Art Journaling

 Art journaling is one of my “mostest” favorite things to do!  And I especially like small spreads.  A small spread means that I can spend as much or as little time as I want and still walk away pleased with my work.  And that is what is important in art journaling - for you to be pleased with your efforts.

Late in the fall, I made a small art journal using Kraft Tex and then I painted and stenciled it.  And I love this little journal.  It just feels good when you pick it up - almost as if it gives a little sigh of happiness in anticipation of being opened.  And of course, if you to pick it up, there’s no question but that you are going to open it.  Sometimes I open it and flip through the pages, looking at what I’ve created; other times. I imagine what will be created next; still other times, I actually open the book and begin the process of creating a page or spread.  I usually like to create pages that compliment each other as they are opened side by side.  Not quite a “spread” in the traditional sense, but just almost.

Today, my little journal was calling to me, so I opened it and began to do some ink blending while watching a YouTube video.  And I guess that I have totally ruined all of my inks, because in that video, I learned that you should never use the same blending tools for regular inks and oxide inks.  EEEK!!!  Well, guess I will just keep using my ruined, contaminated inks because I have no way of knowing which ones have been double dipped and which ones have not!

Anyway, I had just gotten some Anna Griffin journaling card dies, and decided to try them out - just playing, ya know - and I decided to bring out the embossed portions of the cards by rubbing some ink over the raised portions of the cards.  I wasn’t planning to use a journal card on my pages - nope, I had other plans for the pages.  I was just playing for the sake of playing.  But then…well, as they sometimes do, my plans changed.  So I glued my focal points down on the right-hand page (flowers that were left over from an Altenew class) and the left-hand page was screaming for one of the journal cards!  

But what to journal?  It is winter here and the scenery is stark, bleak, grey, and very cold.  I looked again at my flowers.  And I thought about the crocus bulbs my mom has on her kitchen table.  Years ago, I planted crocus bulbs all over my yard and they came up and bloomed just before a big snow.  There was my journaling script!

So very quickly my pages came to life.  I did a little doodling on the pages, and may end up doing more, but for now, I am through.  Looking at what I have created gives me such joy - a priceless sense of happiness.  And the look of the burgeoning pages of my little journal give me a wonderful sense of satisfaction that lets me know the day has not been wasted!