Do you ever feel trapped by the busyness of life? With very few exceptions, every week seems to follow the same routine. With a family of 5 kids and my own business there is always something that needs doing, making me feel as though my life is on fast forward.  Days, weeks, months and even years are flying by, and sometimes it feels as though somewhere along the way I’m losing “me”. Even though I’m only 40, I’m already feeling the pressure of time.  When I look at my dreams now, many of them are dreams I had 20 years ago…..still unfulfilled.  And it scares me.  In another 20 years, if Lord willing I have that long (my mom passed away from cancer at 53), I don’t want to experience a feeling of deja vu – wondering where 20 years has gone, still dreaming the same dreams.  At that point I want to have fulfilled my current dreams, and to have started dreaming new dreams along the way.  I don’t want to just live, I want to soar.

Those were the feelings behind this art journal page. A reminder to myself to take the time to let go of everyday demands and spread my wings and soar towards my dreams.  It’s a reminder that dreams aren’t accomplished over night, and even one or two little steps every week make a difference.  

I did film a video tutorial for you on how I created this page.  I do want to warn you though that it’s quite a bit longer than what I’ve typically been sharing.  For me art journaling typically isn’t a quick process.  And all my art journal pages are one-of’s – I film them as I’m creating them. Sometimes they’re quick and easy, other times I get lost in them and they’re a lot longer.  Today’s page is a good example of that.  The video itself is 40 minutes long, so I’ve broken it up into two parts.  I did not fast forward through any of the sections as many people do who film art journaling video tutorials. I remember when I first started diving into the world of art journaling, I knew so little, and I was so hungry for information that I wanted all the nitty gritty details – I wanted to watch everything. So that’s what I’ve done for you.

Part 1

Part 2

I’m under a bit of time crunch right now, but I’ll be back with a listing of the supplies I used for this page.

Are you happy with the life you are living – right now, today?  Is it every thing you dreamed of?  Or do you yearn for more?  Do you settle for what life has brought you, or do you strive for more? It’s easy to fall into a routine – especially when you live a busy life with lots going on. As mom to 5 kids under the age of 13, as a wife to a husband who travels a lot for work, as an entrepreneur trying to keep up with the ever changing online world, there are always so many demands on my time.  More demands than I have the time to fulfill in fact.  The “tyranny of the urgent”…… I’m sure you’re all familiar with that saying.  In trying to fulfill all the urgent demands on our time, it’s easy to lose sight of what is truly important.  It’s easy to just “settle” and lose sight of our dreams. I created this simple art journal page as a reminder to myself to to keep reaching for my dreams, and to keep dreaming new dreams. 

My art journal page features a monochromatic color scheme.  I chose blue to represent the sky, and the imagery of the butterflies to represent my dreams. It was a real challenge trying to take a picture of this page because I used a black glitter embossing powder that had a silver tinge to it – the silver kept catching the light and creating a glare.  So this page looks WAY better in real life. But hopefully you get the idea.  I have a video tutorial for you, walking you through my art journaling process which you can see below.

Although I have a number of different art journals on the go, this one is the same large Moleskine journal I used for last week’s art journal page. As with last week’s page, I once again used Distress Stains as the base for my page. I started by covering my plain page with tissue paper from a sewing pattern – it has a nice aged look to it, and minimal markings so as not to detract from the page itself.  Distress Stains can’t be used on the actual pages of the Moleskine because it seeps in and doesn’t blend out properly.  By gessoing my page and then collaging on the tissue paper, I was able to keep a porous surface (the tissue – which, although porous, is less porous than the paper of the journal), with a waterproof base below (the gesso), allowing the Distress Stain to move across the surface rather than sinking right in.

I used quite a number of different products in this project, which you can see below. Please note that the Cubist Crafter’s Workshop Template I used was the 12″ x 12″ one, the one listed below is the 6″ x 6″, which also could be used.  

A few weeks ago I shared with you an art journal page that was a reflection of an internal struggle I’ve been having in trying to make a big decision. My tendency is to rush into things, so I’ve been forcing myself to slow down, to pray, and to try to follow God’s leading. That is the theme behind the journal page you see here.  I created this very simple journal page I created as a reminder to myself that I have chosen to put my life in God’s hands and that I need to trust His guidance and direction.  Because the full Scripture verse is so long, I decided to only put the first part of it on my page: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path”.

For my journal I’m using a large Moleskine sketchbook. Following the leading of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, my first step was to use masking tape down the center of my two-page spread, in order to help prevent seepage of my color medium through to the other pages in my book.  Once I applied my masking tape, I covered my entire page in gesso, just to give it some extra strength. From there, I built my art journal page layer by layer, texture by texture.  The primary color mediums I used for this page were Tim Holtz Distress Stains by Ranger as well as Perfect Pearls Mists.

I filmed a video tutorial showing you the art journalling process I followed for this page, and shared it on the Simon Says Stamp Blog on Monday, and thought I’d share it here as well. As I mentioned above, I kept this page relatively simple, with minimal layers, simply for the sake of the video. I love fussing around with my pages and adding little things here and little things there.  I never really know how a page is going to evolve. At each step in the process I look at my page and decide what I want to add from there. Sometimes I add things because they have meaning (such as visual imagery in stamp sets), sometimes I add things because they make me happy – like letter stickers – I LOVE letter stickers, or a little bling as I always feel like a page isn’t complete with at least a little shimmer or sparkle.

I hope you enjoyed today’s video tutorial and I hope it inspires you to give art journaling a try if you haven’t already. I’ve included a link to the supplies I used in creating this journal page in case you’re looking for more details.

I just wanted to share a little with you about what I’ve been up to since I last posted.  At Paper Crafter’s Library we’ve started a series of educations collaborations with a variety of different manufacturers. The first week in April we collaborated with Graphic 45 and last week our entire week’s focus was on Ranger’s Tim Holtz Distress Stains.  As part of these collaborations we create projects every day of the week, and many of the projects feature free video tutorials.

For Graphic 45 week I was working with their Tropical Travelogue collection (absolutely LOVE this collection).  The first thing I made was this altered set of glass coasters which I had picked up at the thrift store. I have a video on how to create these HERE.

On Friday I created a bunch of different projects.  First up was this set of three 4″ x 4″ Botanica Canvases, and I have a video tutorial on those HERE.  I actually have two separate videos.  In the first video I show you a Faux Soldering Technique which I used to create the Memory Glass Framed Images, and then in the second video I show you how I created the canvas. 

I also made a second canvas which you see below. This one was a 10″  x 10″ canvas.  It took way longer to make, so the video tutorial is a Paper Crafter’s Library Member’s-Only video.

Finally, I also created an art journal page which you can see below. I loved the image of the Beach sign and the woman with the umbrella so much that I decided to create a two page spread incorporating those images called “Life is a Beach” as a reminder to myself to focus on the positives in life.  Besides – the images and colors just make me happy to look at LOL.  I didn’t create a video on this one, I just had fun making it.

Once Graphic 45 week was over, I moved right into experimenting with Distress Stains.  They are a ton of fun!  I had been really intimidated with them until I started playing around and experimenting with them.   All week last week on the Paper Crafter’ s Library blog we had free technique videos on the Distress Stains.  You can check them all out here.  I’ll have a video tutorial on an art journal page I created using the Ranger Distress Stains on the Simon Says Stamp blog next week.  I’ll keep you posted as to when it’s up.

I’ve been contemplating some big changes lately…scary changes…risky changes….but changes that at the same time I believe could open up a whole world of possibilities. The key word though is “could” – I really have no way of knowing what the outcome will be if I choose the path I’m contemplating. The outcome could be everything I’m imagining it could be, or it could be the total opposite. The problem of course is that if I embark on this path, there is no going back. And that I do know definitively.

Proverbs 3:5 has been on my heart as I’ve been praying for direction for weeks now (or is months?): “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.”

The possibilities I’m contemplating resulted from a “random thought” that popped into my mind. What I’m struggling with right now, is knowing whether it was really a “random thought”, or whether it was a gentle nudge from the Lord as to the direction I should take. Although I know life doesn’t work like that, at times like this, I really wish God would send me an email or flash a sign from heaven telling me what to do. Because I don’t know what to do….other than wait I guess….and keep praying for clarity. Because of my own strength and within my own understanding, I’m too scared to take that risk.

Those are the thoughts behind this art journal page. This is a new journal I’ve started (I actually have quite a few on the go). I had bought a Moleskine weekly calendar last summer and then misplaced it a few months later. I found it last month and was lamenting over the fact that I “wasted” over half of my calendar, and I really love Moleskine’s – not to metion, they’re expensive. So I decided to turn it into an art journal.

Since the pages are so thin – too thin for handling the mediums I use in my art journaling, I used my Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte to stick 3-4 pages together. I then coated the pages with Claudine Hellmuth Gess, and added color using Tim Holtz Distress Stains (Broken China and Shabby Shutters) – all of those products being from Ranger. Here’s a list of the supplies I used below (to the best of my recollection, as when I art journal I just grab whatever suits my fancy).

Supplies:

• Stamps: Spring Sprung (Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous); Tattered Chicken Wire (Christy Tomlinson Unity Stamps)
• Color Mediums: Broken China, Shabby Shutters Distress Stains; Aquamarine and Jet Black Archival Inks; Ruby Red Liquid Pearls (Ranger); Cobalt Teal and Green Gold Fluid Acrylics (Golden); Black India Ink (Dr. Ph Martin’s); Black Journaling Pen (Scarlet Lime)
• Accessories: Masking Tape (for sealing the seam between the two pages); Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte and Gesso (Ranger); black rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Blackberry mini alphabet stickers (My Little Shoebox)