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!

 

Doodle fun! Arrows, Banners, & Creative Fonts!

Hello! Lovelies!  When was the last time you doodled?  Do you have some favorite go-to doodles–maybe flowers, butterflies, stars? My typical doodle is a flower enriched with a little Zentangle design (drawing structured patterns).  They’re always fun and easy.  Today, I wanted to stretch myself a little further though.  I’m talking creative fonts, banners, and arrows.  Arrows are so trendy right now–I’ve seen arrow tattoos, arrow necklaces, arrow decor. for your house, etc. all over the place.  If you walk into Hobby Lobby, arrows are everywhere!

Gee, I can’t even remember the last time I really doodled.  Here goes nothing!  To get a little extra inspiration, I just googled arrow doodles.  Sometimes you need a little extra boost to get you started!  I’m really enjoying the process.  It’s pretty relaxing and quiet therapeutic.  Usually, I rush to write, not worrying about font appearance.  It’s pretty easy to doodle in your journal if you are watching tv or relaxing on the couch though.  So there is no excuse not to do it, right?

I had a lot of fun with my fonts and doodling a banner for the date.  This is my second practice banner because I accidentally wrote April instead of May on the previous page.  Plus, my go-to pen (Rolling Ball Precise V5) bleed through the page because of the thick bold lines I made. Eeek. I will just cover the mess up doodle with a magazine image.  Oh the things you learn along the way. I’m going to explore doodle banners more in future journal spreads.  You know the old saying, “Practice makes perfect!”

Towards the end, after I finished the arrow doodles, I switched to a Pigma Micron pen.  I wish I would have started with this pen.  Boo! It’s so nice to write with, very smooth–not scratchy and it’s archival ink.  This will be my new doodling pen! I’ll leave the Precise V5 for journal writing.

Before I filled the page with writing I found this awesome “I ❤ YOU!” image in my magazine clippings stash.  I just had to add it to my page! Hope you feel inspired to doodle!  Please, share with me your doodle designs and your favorite doodling supplies!

 

 

 

Creative Journaling Tutorial

Necklace: Jasmine by Trendovy

Materials:

• Notebook (I use the Piccadilly Essential Large Notebook)
• Black Pen (I use the Rolling Ball Precise V5)
• Glue stick
• Old Magazines
• Washi Tape or Colorful Duct Tape
• Colored Pencils, Markers, and/or Gel Pens

Here is my go-to method for fast and easy, creative journaling. Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite tea, some old magazines and start looking through them. Rip out anything that catches your eye–keep this pile handy for future use.  Do not spend too much time looking through the magazines, 5-10 minutes max.  Open your notebook/ journal to a blank page.

1. Number your pages.  I usually pre-number 15-25 pages ahead of time and pre-number more pages as I go along.  Next, write the date–start with the day, month, and year.  I like writing the date in different font styles.  Don’t spend too much time agonizing over the fonts though. Have fun with it. Next, doodle around the date.

2.  Skim through your magazine clippings and find a focal image you like.  Paste the image down with a glue stick.  Make sure you burnish the image to the page really well to prevent any air bubbles or creases.  Then flip the page over and cut any excess paper that is hanging off the edge.

3.  Find some decorative Washi Tape or Duct Tape that brings out the colors of the focal image.  I choose yellow Duct Tape (I wanted red Duct Tape but mine was old and funky).  Personally,  I like Washi Tape better than Duct Tape, but I use both in my journals.  Duct Tape is really sticky, hard to cut, and gets my scissors all gunky (I use acetone to clean my scissors).

4.  Add even more decorative tape accents.  I put Washi Tape on top of the yellow Duct Tape.

5.  Have fun and doodle!

6.  Begin writing.  You can use prompts (an inspirational quote, song lyrics, etc.) or just free write whatever is on your mind.  I started this page with an affirmation centered on creativity–that’s my area of focus right now. More importantly, writing and developing this blog.  It seems to be working! 🙂 I really enjoy this specific affirmation and I repeat it in other journal entries.

7.  Add more Washi Tape to break up the page.  I layered three different types of Washi Tape on top of each other on the left side.  And I added the orange Washi Tape on top of the Duct Tape.  Get as creative as you want!

8.  Next, fill the entire page with writing.  Journal your thoughts, goals, ideas or take notes from your favorite book. Anything you feel like writing, get it down on paper!

9.  Finish the page by coloring in the date.  I used colored pencils and Sakura Glaze Gel Pens. Use whatever you like–colored pencils, markers, crayons, or gel pens.

Sometimes the hardest part is starting.  I like this method a lot. It only takes 10-15 min and it always looks nice.  The visual elements add a pop of color and make the page fun.  Not all my pages have pictures or color –some are very boring and ugly. When I look through my notebooks I always love these pages best though.

The most important thing is have fun!  Don’t stress about perfection.  Enjoy the process and learn as you go.

 

 

3 Types of Journals to Keep!

My Notebook Addiction!

Are you a lover of notebooks and journals?  Do you have some creative way of documenting your life? Maybe you scrapbook or have a colorful planner? Or you just like doodling on notepads or coloring with your kids. What about looking at other people’s sketchbooks and journals–finding inspiration on the how-to of keeping a visual journal?  I know, I love all of the above!  I’ve always been a lover of visual journals and notes.

I have shoe boxes full of old junior high notes written by friends (you know the kind that you fold into a triangle and pass to your friend secretly hoping not to get caught by your teacher.)  Most of these notes are pretty hilarious–details of my latest teenage crush, this changed weekly by the way, and cryptic notes written in a made-up version of “Pig Latin”. I even kept a scrapbook of my favorite boy band crushes using “Teen Beat” and “Bop” magazine cutouts.  This sounds so silly now, lol–but it was fun at the time.

In high school, I kept a highly secretive illustrated notebook with a friend where we doodled, colored, gossiped, and discussed our weekend plans, heartbreaks, and dating adventures.  Most of the “people” in the notebook have a secret nickname–some I can’t even decipher now.  What type of journals did you keep as a kid? Do you still have them?

It has taken years and years to finally figure out which notebooks I love and what form of journaling works best for me.  For years, I obsessed about having the “perfect” journal.  I even ripped out pages and pages of half-filled notebooks because the notebook wasn’t “right”, now these old written notes are kept in zip lock bags.  But at last, I have discovered what works for me!  These are the three types of journals I keep:

• Art Journal
• Creative Notebook
• Visual Inspiration Notebook

Art Journal:  This is where I practice collage techniques and get messy with art supplies.  I’m a little bit more sporadic and less strict about art journaling than I am with my creative notebook.  This is kind of a “junque journal” and a lot of incomplete painted pages. Some journals are homemade while others are in Moleskines, cheap Composition notebooks, or spiral bound sketchbooks.

I use wet materials like Modge Podge, acrylic paints, Gesso, Glimmer Mists, and watercolors. I layer collage and scraps of paper to build texture–mostly from magazine cutouts or decorative scrapbook paper. If the notebook paper is thin than I glue pages together.  Other materials I use are stencils, crayons, color pencils, markers, stickers, washi tape, die-cuts, bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard, and stamps.

Creative Notebook:  My creative notebook is my most beloved form of journaling.  I love the intimacy of this journal.  There is something satisfying about looking through the pages and seeing moments being recorded in sequence.  You see ideas unfold and certain reoccurring patterns.  I have a few rules with this notebook–this is my dry notebook.  I use glue sticks or decorative tape to paste down images from magazines, scraps of paper, and daily ephemera.   I always write the date, number the pages beforehand, decorate a cover page, only use a black rolling ball Precise V5 pen and a Piccadilly Essential Large Notebook for writing, and never tear out paper.

It’s a self-made planner and glorified journal all in one.  I doodle, draw, make vision boards, take notes from books, write about my goals, dreams, and list all of my creative ideas and plans for the future. I write affirmations, gratitude, quotes, and ramble about my frustrations and struggles.

Visual Inspiration Notebook:  This is my “gluebook” where I paste visual inspiration from magazine cutouts.  I randomly glue images down through out the notebook using a glue stick.  No wet glue like Modge Podge.  I doodle around the images and add washi tape.  I do not journal in this notebook–it’s only for visual inspiration to spark my creativity.  It’s very relaxing and fun looking through old magazines and ripping out pages that catch my eye to put in this notebook.  I use the Black n’ Red Hardcover Executive Notebook because I like the size of the notebook and thickness of the paper, it’s great for gluing down a full magazine page.

With all this journal talk I hope you are inspire to create!  Please share your journal ideas and pages with me!  What are your favorite notebooks and journal techniques?

 

 

 

Journal Pages and Sketches!

Here’s some journal love! I dug up some old sketches of mine that I had forgotten all about.  I have a creative binder chalk full of drawings, doodles, inspiration, notes, etc.  It’s always fun finding hidden treasures.  Sketching and finishing up some of these drawings sounds like a lot of fun.  Maybe I will finish them up while I wait on some new jewelry supplies to come in.

Beautiful Feathers

The Adore collection line is all about love. What do you love? When you think of the word “love” what comes to mind? For me love and inspiration go hand in hand. I love feeling inspired. I love all things creative. And I love finding inspiration through art journaling and collecting meaningful ephemera—or in this case, when my husband gives me keepsakes to add to my ever-growing inspiration board.

For those of you who don’t know me personally, my husband loves to run. He runs every day, rain or snow, he runs. Every so often if I’m lucky, he returns with a beautiful feather. He tells me, “add this to your collection of inspiration….I know you’ll do something creative with it!” Of course, I add all these cute little findings to my collection and save them for the right moment.

Sometimes I create pieces of jewelry centered on these findings. I came up with the necklace “Light as a Feather” because of these beautiful feathers.

How do you find inspiration in the little things in life? Do you keep an inspiration board or a “treasure” box full of inspiring items? With love and inspiration on my mind, I’d like to challenge you to creating something artistic today. It can be anything. All I ask is that you incorporate the theme love. Here is an example of my artistic challenge in action. I created an art journal page based on the word love.