Creative Journaling Tutorial

Necklace: Boho Gypsy by Trendovy

Materials:

• Notebook (I use the Piccadilly Essential Large Notebook)
• Black Pen (I use the Rolling Ball Precise V5)
• Glue Stick
• Old Magazines
• Paint Chip Sample (or colored card stock)
• Colorful Envelope
• Washi Tape
• Colored Pencils, Markers, and/or Gel Pens
• Black Permanent Marker

It’s creative journaling time! Get ready to set goals and write affirmations! If you didn’t read my previous journaling tutorial be sure to check it out!  The style is similar and I go through the journaling process step-by-step.

Are you ready?  Gather your supplies and lets begin!

1.  Number your pages.  Add the date.  I always write the day, month, and year.  Play with fonts!  If you need help writing different font styles, check out DaFont.com (you can browse different fonts and type the words you want to preview), it’s pretty cool.  Add a little doodle border around the date.  I doodled curly q’s but you can doodle whatever your heart desires.  Maybe dashes, mini triangles, or a bold straight line?

I like the fun colors and messy artist backdrop in this image.

2.  Next,  look through old magazines.  If you have a pile of magazine clippings start there! Find an appealing focal image.  Once you pick your image, glue it down with a glue stick and cut the excess paper.

One of the great rewards of creative journaling is discovering a style that’s authentic and uniquely yours!  You’ll slowly discover patterns and themes that reveal significant clues about your personality. I adore flowers, anything artistic, bold bright colors, females with blonde hair (probably because I am blonde), and sexy/edgy advertisements.

3.  Add some Washi Tape along the edge of your image. I cut my image a little crooked and covered it with Washi Tape.  🙂

I’m OBSESSED with Washi Tape!  It’s so versatile and easy to use.

4.  Add more Washi Tape!  Layer different colors, widths, and patterns on top of each other.  It will add depth and richness to your page.  Washi Tape is transparent (so, if you layer yellow and blue together, you’ll get a cool green!)

4.  Grab a colorful envelope and paint chip sample (you can find these at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. in the painting section–they are free! YaY!) that fits inside the envelope.  If you don’t have any paint chip samples, use scrapbook paper or colored card stock and cut to size.  The cute little orange envelope I used is a couple years old and it’s from an old ephemera stash–I believe it’s from the Dollar Tree.  Use what you have or make your own decorative envelopes!

5.  Add Washi Tape to your paint chip card.  I chose orange Washi Tape to cover the paint name and layered the decorative feather Washi Tape on top.  Next, glue your envelope down to your page using a glue stick.  Add Washi Tape around the edges of the envelope.

I wrote five goals I’d like to accomplish in the month of May.

6.  Let’s start this page off right and jot down some goals.  Who doesn’t love goal-setting and daydreaming of their future?  On the paint chip sample, use a permanent marker to write your goals.

Maybe you’re eager to work out but haven’t started?  Or you want to learn a new skill but don’t know how to start?  Or you want to eat healthy but keep eating Doritos?  Try listing your weekly, monthly, or yearly goals on separate cards instead.  Whatever it is.  Get it down on paper!  Be specific and add details.  You can focus on one major goal too.  Perhaps, write it on the front and the action steps on the back of the card?

7.  Write an affirmation on an area of your life you’d like to focus on and improve.  Maybe an affirmation to help with one of your goals?  If affirmations aren’t your thing than write a gratitude list or your favorite quote.  Have fun with it!  Get creative with markers or gel pens.

I read “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain to help write better affirmations–it’s one of my favorite books on visualizing your goals and positive thinking.  The affirmation that I wrote is aimed towards my business and blog.  It’s the same one I’ve used over the past month or two.  I love this affirmation and will continue to use it until I move onto something else.

My Creative Affirmation:  “I am now an open channel for creative energy.  Creative ideas & inspiration are coming to me every day.  This or something better now manifest for me in totally satisfying and harmonious ways for the highest good of all concerned.  And so it is!”

I’ve noticed changes in the last few months after writing this affirmation over and over.  I believe it’s really helping me get things done and have clarity.  A lot of things that were difficult before seem so much more easier now.  I’m actually blogging regularly and writing blog posts with ease! YaY! That was a huge challenge before–all these ideas, not knowing where to begin, and feeling scattered. Ugh.  Maybe you can relate?

8.  Fill your page with all your hopes and dreams!  Add a little color and pizzazz. I added a little more Washi Tape, doodled and used colored pencils to finish the date.

Necklace: Boho Gypsy by Trendovy

Enjoy the process and don’t worry about creating a master piece.  Creative journaling is a rich journey of discovery, wonder, adventure, and excitement.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and feel a creative spark inside.  Please share your beautiful pages with me!

How to Organize your Magazine Clippings for Art Journaling!

Do you love all things pretty and collecting magazine pictures?  Maybe you use your old magazines for art journaling or to make vision boards?  If you are anything like me, you have an ever-growing pile of magazine clippings! There’s nothing quite as calming and therapeutic as looking through an old magazine to find beautiful pictures that inspire creativity.

With all this visual inspiration comes clutter and chaos though.  So how’s a creative girl going to organize this mess?!  Over the years, I tried so many different methods, basically driving myself crazy, to find the “perfect” solution. Tweaking what works and what doesn’t work, I have a system that’s pretty simple and it works for me–but just like anything you need to develop a system that works for you and your creative needs.

ORGANIZE WITH INTENTION/ CATEGORIES:

Before I start ripping out images, I set an “intention” on a topic or an area of my life I want to focus on–this could be career, relationships, weight-loss, beauty, and so forth. (I either mentally affirm or write my intention in my notebook). It may sound silly to do this but it helps me focus and not get too distracted.  Plus, its fun!

I set an intention on my business, Trendovy–to find blogging inspiration, mission/purpose, jewelry inspiration, and so on.

Next, I grab my magazines and start to look through them.  I rip out anything that appeals to me.  If I set an intention on more than one topic at a time (like relationships & career), I create two separate piles.  Then, I put my magazine clippings in a plastic folder.  You can label your folders with categories too. This is especially useful if you like making vision boards–visual inspiration toward your ideal life.

Categories could include:

• Personal Growth/ Education
• Work/ Career
• Relationships
• Creative Self-Expression
• Money
• Lifestyle/ Possessions
• Leisure/ Travel
• House/ Home Decor.
• Health/ Fitness/ Beauty

If you travel and collage on the go, maybe a binder might be better for you. You can organize your clippings by category in the plastic folders with the three-hole punch.  I have those too and they are awesome! These folders are amazing because they are see-through and have a snap closure unlike, filing folders or manila envelopes.

Scrambled images, words, textures, and colors ignite my creative spark!

I use a gigantic, decorative storage box too, it’s kind of a catch-all system.  It’s not organized by any means.  I put all my magazine clippings in the box as is, these pictures are usually images I randomly tear out of magazines with no intention–images I like or could use in my art or journal at some point.  I store my labeled, plastic folders in there as well.

ORGANIZE BY COLLAGE ELEMENTS:

Try using a three-drawer plastic bin for organizing.  You can keep this on your desk or put it in your craft closet.  I keep mine in the closet and remove the drawers as needed.  I developed this method after taking an online, art journaling workshop by Kelly Kilmer.  Her journaling style uses these collage elements.  I also use the background category to create borders for my Teesha Moore inspired journaling.  If you aren’t familiar with these artists be sure to check them out!  They are fabulous!

This organizing method uses three categories:

1. Background
2. Focal
3. Words

Background:  Anything with patterns, texture, or color.  I find a lot of fun, vibrant backgrounds from model’s clothes and/or purses.  You can use old maps, old book pages, music sheets, and so on.

Focal:  Any type of image that catches your eye or think you could use in your art journal or vision board.  Pictures of models, faces, eyes, lips, illustrations, bugs, flowers, clothing, animals, food, and so forth.

Words:  Words, phrases, letters, and numbers. (If you want, you can separate the letters alphabetically).  Maybe organize the letters and numbers using baseball card holder sheets?  That’s more work than I would like to do though.

ORGANIZE BY PROJECT:

If I am working on a specific journal or project, let’s say, my homemade Teesha Moore journal, I will keep the journal and collage elements in a plastic pin together.  I might have plastic folders inside to help organize the collage supplies. This makes it super easy to work on knowing all my collage pieces and journal are in one spot.

With all these ideas, I hope you feel inspired to organize all your magazine scraps!  Remember, simplicity leaves more room for creativity!  Try not to over-complicate this.  If you have any other ideas or suggestions, make sure to share them with us!