Art Journals! My inspiration for you today is coming from a lovely lady named
Ingrid Dijkers, who's all about mixed media. Back in January I took a class from her on art journals, how to get started, what to use, what to do an art journal about, etc. It all came down to "anything goes"! The best part of class was looking at her books, and examples that students had brought. They were fabulous and they made me want to do this. It was different than scrapbooking but it incorporated so much of what we all already do. Do you doodle? Do you save random bits from your outings with family & friends? Do you love to tell stories? Do you want to just play regardless of where you are? Do you want to just get your story down and not worry about coordinating your pattern paper, cardstock and embellishments? If you answered yes to those questions or even some of those questions then I think you might just find that creating an art journal is what you've been missing. It is basically an illustrated journal, whether it be your daily personal journal or a journal you take with you when you travel. It's a collection of your thoughts, sketches, doodles, notes, magazine and newspaper clippings, photos, ephemera, etc. It can be used as your brainstorming outlet or a home for your thoughts. Before you know it you'll have a scrapbook of your hopes, dreams, wishes and daily musings! Like I said earlier, anything goes. You don't need much to get started, a notebook and pens- the more colors the better. You can add in paints, pastels, markers, pencil crayons and pretty much anything else you can get your sticky little hands on! I get my inspiration from a few sources but this link
here to Ingrid's website is wonderful! From there you can find her blog and also find all sorts of other talented altered art and altered journal ladies! Most importantly, have fun, enjoy the process of making your journal and do not stress about what your page looks like. I promise that when it's done or full you will love it!
Here are a few page I started, I blended pastels to create the back grounds for these three pages and I will have you know that when I started I had no idea what I was doing, I just played and before I knew it I had a finished page!
Have Fun & Be inspired!
This magazine, Where Woman Create, is most definitely my source of inspiration these days! The pages are full of inspiring, creative & artistic woman whom are sharing their spaces and their stories with us! I bought my first issue two weeks ago and thought to myself, "this is the best magazine I have ever bought." I read the magazine's opening message and was hooked! There are no layouts, no how tos, instead there are stories about real women and how they created a space that they love, how they follow their passions! Where Woman Create is out in stores now and can be found at Treasured Memories (I think they sold out but I can't be sure), at Michael's and I do believe at Chapters & Indigo. You can also check out their website here. If you're looking for something new to get lost in while you're taking some down time (which you should all be doing) then I really do recommend this magazine.
