Art Journaling Love:Getting to Know Me

 “Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” 

― Christina Baldwin

This was my first Art Journal Cover.

 I created for my very first on-line class I had ever taken..."Soul Restoration" with Melody Ross. 

I was SUPER excited to not only learn how to restore my soul but to create an ART JOURNAL!! I had kept a written journal since the age of 9...writing is a HUGE love of mine...but this whole Art Journal thing was a completely new concept!

It's been fun looking back at my first journal...my love of writing really shows!!

This page was created on January 11th, 2011

 As you can see I was ALL about the Words. Writing what was in my Heart. 

I had a few swipes of paint and two word strips and I was done.

The second page in my Brave Girl Journal.

Created on January11th, 2011

 I was a bit more adventurous with this one...adding an image and using a Heart stamp.

(I love how my use of Hearts showed up right away in my pages!)

My third page....

paint, butterflies and lots of journaling. 

Another page from my Brave Girl's Journal

 Again...so cool to see another image I use in my pages often come out so early in my journaling...butterflies.

I like how I tried being a bit more creative here with my handwriting, placement of images and even creating a little side-bar for journaling.  

Page created January 31st, 2011


The thing I remember the most about my first art journal was how it made me FEEL.
I still get emotional when I think about it.
This was a very dark time in my life.
We were in financial chaos, our kids were making poor choices,
I was in deep depression and
 my husband was in panic mode
trying to keep us afloat.

My Heart and Soul were completely drained
 and I honestly didn't see any light at the end of any tunnel.
In fact my sweet Mama bought me this class and my journal for Christmas.
 It was the BEST gift she ever gave me.
I needed it so much!! 

As my love for Art Journaling grew I got a bit more courageous.

I visited several blogs and found the first issue of Stampinton's 

Art Journaling Magazine.

I had no idea until reading through that magazine there were so many mixed media artists in this world!! It was eye-opening and life changing for me.

An early page from my second journal. I use birds often in my work.

 Art Journaling came into my life JUST when I needed it!

And as I ventured into mixed-media my AMAZING and GENEROUS Mom 

gifted me more classes so I could learn new techniques from two of my favorites...

One of my FIRST hand-drawn images in my journals. I LOVE drawing sweet little birds!!!!

Melody Ross and Christy Tomlison

I learned how to draw a few simple things (like that cute bird above!)

and really stepped out of my comfort zone.

I used my journals to work through my Fear and Anxiety by creating pages 

as reminders to myself that it WOULD get better.

This page has so much meaning to me!!

When it comes to journaling I have supplies that I use nearly every single time.

My love of Hearts shows up often in my journals.

Almost every page begins with acrylic or watercolor paint.

I use the cheap stuff from Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

I have used the nicer stuff (Golden and Liquitex) 

but I just can't bring myself to spend 

that much!! 

The minute I found Dylusions Spray Inks from Ranger I bought a basket full!!

I LOVE how messy they make my pages look!!!!

One of my FAVE pages ever!!

Let's talk gesso for a minute...lol. I had heard a lot about this stuff in my early days of journaling
and just didn't know what all the fuss was about...until I bought some and tried it.
OH HOW I LOVE MY GESSO!
And I will be sharing all things Gesso with you soon!

Along with paint and sprays and gesso I LOVE stencils!

In the early days you won't see one stencil but as I grew in my Art my supplies grew, too!

Stencils are EVERYWHERE...big box stores, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Etsy,

Amazon, Stencil Girl, Dina Wakley, the list is endless. 

We will be talking stencils later in the class.

Other things I use often in my pages are washi tape and die-cuts.

A recent page using magazine images.

The more I journal the more I LOVE using photo's of ME.

It just adds so much more depth and meaning to my pages.

A small journal I created for "I Am" statements.


Back in my early days of creating I remember promising myself to make time to create.
In fact I would leave little notes for myself to remind me that my Heart NEEDS that time.
Now....six years later I don't need any reminders.
Creating has become who I am.
It's just a part of ME.
My daily life.
Time spent with myself in my studio means time spent with others will be better.
I need that time to think.
To pray.
To
just
Be.

I invite YOU to join me on this journey of "Art Journaling Love".
It doesn't matter one bit if you have created a thing in your life.
Grab a journal or notebook, swipe a bit of paint on the pages and just START.

If you haven't been here before please stop by my FB group...Mind.Body.Soul Art Journaling. 
We are a group of AMAZING, creative women sharing what's in our Hearts.

You can read my first "Art Journaling Love" post here.

You can go to our Files Section Here for the list Words, Mantras and Shapes for the Week.

Thanks for being here!!

Please these hashtags when posting work...

#artjournalinglove

#wordsofmeproject