There is a special feeling of satisfaction after you make your own art journals using your unique style. Art journaling will be less intimidating when you’re not faced with a book from the store filled with glaring white pages.
When you make your own, it becomes “friendly,” something you have gotten to know during the creative process and that you enjoy working in afterwards.
shabby chic art journal
ledger style art journal
altered books art journal
If you have questions about materials and procedure, I can help you. In this e-course you will learn how to:
use fabric in your art journal
paint and dye fabric without fabric dyes
age paper
add fun details to your journal
use old books to alter using your own style
make mini journals that will fit in your purse
use tips and tricks to add your own touches
be creative with the materials you already have
inspire your creative process in general
To participate in this e-course you don’t need any particular artistic skills other than your hands and some art supplies. If you don’t have all on the list, use what you have.
We will make a shabby chic cloth-bound journal, a ledger style journal, and alter two picture books with unique pockets.
You will receive three detailed videos and a PDF for parts that I could not film.
If you have a dream you can count yourself lucky because most people don’t have dreams. They do, but they don’t know they do unless something happens to open up their eyes.
Count yourself lucky if you have a dream.
As children we dream all the time, at least I used to. I was the queen of daydreaming…
As I grew up there was only one career I wanted to embrace, become an artist. I kind of did, on the side, but to bring home the bacon I had lots of different jobs that I hated to various degrees. But I also became a writer, which I loved, but that’s another story. I have done many things I hated, and that is my loss, BUT, no experience is wasted.
Today, I have gone back to my roots and art is my passion. For the last two years I’ve been working on building an online art career, mostly having fun and making videos to share. I love to experiment with art and with crafts and see what I can make. It will go on for the rest of my life I’m sure, whether the money pours in or not.
We are totally ruled by money.
I have decided that I’m now ruled by what makes me happy to get up in the morning. I have overcome a large portion of fear around money, and that has brought me a sense of freedom. I would be lying if I said I never worry, but the waves of worry come but they go away just as fast. I’m breaking out of the straight-jacket of money slavery.
Every day I look forward to my art and follow my intuition even though I have goals that I want to accomplish. I used to be really driven and accomplishment oriented, but something has shifted, and I don’t worry about how much I accomplish AS LONG AS I SHOW UP EVERY DAY. That is the important part. The turtle wins the race because it keeps plugging away whereas the hare has a heart attack in his race to get to the finish line first. There is no finish line.
Life IS a dream, and we have the power to create from what we love to do. Even if we don’t know exactly what, we can try things that intrigue us and see what catches. Once we take a step forward, the thing that has been calling us is waiting and steps forward with great enthusiasm.
Listen to your own inner voice, not that clamoring, lying voice of the outside world (especially the media.) Don’t let distractions and excuses stop you. Start today; don’t wait.
Get those art supplies if you want to be an artist and BEGIN, even if it’s at a corner of your dinner table. You don’t know how? You didn’t know how to walk when you were a baby, but there was an inner urge that made you try and try again. Your dream is the same way. It will prompt you to move forward if you’re willing to listen. You are hard-wired to your dream, so let it out! Give it some life.
Might feel a bit awkward at first, but at some point, along comes the groove! 🙂 You have come home to your dream. Count yourself lucky.
xo
Maria
P.S I’m working on a mini e-course on how to make some cool art journals, so keep your eyes peeled for more information. Meanwhile, you can always sign up for my newsletter via the link in the side bar.
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.
painted tiles ready to be assembledBox top painted black
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.
layout, one tile at a timeTiles fitted and glued down
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.
Painting the box
I painted the box on the outside with acrylic paints.
spray painted interior
I spray paint the bottom and the interior with gold paint before I paint the rest.
finished box
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.
Peace mirror
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.
Follow your heart intention box.
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.
Miracle box
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.
Faery purse
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.
Fabric cuff made with hand-painted scraps of fabric.
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.
Earth and Faery etsy shop
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. 🙂
handmade art journalthe back of the art journalink blot pageink blot page
ink blot page giveawaymore ink blots
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.
The winner was Jean Marmo. Congratulations!!! 🙂
Artist and writer
FREE art e-course!
FREE art e-course!
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