New Goals for 2017!

Hello New Year!  I can’t believe it is already 2017! Of course, like most of us, all I can think about is setting new goals for the year and reflecting on 2016.  The last few months I’ve majorly slacked on my creativity, journaling, and this blog because life happens.  I’m pregnant and I’ve got a bun in the oven that’s making me SUPER sick! I am 5 months pregnant now and FINALLY getting a little relief from this little peanut.  Wooo Hoo.  It feels so good to be almost back to my old self!

Now that I am feeling saucy and creative, I’ve got plenty of goals in mind for the new year.  I’ve immersed myself into some of my favorite creative planning books along with a new one called “Your Best Year 2017: Productivity Workbook and Creative Business Planner” by Lisa Jacobs.  I’ve heard great things about this creative planner from fellow bloggers and just had to get my hands on it.  So far I’m loving it.  My main focus this year will be directed towards improving my business/blog and getting a little bit more organized in that regard.

I also want to motivate other creative entrepreneurs and share my creative journey as a business owner in hopes you can learn something.  That’s the one thing I’m constantly searching for from other successful bloggers…..how did they do it? What did they do to get to where they are today?   I feel like it is kind of a hidden secret. I mean, I want to know the products they use,  marketing strategies, the workshops they’ve taken, and all the tips and tricks along the way. Even the horrible mistakes.  I want to create a road map of my journey to help you with yours.

Some other changes I’d like to make are posting on a consistent basis.  I am very guilty of posting on a whim when I feel motivated.  Does anyone else have that problem? I surely can’t be the only one!

I think I am going to get rid of the monthly journal prompts for now just because I’m kind of over it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I still think journal prompts are great.  But I feel like doing something a little bit different. Instead of the monthly journal prompts for each day of the month, I’ll do ONE journal prompt for the month along with a journal spread to inspire you.

Here is a spread from my bullet journal on quarterly goals inspired by Boho Berry. I just love this idea. I still have to fill out my action steps.

Okay. Okay. Enough about me and my goals. I want to hear about you and your goals for 2017! Lets make 2017 great!

My challenge for you is setting five goals that you can accomplish in the next three months.  Then creating an action plan for those goals. Make sure you set S.M.A.R.T goals.

S: Specific

M: Measurable

A:  Achievable

R:  Relevant

T:  Time-Based

Please share some of your goals with me in the comments!  Would love to hear them. 

January Journaling Prompt

Happy New Year!!! Here is your journaling prompt for the month of January!

Finding Her Voice

The Art of Discovery.

The Stories Begin Here

This month I kept my journal spread pretty simple.  Sometimes it’s harder to get started when you have to set up your art space.  Gathering all your paints, stamps, and embellishments can be quiet a lot of work in itself making you not want to journal at all.

What’s great about this spread is you can sit on your couch, thumb through some old magazines, ripping pages out as you go and simply paste images down with your glue stick. Easy Peasy!

Below is a list of the supplies I used to create this journal spread. Have fun exploring January’s journal prompt.  Get as artsy as you want.  And share your work with me in the comments!

Supplies List:

• Black n’ Red Notebook:  This notebook is great because it’s large with thick paper and super cheap. 
• Crafty Rolls Decorative Glitter Tape Silver:  My husband bought me these for Christmas.  OMG! Loving them.  It’s a glittery fabric tape.  I’ve never used anything like it.  Kind of addicted to them now.
• Hot Pink Duct Tape
• Scotch Mega Glue Stick
• Old magazine clippings:  Be sure to check out my post about “How to Organize Your Magazine Clippings for Art Journaling”.  It’s one of my most popular posts.
• Scissors

 

How to Throw an Amazing Lion King Party! The DIY Way!

 

My baby boy just turned O-N-E! And it has been the year of Hakuna Matata!  I might as well say all things Lion King are his jam!  When Jax turned 8 months old I knew I had to throw him a Lion King party for his first birthday.  To my surprise there really wasn’t much out there in terms of Lion King decorations or Lion King party ideas.  Even on Pinterest there wasn’t much Lion King Party ideas, sure there was Lion Guard (the latest craze) and Safari parties but my baby doesn’t want Lion Guard or a Safari Party.  He wants the Lion King!  And gosh darn it.  My baby is gonna get a Lion King Party!

Not that Jax really demanded a Lion King party at the ripe age of one.  But you get the idea.  When mamma has her mindset on a theme, by gully, mamma’s gonna do what she can to get it done.  So, I devoured all things Lion King, Lion Guard, Lions, and Jungle themes on Pinterest to spark some inspiration.  I am a DIY type of girl and made all the decorations myself.  I started making the decorations slowly over a 2-3 month period.  I didn’t want to bust my butt crafting at the last minute.

In this post, I”ll share how I threw an amazing Lion King themed party for my son’s first birthday.  I’ll break down my process and explain the techniques I used to create the decorations, games, party flavors, etc.

Simba Painting:

This was the first Lion King project I started.  I found an old piece of heavy duty chipboard that was in our garage that was the perfect size.  I’m not going to go into super detail on how I made this but I will give you a brief synopsis of my process.  I did not buy anything to make this.  I used stuff I already had.  So please search your house for supplies and don’t spend tons of money making this.

Step 1: Paint the chipboard white. (You can buy a canvas too, but I am all about using what you already have and not spending tons of money on new art supplies…that being said, I am a craft and art supplies hoarder so I have tons of art supplies already).  You can also just use white poster board.  But that isn’t as sturdy and will get flimsy after painting it.

Step 2:  Cover the WET white painted chipboard with plastic, bunching it up in areas.  You can use white kitchen garbage bags to do this.  This will create a cool, textured background. Leave the plastic and let it dry overnight.

Step 3:  Use light blue spray ink and stencils to create a cool design on top of the white background.  You can make your own spray inks too.  That’s what I do.  Youtube has great tutorials on how to make your own spray inks using water and food coloring or water, rubbing alcohol and acrylic paint.  Check it out.

Step 4:  Create a large Simba stencil out of cardboard.  I printed a smaller image off the internet to use as a reference.  I made a grid on the cardboard and free-handed the design to create the stencil.

Step 5:  Spray paint the design on the canvas.  I used a mixture of yellow, pink, and red spray paint (that’s what I had at home already) to create the Lion.  I layered the yellow spray paint on top of the pink and red spray paint to create different shades of orange.

Step 6:  Add purple drips using watered down acrylic paint.

Step 7:  Add orange and white paint splatters on top of the Simba image.

DIY Jungle Vines:

I found this idea on Pinterest.  I used three different leaf templates to create my leaves. I resized my leaves to a size I liked.  I printed the designs on white card stock to create the templates. I traced around the leaf template on an assortment of green card stock. Then cut out the designs.  I did this slowly over a two month time frame. Doing a little here and a little there so I wouldn’t have so much to do the last week leading up to the party.  I bought brown mailing paper from the Dollar Tree to create the brown vines.  I also used light and dark green streamers.

With the extra scrap paper I cut smaller leaves free-hand.  I strung the smaller leaves on twine.

Table Decorations:  

I printed the Lion King characters onto white card stock and taped the back of them to wooden nail sticks.  I drilled a hole in the center of the wooden circles so the wooden nail sticks would fit snug.  I cut the tips of the nail stick flush to the circle and cut varying lengths.  I added raffia bows to the stick for that finished look.

In the making….

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The Banner:

I found the inspiration for the Simba, Timon, and Pumba banner on Pinterest (the seller of these isn’t selling them anymore, but I do want to give her credit because I totally copied her idea).  I handmade each one of these banners.  I created my own template by free-handing each element of the character onto white card stock.  Then I traced it onto the appropriate card stock color. For the Timon on the far left I glued the tail the opposite way. I laced the banner with twine.

The Mini Birthday Crown:

I found this mini-crown template online and adjusted the size a smidge.  I used card stock and leather and added an elastic strap to complete the crown. Jax did not like the elastic strap so we just placed it on his head, luckily it stayed on! 🙂

The Activities:

1.  Lion King 2 Liter Ring Toss

   

I used ten 2- Liter bottles. I filled them with about 2-3 cups of water to weigh them down. Then I painted the bottles with yellow spray paint and a light mist of red spray paint.  I found some pictures online of the Lion King characters, adjusted the size so they’d be roughly the same size, and glued them on the 2- Liter bottles using a glue stick.

I made the rings using cardboard.  I made six rings total because I set up two groups of five 2-Liter bottles for the party so that more kiddos could play at once.  Each game had three rings.  To make the rings, I traced around a bowl to get the inner circle and free-handed a parallel circle.  I used an X-Acto knife to cut the rings out.  My rings aren’t cut perfect but it doesn’t bother me.  I spray painted both sides with a grey primer paint (I already had this spray paint that’s why I used the grey) then I added splashes of yellow spray paint.  I used orange craft paint and wrote “Hakuna Matata” on the rings.

I debated between ring toss or coconut bowling.  Either one would be fun.  In the end, I went with ring toss because I didn’t want to worry about someone getting hit with a coconut or it breaking and denting the 2- Liter bottles.  You really could make this game with any party theme.  All you need to do is change the color scheme and print off the appropriate characters.

1.  Lion Mask Craft

Cute Sign: Make a cute sign for the craft table.  I downloaded a new font and the Lion King images from dafont.com.  I folded a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch scrapbook paper in half and glued my label on the paper using a glue stick.  Make sure the paper is card stock or glue your scrapbook paper to white card stock using a glue stick to make it more sturdy.

Cut colorful scraps: I stuck with the yellow, orange, red color palette for the lions mane.  I used different decorative scissors to cut the strips. I didn’t really worry about making each size the same.  They are probably roughly 4 inches long.

Lion Mask Example:  I made an example of how to make the lion mask using the colorful strips.

Pre-Made Lion Plate Masks without the Mane:  I made three different lion masks for the kiddos to choose from.  You really don’t need to make that many.  You can stick with one design if you want.  Glue a thick Popsicle stick on the back of the paper plates (I used contact cement). I bought my plates and Popsicle sticks at the Dollar Store.

Make sure to add some glue sticks and color crayons when setting up your craft table.

The Cake, Cupcakes & Smash cake:

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I bought a Simba Toy off Amazon to use as a cake topper.  The bakery did the rest.  I wanted a yellow and orange color scheme with brown foot prints.  I used wooden log slabs that my dad cut for me when I visited him in Montana during the summer as the cake and cupcake holder.  I think the wooden log slabs add a nice touch.  Maybe you know someone who has a lot of trees and a chainsaw that will be willing to cut you some too.  If not, you can always buy some!

Signature Drink:

Every party needs a signature drink!  I found this party punch on Pinterest.  It is amazing!  Lemonade, orange juice, cranberry juice, Sprite, vodka…Yum!  Here is the exact recipe for the drink.  I labeled the signature drink “Rafaki’s Rumble in the Jungle (alcoholic)” so that everyone knew it had alcohol in it.  I didn’t manage to take a picture of the drink from the party but I put the punch in a drink dispenser with spigot and taped the label onto the container.  The guys of course had beer.  The kiddos had apple juice boxes.  And we also had Soda for the non-drinkers.

Party Favors:

I mixed regular animal crackers with chocolate animal crackers and M&Ms.  I cut the lions out of two shades of yellow and orange card stock.  Of course, I used a template to make the lion embellishments and resized the image to my liking.  I sealed the bags with a rubber band and used cute decorative bakers twine that was yellow, orange, and brown to tie on the Simba.

I hope I got your creative juices flowing and you are ready to start crafting your next Lion King party.  Many of these ideas can be changed to whatever theme of your choosing though.  And of course, make sure you have plenty of food!  We did burgers, brats, Caesar salad, pasta salad, watermelon, strawberries, an assortment of veggies with homemade ranch and chips.  Hakuna Matata!

October Journaling Prompts!

Wow! I can’t believe it’s almost already October! September has been a little crazy because my son turned O-N-E this month and I threw a big Lion King party.  I made all of the decorations myself.  It seems that Lion King is a thing of the 90’s because there really isn’t much out there nowadays.  I loved having an “excuse” to be crafty and had fun making all the decorations though.  I might share some pictures from the party a little later and share how I made some of the decorations.

In October, I’m hoping to write a few more blog posts on art journaling now that things have slowed down a bit at home.  Until then, I hope you enjoy more journaling prompts! Be sure to check out my other journaling prompts if you’ve missed out on those!

1. How can you change someone’s life for the better today?
2. I couldn’t imagine living without….?
3. What always brings tears to your eyes?
4. What’s one topic you need to learn more about to help you live a more fulfilling life?
5. What new habits would you like to cultivate?
6. In what ways can you re-structure my time?
7. What fun activity would you like to incorporate into your life?  What steps can you take to make it happen?
8. Who are the three most important people in your life?  Write a little about each person and why they are important.
9. Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 20 or 40 years?
10. What was the last life lesson you learned?  Why do you think you needed to learn this lesson?
11. What stops you from making the first step towards your dream?
12. Do any of the things that used to upset you a few years ago matter at all today? What’s changed?
13. List 20 things you are grateful for.
14. If you had one year left to live, what would you try to achieve?
15. How would you describe yourself?
16. What comes to your mind when you think of “taking care” of yourself?
17. What would your life look & feel like if you had balance, peace, & calm as an every day experience?
18. Write a gratitude note to a friend, listing all the things you like & admire about them.
19. What could you let go of to give you more balance?
20. What do you need help with in your life?  Is there something that you have been struggling to create but the path seems filled with obstacles?
21. If you could live one day over and over again, what would you choose to do?
22. What is the most important quality you look for in another person?
23. If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
24. What was the best day of your life? Why?
25. Do you say ‘yes’ too often when you really want to say ‘no’? Why?
26. What is the number one change you need to make in your life before the end of the year?
27. How can you simplify your life and focus on the most important things to you?
28. What stresses you out?
29. What do you most regret never telling someone?
30. Do you think you would be happy if you never had to work again? Why?
31. What is your favorite Halloween memory?  Describe it?  Why is it your favorite memory?

September Journaling Prompts!

Summer is coming to a close.  And I have more journaling prompts for you!  Have fun with these prompts!  Add colorful splashes to your page with markers, gel pens, and doodles!  Pick and choose the prompts you like or simply go down the list in order.

1.  What are your thoughts on intuition?
2. What do you daydream about now? What do you think about when you are stopped at a traffic light or when you are lying in bed at night?
3.  What if you knew for certain that everything you are currently worried about would work out okay?  What would you do?
4.  Is their a problem area in your financial life?  If so, describe it.  What are your beliefs about money?
5.  What single change in your life would give you the most joy?
6.  What is the one thing that you most envy in others?
7.  What small step could you take that would lead you in the direction of your dreams?
8.  What do you do when you feel stressed?
9.  How would you describe the darkest time and circumstances in your life?  What was going on?  How did you handle it?  How do you feel about that dark time in your life now?
10.  What are the interests in your life that bring you joy or make you feel excited?
11.  When you are faced with uncertainty, what are some of the bigger changes or transitions that affect you?
12.  Write a few lines about something you feel unhappy about in your life right now.  If you could wave a magic wand and create a happy, new situation, what would that be?
13.  List four successes that you are proud of achieving.  What qualities do you feel you developed as the result of these successes?
14.  List those unanswered questions that have been plaguing you since childhood.
15.  What sort of “secret life” do you think about, or even engage in?
16.  What is your signature color?  Red?  Blue?  Pink?  Think of your wardrobe, what colors do you wear most?  Why do you like this color?  What does this color mean and represent to you?
17.  Write a letter of encouragement to your creative self.  Recognize your accomplishments and obstacles.
18.  Write about the worst thing that ever happened to you.  How has this experience shaped you and made you different?  What lessons did you learn from this experience?
19.  Cut random shapes from paper of at least three different colors.  Play around with the different shapes on a bigger piece of paper.  Write about what you learned.
20.  Do something a kid would do:  play with bubbles in a bath, color in a coloring book, play with leaves, sticks, and mud…..Write about how this experience felt.
21.  What if it didn’t matter if I (or it) was _______________ or not?
22.  What if you went wild?  Did something you’d never do?  What would it be?  What would happen?
23.  What physical activities feel like play to you?  What makes you smile and captures your attention for no other reason than it’s fun for you?
24.  List 10 activities that make you feel good?
25.  What parts of yourself do you regularly hide from others?
26.  Something about yourself that you really would like to see your children emulate is….?
27.  What parts of yourself are you holding onto that no longer are a true part of who you want to be?
28.  What are some events in your life you feel guilty about not being present for? Are you feeling guilty because you actually wanted to be there, or is this an outside pressure?
29.  What parts of your life are most distracting?
30.  Describe your perfect vacation?  Where are you?  What activities are you doing?  Who are you with?

 

 

 

 

Setting Up Your Bullet Journal (How I Set Up Mine)

 

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Have you heard of Bullet Journaling?  It is all the rage among list makers and planner keepers!  Bullet Journaling is a personalized planner for goal-setting, list making, memory keeping and tracking your day-to-day activities in a fun, colorful way.

I came across Bullet Journaling a few years ago but never really understood it and thought all the symbols seemed way too confusing.  That is until I discovered Bohoberry.com, Kara, the blogger of bohoberry is a bullet journal guru.  After reading her blog and looking at some of her YouTube videos, bullet journaling really piqued my interest again.  I always wanted a better way to plan and organize my goals but hadn’t really found a system that worked.

Luckily Mother’s Day was just around the corner.  I asked my husband for a Leuchtturm 1917 (A5) Dot Grid notebook (has index and pages already numbered) and a set of Staedtler markers to begin my bullet journaling (a.k.a. bujo) adventures.  While waiting for my notebook to arrive, I researched the basics of bullet journaling, watched YouTube videos, and looked on Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration.

This is how I set up my first bullet journal.  I am still tweaking and figuring out what works best for me.  And will continue to customize my bujo for my needs.  I encourage you to do that as well!  Keep what works and remove what doesn’t!

The Key:  Represents the symbols I use for my tasks, events, appointments, and notes.  I looked on Pinterest for bullet journaling key ideas and chose what I liked best and added a few symbols of my own.

I also, added a Color Chart Key for my daily Time Tracker (tracking 24 hours of the day in my daily spreads for the time spent on activities.) I will discuss this further down in the daily spreads section.

Affirmation:  I designated a page for my affirmation.  This is the area in my life that I am focusing on at the moment….CREATIVITY.  Some people just choose a word for the year but I like affirmations better because I always see positive change when I use them consistently.  I may even write an affirmation at the beginning of each month.  It just depends on my needs at the current time.

Calendar:  I made a year-at-a-glance calendar spread.

Headers and Banners Inspiration:  I watched a bohoberry Youtube tutorial on banners and headers and doodled along with the video.  It’s a good way to practice.  I also looked on Pinterest and Instagram for header and banner ideas too.  Pinterest and Instagram will become your new best friend if you want some bujo inspiration!  I use different headers and banners for the date on my daily spreads.

June Log:  This is a monthly-at-a-glance calendar spread.  It’s a general overview of the events/appointments happening in the month.   I used the day of the week and number that correspond with that day.  I did this format instead of a typical calendar spread because I already have the months graphed out in my creative journal.  Didn’t want to repeat it in this journal.  Plus, formatting the month this way makes it super easy and not as time consuming as graphing a standard calendar.

Ugh, I messed up when I first wrote June and covered it up with a magazine scrap.  I don’t love this spread for that reason but I am not going to agonize over perfection.  You will have mistakes and that’s okay.  The important thing is tracking your appointments, events  and writing in your bujo.

Projects:  I added some goals/ projects that I’d like to complete for the month.

June Memories:  I did a memories page for the month of June.  This is where I doodle cute little pictures of important activities, events, and highlight memories that happened during the month.

Okay, I’m not perfect….I started this post in the beginning of June…and it is now August.  My June Memories page is still blank. lol I still like the idea of keeping a memories page and will continue to do so.  I’m just going to go back and doodle my memories for June this month.

June Tracker:  My June Tracker is a habits tracker that tracks which activities I do regularly.  I got the inspiration for this spread from bohoberry.  I really like the habit tracker because you feel like you are accomplishing tasks and it lets you know how much you are doing something.

Gratitude:  I love my gratitude spread!  I write one thing I am grateful for each day of the month.  You can write as many gratitude’s as you’d like for the day but I find that writing one per day is manageable.  I enjoy it.  It reminds me to be thankful for even the little things in life I might otherwise overlook.  And helps me be more optimistic.

Doodle Challenge:  The doodle challenge is meant to get me drawing and doodling more on a regularly basis.  I am supposed to doodle each day of the month.  I’m not gonna lie.  Sometimes I didn’t doodle and just made up for it by doing more than one doodle on other days.  I looked online, mostly Pinterest for doodle ideas.

If doodling or drawing isn’t your thing you can create any type of daily challenge.  Maybe you want to read more.  Create a challenge for getting some daily reading done.  Or if you want to exercise more maybe you create a fun exercise challenge spread.

Daily Spread:  Daily Spreads are fun because they look pretty and colorful when you are done.  I add a time tracker before the date. Throughout the day, I color in the time spent on  activities.

• Time Tracker:  I number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 to signify 24 hours in a day.
  • I fill in the times I’ve spend on activities using their proper color code from my Color Chart Key.  For example,
    • Sleep = Blue
    • Appointments = Green

As you can see on (Thursday 6-2-16)  I slept from 11 pm- 7 am and had an appointment from 1-4 pm.

Next, I doodle the date.  Then add the days weather with a weather icon.  I really don’t need to add the days weather because I can just look on my phone but it’s fun drawing them and adds a little color to the page.

I add my goals/tasks for the day and checked them off when complete.  I add quotes and affirmations that resonate with me.  I don’t always add quotes to my dailies only when I feel like it.

You can add a Weekly Spread into the mix too.  I didn’t do it this time and probably won’t because I think with the Monthly Log and my Dailies I track enough.  It just depends on your needs and how busy you are.  I just love the customization of the bullet journal.

I will keep you updated on the evolution of my bullet journal as time passes.  I’d love to hear some of your tips and tricks too!

Facing your Inner Critic–My Creative Journaling Process

How do you face the blank page of your notebook?  Do you tackle it with ease and start writing right away?  Or does your inner critic kick in making you worry about perfection and fill you with self-doubt?  Maybe that loud pesky voice urges you to create a master piece, so you don’t start at all, in fear that others may not like it. Or you have too many art supplies that you can’t decide which one to choose and you get overwhelmed?  I am guilty of that one, that’s for sure!  I’m kind of an art supply junky! 🙂

Each time I sit down to journal I approach the page differently depending on my mood. Sometimes, I look through my magazine clippings first. Select a few images I like and put them aside until I am ready to glue them down and journal.  If I’m in the creative spirit and have a little extra time, I’ll do it right then and there. Or I paste a few images ahead of time randomly throughout my notebook if I don’t feel like writing at the moment.

Most of the time, I don’t add any images and just get my thoughts down on paper.  I let the writing flow without making judgments about myself.  I don’t worry about my messy handwriting or scratchy marks.  I let my intuition guide me through the process. Then, weeks or months after the fact, I skim through my notebook to paste images down to old entries–that is, if space allows it–and add some additional color with markers and Washi tape.

I like all of these journaling methods.  It adds great variety and spontaneity to my journal. It helps quiet my inner critic.  Some pages I love and find beautiful.  Others are bland and ugly and I don’t care.  My more thought out pages (like below) are usually prettier than the pages where I’ve written first and later pasted images down.  But with the combination of each of these styles it gives me freedom to express myself and makes no demands when I haven’t the time for it. And that’s what I love.  What are some of your favorite journal methods and techniques? 

Through all of this, one thing is certain, my inner critic is like a revolving door that keeps going and going if it isn’t silenced. It surfaces when I try to make the page a piece of art I’d like the world to see.  Or if I edit as I go, in hopes, to achieve grammatically sound sentences to win some outlandish, non-existent Nobel prize.  Can you relate? Well, let’s try out one of my favorite methods and conquer the blank page together!

Grab your favorite drink, journal supplies and let’s begin!

No matter what method I choose I always date my page before I write an entry.

Step 1:  Start with the date.  Write the date different than you normally would.  Maybe write it vertical instead of horizontal.  Play with different font styles and sizes.

Step 2:  Browse through some magazines and rip out any pictures that catch your eye.  I had an old Anthropologie catalog sitting on my desk and ripped out images I liked the day before.  Select a few images you like and play around with different layouts.  Once you like how the images look on the page then glue them down with a glue stick.

Step 3:  Start journaling!  Let your intuition guide you during the writing process.  Write whatever is on your mind.  Have fun discovering more about yourself.  You might be surprised with what you find.  Or use a journal prompt.  I have a great list of prompts ready for you to use from my monthly prompt series.

Step 4:  Add a splash of color with markers, crayons, or color pencils.  I colored the date with the same color scheme as the images to finish the page.

Aww…journaling is so much fun! Bam! You just punched your inner critic in the face!  That should quiet her down for a while.  At least, let’s hope!

I hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial!  I’d love to hear how you quiet your inner critic.  Please, share your ideas and journals with me!

JUNE JOURNALING PROMPTS!

June is almost here! YaY! I love summer! I’m creating a new journal series. I’ll post a list of monthly journaling prompts for each day of the month, probably a day or two before the month begins.  Feel free to print these prompts and glue them inside your journal! Have fun with markers and colorful pens.

Happy Journaling!  ENJOY this list of journaling prompts for each day of June!

1. “If I knew I couldn’t fail I would…”
2. What does your future look like?
3. List 20 things you are grateful for?
4. Write about someone you haven’t totally forgiven.
5. Write down your thoughts about any stressful situation in your life, past, present or future.
6. When was the last time you listened to your intuition?  What happened?
7. Write about your favorite childhood memory.
8. “One of my biggest desires is…”
9. What do you feel as you envision your best?
10. Write down your experiences with taking time to reflect.
11. Getting away from it all means…
12. “NOW I’m going to…”
13. “Enhancing my creativity means…”
14. How do you feel about your body?
15. Write a letter to your younger self.  What would you say?  What advice would you give?
16. Write about your dream house?  What does it look like?  Where do you live?  Who lives with you?  Describe the decorations and furniture.
17. “The thing I fear most is…”
18. Write about your favorite summer memory.
19. How would your best friend describe you?
20. “If I could change ______…” Why?
21. Who is your role model?  Why do you look up to them?
22. What made you smile today?
23. What do you keep putting off for another day?
24. How do you feel most loved?
25. Write about a family tradition.
26. “If I could met anyone, it would be….”  Why?
27. What new skill would you like to learn?  What would be the very first step in making it happen?
28. Describe your perfect date?  Who are you with?  What are you wearing?  What are you doing?
29. What do you love to do?  Name a hobby or talent that you would gladly do for free.
30. List your three month goals.  What steps can you take to move closer to you achieving your goals?

Journal Love

“Creativity is the way I share my soul with the world” –Brene Brown

Happy FriYAY everyone!  I am enjoying a little collage work in my homemade journal today.  What are you doing today or this weekend to spark your creativity?

 

Collage Journaling

Necklaces by Trendovy:  “Blue Mist” and “Pink Mist”

Well hello beautiful ladies!  Beautiful is the theme for today!  Yesterday I made a handmade journal using Strathmore Watercolor Paper.  It’s the perfect size and I am in love.  I want to see how it holds up during the collage process though.  I think it should hold up pretty well because I threaded it with waxed linen and covered the thread with duct tape–I don’t like collaging over thread.

To make this page I went through my magazine clippings and chose a focal image first.  Then chose colors I thought looked good with the image.

Before I glued anything down I experimented with the arrangement of the background.  Changing this or that if something didn’t look right.  Once I liked the layout I glued the magazine clippings to the page using a glue stick.

I glued a cute, orange flower die-cut behind my focal image.  I thought it added a little extra oomph to the page.

I added another orange flower on the left-hand side to pull the whole page together.

I store my ephemera in these cute little portable plastic cases that are contained in a larger portable container.  There are 16 individual cases in this scrapbook storage bin to hold all my goodies.  It works great especially for journaling on the go.  I grab a case filled with my bits and bobs and I am good to go!

“A rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose.  All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like women too. I want to encourage women to embrace their own uniqueness.” –Miranda Kerr

When I looked at this page I felt inspired by the word “Beautiful”.  I found quotes online that resonated with me and represented the word beautiful.  I wrote the quotes using white and pink Sharpy Paint Markers.

Make sure not to press too hard when using Paint Markers because you will get a big puddle of paint on your page.  It happened to me. Luckily, I was able to wipe it off right away without it staining.  I doodled around the edge of the page and on the flowers.  I used gel pens and colored pencils to doodle on the flowers.  The one thing I don’t like about this page is the word “I AM”, I wish I would of used two different font styles instead of the block font.  Oh well.  It’s all about the process.

Necklaces by Trendovy: “Blue Mist” and “Pink Mist”

I hope you feel inspired to create something beautiful!  Please share your journal pages with me! I always love seeing other people’s work!  How would you create a beautiful themed journal spread?