Art Journaling for the Soul

I love art journaling, and pretty much all crafty things. Anything that would require me to embrace some creativity, I could probably be interested in. I had to start over since I lost all of my old journals, supplies, and many notebooks. If not for art journaling, art in general, and crafts; I would lose my mind. Life can take a toll on you sometimes, it's nice to have something that brings you back to center. For me, that something is art and crafting; and yoga.

Sometimes it's just sketching/drawing with only a pencil and eraser, other times it's an embrace your mistakes session with only a pen, then it's fun to add color, and of course those anything goes moments; with whatever you can find (mixed media). I adore sketching/drawing/doodling, art journaling, painting, sculpting, metal and wood working, jewelry making, crochet and other yarn crafts, and much more. No matter the materials, I love creating.

This is one of my art journals. Just a simple lined journal with some magazine letters and a fabric butterfly from an old shirt, mod podged to the already decorative cover.

A sneak peek inside this journal will show simple beginnings. Once I have more gesso, I will be doing many things with this one.

First page in this journal is a poem I wrote after a devastating situation forced myself and my child from our home. I try not to take things for granted, since we know how it feels to lose so much and have nothing. Brighter days are always in the midst. Never give up.

Some simple uplifting mantras done with microns and awful old colored pencils. Lots of breakage, very waxy. It turned out fine, but I really want some new colored pencils. I'm thinking Faber-Castell Polychromos.

This started as a heart, but my munchkin jumped on my bed while I was drawing and a long curved line protruded from the top. So, I extended the line and made it work. This is the end result. A Zentangle® Inspired Journal Page, most likely unfinished. Close-up of the heart follows the page.

A simple fun page with a great mantra. Used colored pencils and colored Micron 05's.

Last but not least for now, an unfinished page. I saved a Dove chocolate wrapper because I liked what it read. Glued it to the page and began drawing a scalloped border, never finished though. I'm sure I'll come back to it at some point.

My munchkin loves crafting almost as much as I do. This morning I was asked with great enthusiasm, "Can I make art in my spiderman journal mama, please?!" How could I say no?

So, I had him get his art supplies together and he asked if we could cut out pictures and put them inside. We flipped through some old catalogs and cut out some things he liked. Then he proceeded to glue to his heart's content, until he couldn't stand the glue on his fingers anymore. That's when he said, "I don't like this glue all over my fingers, I'm going to put this away for later." He then ran off to get a cookie tin, and placed all of his cut outs gently inside. I didn't get a chance to take a picture yet. But I'm so proud, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to take lots of pictures of his art.

Until next time, embrace your creativity.