Tips for your art journaling space

As I got more and more into art journaling, my stash of pens, papers, old books,paints and so on grew.At first I kept all my supplies in a big box, which I took out when I did art journaling and put away again when I was done.But soon this was impossible as my supplies no longer fit in the box, so I decided to make my self a crafty corner.

Your desk
DO NOT go and buy yourself a new one, as you will spill paint , glitter and tea all over it!!!Just use an old one you would other wise throw away or go and get one in a second hand shop. It should be big enough though for all your supplies.Also it helps if it has drawers and lots of room underneath to store supplies.

Lighting
Your best option is to get two lights - one coming from the left and the other from the right, but if you only have onê put on the left if youre righthanded and on the right if your left handed. Otherwise your hand will block the light hitting your journal properly.

Chair
Make sure it has a backrest so you can journal for hours on end .And it should be comfy!!!

Storing supplies
Tins or jars are a great sulution for storing paint brushes, pencils, pens and scissors.
I pile my books I use for art journaling on my desk, but you may want to put up a shelf for them.I think the best way to store stamps is n a drawer.I just arrange a lot of my stuff on my desk. But I do keep paper in a basket under my desk- I have 3-One for pretty patterned paper, one for Junk paper and one for old magazines.


Inspiration
Their are many ways you can get inspiration from your work space:
Create an inspiration board or file-simply fill with images you love but dont know how to use yet.Hang up lots of pictures and postcards that inspire you.Keep your fave books close.Arrange your supplies in an inspiring way.Have lots of magazines around you.Cut out random words in adveance and when you dont know what to journal about let them inspire you. Have some kind of music player near so you can get inspired by your fave music whilst art journaling.

Propmtfile
Keep a notebook or file to record all the great quotes and prompts from the web near so you will always have an inspiration kick!!!!

So that was just a few tips based on the way i have my artsyden organized.Tip: Have some comfy seating solutions near you, so can do the page at your desk and then journal in a nice comfy space:)
Happy art journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first page in my 4th art journal and more cool stuff

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1.The newest issue of lets knit.I love this magazine, okay Im really not that good at knitting but it has some nice simple patterns to and is full of inspiration for diffrent things. This issue has an extra mag with it on knitting hats, scarves and gloves.

2. This is Scrapbook magazine.I have never seen a magazine about art journaling( so let me know if you know of one) but this is really quiet good to.Every issue comes with free paper which is fab to use in art journaling. Also all the techniques used and explained in the magazine can be refunctioned to work in an art journal.

3. This the wonderful shrug / bolero my grandma knit me.Its made from eco cotton and I LOVE it. Whats really nice about it is that depending on how tighly you tie it closed it gives a completly diffrent affect and the colours are so nice!!!!!Thanks Grandma

4 and 5. This is my first ever page in my new watercolour sketchbook moleskine.Its an evil angel.I got inspired by suzi blus video on angels and orange trees to do an angel.First I drew it , then picked colours and started mixing and painting.The red background is meant to be fire and her eyes are black:)She is painted over a two page spread. Then I added the journaling which is just about my inspiration for this page . As I like mentioning this so that later when I look at it ill remeber why I did this page

Thats all if done this week . Had a lot going on ...

Happy journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How I got into art journaling

One day I came across Craft magazine and bought it and loved it so much I even subscribed to it(http://www.craftzine.com/ ) . Then issue two arrived with an artical about art journaling in it.In the magazine they told me what it was and how you could to it and recommended a moleskin journal to start off in.So I went down the town and bought a moleskine. Then I searched on flickr " art journal" and "Moleskin" and came across many inspiring images. Try it for yourself.Then I had ago myself.First a page about me which was just writing and a few doodles really. Thats all my first pages where writing and doodling.BUT then I went on youtube and searched art journaling and found suzi blu.So I did what she told me dont worry about your art not being perfect just do it. Now my pages started to evolve from just writing and doodles to doodles on painted backgrounds, then collages,altered magazine images. Then as time went on the writing got less and the paint more.I bought some artist Pitt pens and started using them on my pages.Alot of my art was ( and sometimes still is) simply drawings on mixed media backgrounds. I started experimenting with doors in the pages and using pages of old books in my journal. Soon i was hooked.I could not not art journal. I found many cool links to sites and have know filled three art journals.All are moleskin sketchbooks so now Im getting a bit out of my comfort zone and am using a moleskine watercolour journal.

Happy art journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whats up?

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So as you may see I customized my blog with a few new colours.I thinks it looks cool.Just giving everyone an update.Iv (okay I admit Im late) enterd the nonstopwritingmonth and am atempting to make a piece of writing about art journaling.My third art journal is almost done.My next journal is bought, its a moleskin again but this time its a watercolour notebook.I will give you my thoughts on which is better for art journaling soon.I was delighted when I found this cool mini bargain bag in my local fabric shop.It conzained lovely buttons, ribbon , glitter stone tape and some cool bias binding.I LOVE little goodies like this:)

Some cool quotes I have found over the last few days:

"My home is where my books are"- Ellen Thompson

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary"- Pablo picasso

Now to the pictures above:

1. I did this yesterday. Id cut the masked face out of the a magazine and it had been in my college file for a while. Suddenly i felt like using it in a page. So I did. First I painted thewhole page with a mix of red , yellow and pink. Then I glued down the face.My nest step was to while paint was still damp go over it with white paint.Then I added paper(from an old book) and painted over it in the same way.Next I hand stiched around the edge, wrote the quote in crayon(Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny , Chaos in the midst of order is - Steve martin) and drew lines ( with a red artist pitt pen , brush) and added journaling.:)

2. This is my teesha moore page.I did it after watcching her videos on youtube( the link is 2 posts ago).Cuttings from a fashion magazine.My quotes read: " The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts"- Markus Aurelius and "Imagination is more important than knowledge. knowledge is limited, Imagionation is not "-Albert Einstein

Tip: If you dont have a white pen ( I dont) , just use tipex( in pen form or on a paintbrush).

3. This page was created after I had a piece of music copied for school, which I didn't need anymore. Then the treesha moore videos ( before id watched) was my second inspiration.I glued old pages from a book so i could use watercolours, then i added the music border and pasted together some people.

4.Did this when I was anoided, one time. Just slapped down dark clolours, added some cut out words (from my colllection (I cut out cool words and save them to use on later journal pages))they are storm, world , focus and escape.Then I added two quotes and spirals:

"If youre going through hell keep going"- Winston Churchill and "Don't cry , just say f*** you and smile"-by my friend

5.This is another page done by my podcasts and journal method.I posted a tutorial a while back, so if your intrested check it out.Its about Dodos and Crafting for when zoure under the weather(Craftzpod(

So hope that inspired you to create zour own pages.Happy Journaling

Crafty chica

Heres her site(i love her passion for her country and roots)
http://thecraftychica.blogspot.com/

Cool art journaling vid

COOL video about a cool art journaling technique : http://www.youtube.com/user/tracyvmoore
Its like taking a free class!!!!!!!!!!!

Links for the weekend

Here is a cool toast keychain (out of felt); http://aiwa-9.deviantart.com/art/plush-toast-keychain-tutorial-64057573

Cute knitted bear x-mas decorations;http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/free_knitting_patterns/

Knitted stocking: http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/free_knitting_patterns/2007/06/knitted_mini_ch.html

Super cute lamb i-pod case:http://www.hipgirlie.com/2007/11/06/diy-ipod-mp3-case/

A super cool way to use up old starbucks cups or just have fun:http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/10/tuesday-tutorials-wilna-furstenberg-.html

Crochet a really cute owl:http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/BabyChild/WT1741%20Cutest%20Little%20Owl.htm

Retro inspired FIMO hearts:http://www.cutoutandkeep.net//projects/retro_inspired_fimo_heart_jewellery

SO THERE ARE A FEW TUTORIALS TO GET YOU THROUGH THE WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!