and more!

Welcome to the second recap for the month where if you haven't been able to watch the videos during the week you can catch them all in one place on the same day and you can also catch up with any other video that takes your fancy.  I also get to give you a series of tips for your journals that you can apply when you are doing your videos.

Art Journal Tips

As your approaching your journal think about some of the excuses you give yourself for not spending time, what things can be improved, and how can you get more quality time spent.  Think about some of these tips are there any that you can try out and if not what things are you already doing that you can improve?

1. Use your journal to work on ideas, it is a great way to solve problems or work through new ideas.
2. Work in your journal on a regular basis, and make it a regular practice.
3. If you don’t have a lot of time, find a few things that you can do on a small scale, it could be adding some collage to a page, find one or two things that can be done so that you can keep the regular practice going.
4. Break down the things you can do in your journal will help you return on a regular basis.
5. There are many ways in which you can prepare a background page.  Adding collage as above, gesso the page, adding paint, adding embellishments, working on the front of the pages, it is yours, remember to play and experiment.
6. Have fun in your Art Journal.

Here are the Art Journal videos for the Week

No 11

No 10

No 9

No 8

No 7

I would love to hear from you, what has been your favorite journal this week, and how many of the tips can you put in place to work in your own journal.

31 Art Journals No: 11 - A Star is Born

Welcome to today's Art Journal

A Star is born

I have only given you a peak of one of the pages today to encourage you to check out the video below in which I give a flip through.

This journal has been up-cycled from a children's book.  The pages have been sanded and gesso applied to allow the paint to adhere better.  Think about all the different ways that you have seen to make your own Journal 

Check out the video to get a better look at the art journal and what inspired the pages. 

Tomorrow you will be getting the recap of the week with some tips, and on Sunday you will be seeing an art journal process video to give you some hints for your own journals.

The Video

Stay blessed and be a blessing!

31 Art Journals - Art Journal No: 10 - Gratitudes and Celebrations Journal

Welcome to Journal No: 10

It is great to be able to revisit some of these journals and give them a new life, and share them with you.

Draw me nearer - Journal Page - Amanda Trought

I think this is one of my favorite journals, it has been the most involved one and it is totally handmade.  This draws on inspiration from artist Teesha Moore, and some fabric journals that she shared many moons ago.

The Journal encompasses all the things I enjoy about mixed media, and then I get to play within the pages.  I included a lot of beading and stitching work to cover the front and back of the journal, and added quite a few signatures of alternating sizes.  You can see it in its original state HERE

I did a series in the Gratitude's and Celebrations Journal and in it I would list those things that I was grateful for and complete a journal page.  Can you think of 3 things that you can be grateful for?

Check out the video to see a flip through of the pages.

The Video

31 Art Journals - No 9

Welcome to today's Art Journal

Art Journal Page - I am enough

Welcome to Art Journal number 9!  In the 31 Art Journal Series. This art journal is a store brought A4 book that I embellished with fabric, crochet and beads

This panel should have been the front of the journal.  Made from a jeans pocket with 'Just Art' stitched on the front, but somehow it ended up at the back (lol)  a place to hold upside down pens!

You are enough....This was a journal page that I created for those times when you start to criticize and compare yourself and you need a bit of encouragement.  You can see the post about it HERE

I really enjoy working on the paper in this journal, when you add gesso it gives the page a lovely texture.  As the Journal is A4 in size it allows for a more detailed page, and larger spreads.  This is another thing that you might want to consider in what you may want to use your journal for.

The Video

Check out the accompanying video to get a good view of the inside of the journal, and come back later to see Journal No 10.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

31 Art Journals - No 8

Welcome to Journal No 8, the video for this journal was released yesterday and you can see it below.  

I will be uploading the blog post for today's Art Journal shortly.  Maybe you want to compare them and think about what you prefer in each.  If you are making your own journals you might want to incorporate some of the ideas from either one or both and bring it together under one journal.

I am sharing with you a Pound store Art Journal that I created and a shop brought journal that I covered with fabric and wool and made it my own.  Each very different in what they are being used for, but both special in their own way.

The first, the Pound Store journal is made from cardboard and a paper pack that I brought from my local pound store, you might have similar depending on where you live in your local Dollar store.

I even made beads from some of the content

The pages had 3 signatures which I used to house different types of journaling

I also included secret compartments and pockets and created a number of tags from the paper.

I included a reminder that the journal was a place to take a break and to relax in, and most importantly if you only have a limited time you need to create a space for yourself that you can recharge the batteries.

I really enjoy this Art Journal, and has you have seen in most of the other journals I have left space for growth  and comments that I may want to put in now.  Again so important to make your art journal work for you.

The Video

Check out the accompanying video to see more of the inside and learn a bit more about the pages.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

31 Art Journals - No: 7 - Soul food

Welcome to Art Journal No 7, my Soul Food journal.  It is called that because it has incorporated some of my favorite

online courses, and a couple that I have taught on myself.

The pages have been made from water color paper and some recycled card and I enjoy the different textures that are within the Journal.

Art Journaling is food for the Soul and whether you work on a larger scale or very small, taking part in the creative activity is very nurturing and can have a wonderful impact on your health and well-being.

It is another Journal that I can experiment in and grow

I practice some of my backgrounds here as well with a variety of materials

And I find peace within its pages.

Check out the video above which I explain a bit more about the journal and its pages.

I did a process video of the following Journal page for you to see, it is called 'Let Peace Reign.'

Let Peace Reign

  I am really grateful to have you show up today, and I hope that I can encourage you to start working on a journal of your very own.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

31 Art Journals - Art Journal page - Backgrounds Bonus!

Happy Sunday,  and welcome to the 31 Art Journal Series.  I thought it would be good to break up the format slightly and give you and example of creating a background for your art journal page.  This is just one way and I have a few more examples to share with you over the next few weeks.

Whether you have loads of yummy supplies or you don't you can always find supplies to suit your budget.

I took a trip to my local supermarket and found a cheap paint kit for kids that came with brush, roller, 3 primary colour poster paints, foam stamps a mixing bowl and brush holder all for £4.  I got an additional paints that were pearlised and cost £1 each.  You can even pick up larger packets of poster paint and these are especially good if your working on recycled materials and want to create several layers.

There are also cheaper brands that you can use when you are experimenting, and even with these you can get some really interesting results.

You can also use gesso and stencils to give you texture on your pages and instead of a brush you can use an old credit card to apply the paint to the paper.

Art Journal Tips

Here is a reminder of yesterdays tips

Backgrounds Video 1

Take a look at the video as I go through the steps.  I hope that you are able to pick up some useful hints and tips and look forward to seeing you next week for another series of Art Journals.

Stay blessed and be a blessing.

31 Art Journals - Weekly recap, tips and more!

Wow, a week has passed already!  I wanted to let you catch your breath and give you a recap - slightly changes the overall timeline.  Time flies so quickly and I understand that you might have wanted to follow along every day and weren't able to.  The weekly recap enables you to catch the 'season' all at once and binge watch if you so desire 🙂.

You will get a bonus 6 tips for the week and on Sunday will share with you something more practical and give you a 'how-to' art journal page video and this will hopefully further spark your creative juices for week to come.  This week we will be looking at one way to create background pages with inexpensive supplies.

We will start back again on Monday with the Art journal selection which will take us a few days into November, but I want you to have as much time to process the different styles of journals you would have seen this week.  There might be one that you want to try as well as have time out do one of the techniques shown in an art journal page you might have seen.

6 Art Journal Tips

1. Don't get hung up over what art journal to use 
2. Art journals can be brought, recycled up-cycled and made from a variety of materials
3. Experiment with different journals to see what type/size you like
4. While it might take more time, making your own journal will bring more satisfaction and you can make it to suit your specific requirements
5. When you start making your own journals, it will have you looking at your environment in a new way
6. Experiment with different materials, don't be scared to use different surfaces, and supplies - remember this is YOUR journal

Here are your journals that I have shown for the week 

Let me know which one was your favorite.  And if you create some backgrounds I would love to see them.  Stay blessed and be a blessing!

31 Art Journals - Day 6 - Graze Box Recycled Journal

Welcome to Day 6 of the 31 Art Journals, it is a pleasure to be here again and to share with you today's journal.

This is a recycled journal made from the outer cover of this Graze Box, which for those who are not familiar you can see the review that I did HERE  They are very tasty.

They contain a great selection of snacks that you can mix and match depending on your tastes.  

So I decided to use the outer cover of the graze box to make the journal and it was filled with a selection of recycled paper that I would be working on.

I created two journals out of the packaging and you can see the post HERE  They were great fun to make and it meant less things going into landfill.

After completion I began to add color to the pages and random collage material just to get something down and not have a blank page staring back.  This is a great especially if you have limited time, you can at least feel that you have got something creative done.

The completed journal along with some handmade beads to decorate the spine and a button clasp.

Check out the video to take a look inside the journal.

31 Art Journals - Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the 31 Art Journals, it has been great taking a walk into some of my Art Journals so far, I hope that you have been finding it interesting coming for a stroll with me.

The journals I am sharing with you today is my Creating in Faith Art Journal, which was part of a 30 day prayer journal group that a fellow artist call from Motley Soul started.

Out of this I also started a Creating in Faith series, and you can check it out HERE

For each page in the journal we were given a bible verse and we then interpreted it in our own creative way.

It was a great time of reflection and spending time in our journals and sharing our revelations with the other creatives on the online group.  It is another great example of allowing your creativity to flow and choose something that means a lot to you.

This is a journal that I can regularly spend time in as I meditate on the images drawn the meaning behind the scriptures for me, and maybe using those thoughts and creating another journal.

Within the journal I also created pockets, with tags that I could write additional words on.

Here is the video for today

31 Art Journals - Day 4

Welcome to Day 4.  Slightly later than I had hoped but better late than never.

This journal is the one I call my John Lewis Journal, because it started its life out as a John Lewis Catalog :)

I started it because I needed something to travel with when I was staying at my mums who I was looking after and just needed a break, without taking loads of supplies

I would use the catalog images along with gesso and red and blue and I would mask out some of the home and decor images and challenge myself by adding new ones.  I would mostly add people and try and integrate them within the space and let them tell a story.

As a carer it was great to use this journal in a way that would give me some time to myself, and it is important as a carer that you identify something that you can do even do for 10-15 minutes

That again is the great thing about creating in an art journal, and to make it your own, what you need at the time rather than what you feel that others are doing.

I have completed some of the pages, others I keep it for when I want to create a particular scene on the pages

Check out the video to see some more of the pages and think about what you can do in your own journal adventure.

Day 1 - 3

If you haven't had a chance to check out the other journals

Art Journal Day 1

 Art Journal Day 2

Art Journal Day 3

Stay blessed and be a blessing, and come back tomorrow.