Make your own art journal is easy. I actually put up an e-course on how I made a similar one to the one below. (Link at the bottom of the post.)
I love making stuff, and experimenting with materials, mostly paper and fabric.
I hand “painted” the muslin cover with acrylic paints and alcohol inks, let it dry, and then I ironed it flat. I used a manila folder that I cut to size to fit the pages I made. I also made sure the muslin covered the inside of the cover. I got lucky because it did!
Then I proceeded to deckle the edges of 34 sheets of card stock in various colors.
I then wet all the pages and dribbled or poured paints and inks on them, and the effect is always fun when paint runs in the water.
It is very rewarding to make your own journal, to be part of the entire process of making it your own and then filling it with art and writing. Modern day journaling… I think we long for expression, something to keep us in touch with what we REALLY feel.
So much time is lived behind the mask that society expects from us. Art is a great way to express your innermost thoughts and feelings, and some stuff you didn’t even know was in there. 🙂
Art is healer and a challenger. Why not go for a wild ride and claim your innate creativity? Everyone is an artist and that’s the truth.
Everyone knows how to express themselves, therefore there is an ability to express in art.
The above journal is available in my Earth and Faery etsy shop. The link is EARTH AND FAERY. SOLD right away, but you can still make your own. 🙂
If you want to check out the e-course how to make three different kinds of art journals, go to THIS PAGE.
Don’t follow anything. Break the rules and do your own thing.
With my art I have discovered that every day is different. Some days I feel inspired to paint, others I craft, and then again, the crafts change as I see an opportunity.
I suck down a lot of Altoids due to allergies, so I end up with a lot of empty tins. They are too cool to throw away. Sometimes I recycle them, but lately I have had the idea to make travel shrines out of them.
This is an example of one. I used scrapbook papers, borders, polymer clay mosaic tiles, words, and a picture of Mary. I’m not even Catholic, but I like the classical pictures of her and what she stands for. This shrine is for sale in my etsy shop. (Link in sidebar.)
I love it when creativity takes me on detours. I often have the notion I should paint, or work on my art journal, but I see something and I see possibilities with the items around my house.
I go where inspiration leads me. I made a video about how to make these Altoids mini shrines. You can check it out HERE.
They are very easy to make. Basically all you need is paper and glue. If you have any stray ribbons or mini silk flowers, they would work too.
It doesn’t have to be a religious shrine. It could be a nature shrine, an inspirational shrine with a picture of someone who inspires you. It could be used as a small gift box. The sky is as wide as your imagination!
I have a 50% off sale on one of my e-courses: ART AS ORACLE. It’s a way to tap into your intuitive answers through art. It’s a lot of fun also. You can read all about it HERE.
The sale ends on November 3, so only two days left.
I also have lots of things for sale in my two etsy shops. Christmas is coming. Are you looking forward to it? I enjoy all the lights the most.
People have been asking me about more polymer clay mosaic tutorials.
I have posted before on how to paint the baked tiles, and there is a YouTube video on how to paint them as well. CLICK HERE.
Here are some pictures on how to put the mosaic together with the finished tiles. Since this is a star box I had to fiddle with and cut some of the tiles, which is tricky since they break pretty easily. It’s much easier to make a square or rectangular design.
I paint the lids black to hide any gaps between the tiles. If the gap is too big I place some glue and drop some seed beads to fill the gap.
Here you can see some blue seed beads in the top two corners. The tiles were too big to cut for size. Seed beads are great and they lend some sparkle to the project as well. Choose a color that matches the main color(s) of your design.
I painted the box on the outside with acrylic paints.
I spray paint the bottom and the interior with gold paint before I paint the rest.
What do you think? Pretty colorful. I had fun making this, and so many others.
I made a mirror that promotes PEACE! I thought that was a worthy thing to be reminded of while looking into a mirror. Peace begins within and it’s a choice. I even had a Buddha charm I embedded in the clay and baked.
The mirror part distracts from the frame in the bright outdoors, but there it is. Polymer clay is so versatile you can make almost any design.
I use old buttons, rubber stamps, charms, found objects, and lettering to imprint the tiles. You can use anything that makes a nice imprint.
If you enjoyed the tutorial, please leave a comment.
Lately I have been very busy in my studio making “things.” I paint also, and joined a 30 day painting challenge on Instagram that was started by Tracy Verdugo. We are painting on the same painting for 30 days. I’m on day 20 today. You can check out the painting on Insta. My username is @greeneearth. It’s a tough challenge for sure since you might fall in love what you have painted, but you have to let go and keep painting.
The rest of the time I have been making faery boxes, intention boxes, and other purdy things, like polymer clay mosaics for my boxes. It has been a month of experiments and it’s SO MUCH FUN! When one art form is sluggish I try something else to get my creative fix daily. Here are some pictures.
This is a wooden box that I painted with various colors and I attached a wooden altered heart to the top. The inside has a picture of the Buddha and a polymer clay tile that says “believe.” Intention is about setting the course or goal and then believing it’s possible.
I used a wooden pencil box for this one, with a wooden flower attached. I used golden beads and glass mosaic tiles to embellish the lid.
The fairies helped me knit this fun and colorful purse /shoulder bag. Mostly knitted with wool yarn, it also has strands of shiny and eyelash yarns. I needle felted some flowers to attach as embellishment.
I hand-painted some fabric with acrylic paints and then made some fabric cuffs just for fun. I have two more but no pictures as yet.
THE BIG NEWS.
I opened a new etsy shop for all of these magical things. It’s called Earth and Faery and it will be filled with inspirational and pretty things.
I’m really excited about this new adventure of mine. Earth and Faery.
There are things in the shop of various price ranges, so check it out. 🙂
I have a giveaway on my blog today. It’s Day 29 of the 30 day blogging challenge and I have made it through so far. I’m celebrating by giving away this FUN ink blot art journal I made from a manila folder and some ink blot art. I made it today and figured it would be fun to give away. It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind journal!
Here are some pictures and the video on how I made the journal. You can enter the giveaway or you can make your own journal. 🙂
An idea for you how the pages look. I added a bunch of blank card stock pages as well to fill out the journal. Here is the video how-to.
I’m getting to be more and more minimalist as I de-clutter stuff around the house. There is so much STUFF and it weighs me down. I have de-cluttered a few times already since 2013 when I moved into this house, but there is always more.
I have put many crafts aside that bored me, but then I end up holding on to the materials. No More. 🙂 I gave my neighbor a bunch of mosaic paraphernalia.
I came across some cool things my mom did. She passed away in 2013, and I will never get rid of these things. [Long post warning.]
I get a lot of my creative ability from her. She always had a great eye for color and form. She’s of that generation (and growing up on a farm) that knew how to shear sheep, make roving, spin yarn, and then either knit or crochet something useful. She even made linen from flax, and knew how to weave. They wove their towels (which lasted forever), their tablecloths, their rugs from old clothes that we used to sit and cut into long strips and ball up when I was a kid. The destruction was fun. She even taught me how to weave, but I had no patience weaving that thin linen thread into towels.
My grandmother even wove sheets, and they had a seam down the middle (the loom wasn’t wide enough.) They had a loom always set up in a big part of the upstairs bedroom at my grandmother’s. Mom never had a loom in the places where we lived, but she always wove rugs when we spent the summers with my grandparents. She always had some of those brightly colored rag rugs on her floors, and I thought if I peer closely, I might recognize the rag from one of my childhood dresses. She was the ultimate recycler.
I have a lot of the things she embroidered in the “old days,” things that are truly vintage now.
In her youth, she was pretty much self-sufficient making her clothing, and later those of my dad, but with modernization, she stopped those habits, though her hands were always busy. During the 2nd World War the women used to knit hundreds of mittens and socks for the soldiers. That was before my time.
I asked her if she remembered some of my fave sweaters she made for me, but she didn’t. I had a really comfy gray and blue patterned sweater that I wore ALL the time; I still remember it clearly.
She loved to sew clothes, make fabric collages, embroider, needlepoint, cross stitch, knit; she even dabbled in porcelain painting, but my dad complained about the fumes. She could knit and crochet anything. We used to get excited about some new pattern; I would start it and she would finish it because I always got bored somewhere in the middle.
I have the patience now, however. I don’t know how that happened–with age maybe. I have been more of a dabbler than making something “useful,” though. In one of the pictures below I made a fabric collage from a picture in a book about Medieval life. I now marvel at how large the horse is compared to the women, but I didn’t think of that at the time. I could never finish it since I couldn’t decide whether to frame it or make it into a pillow. It now lives with my mom’s things in a plastic bin.
This is a really old piece, possibly embroidered by Mom in her youth, or Grandmother might have made it. I don’t remember. But look at the needle work! These cloths were hung on decorative rods to hide the everyday towels used in the kitchen.
I have two tablecloths like this. Mom crocheted those from a very fine cotton yarn, then patiently crocheted the flowers/snowflakes together. It’s fine like a glorious spiderweb!
This is a newer tablecloth; possibly one of the last ones she embroidered before her hands gave out. She sent it to me. My brother who is an artist always wanted the same pieces, so she often made two of the same pattern. You would think a man wouldn’t care, but he does.
This is a tray tablecloth that is meant for a birthday cake placed in the middle of the wreath. The word “Gratulerar” is Swedish for Happy Birthday (sort of, more like “Congratulation” if you want to be picky.) A gift for one of my birthdays. I use some of these things, but I worry about getting them dirty.
My foray into Medieval art. I loved combining daring fabric patterns into a cohesive look. A knight going off to war. Even the birds wore armor in my picture. The fabric was mostly machine stitched even though I’m not very good on the sewing machine.
I don’t have any plans to take up embroidery or other sewing again, but I admire great craftsmanship.
xo
Maria
P.S. I have some paintings available in my etsy shop, HERE.
Artist and writer
FREE art e-course!
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