December Art Journaling

Since I devoted the first 25 days of the month of December to daily Advent art journaling posts, I thought I would share the other projects I tried to fit in. Since I had started my Advent art pages in October in preparation for guest posts and daily December posting, by mid-month I was able to add some other projects into my art time.

I really wanted to do the December 30 Days of Lists challenge since I love making lists. But that project did prove to be more than I could handle early in the month alongside Advent prep for my blog and for the blog at church. The pages I did complete were a lot of fun!

I'm not totally ruling out that I may do more of the list prompts in the month ahead. Since I am so driven by the calendar and deadlines for my job, I have made a rule of giving myself permission to be more free-flowing with my art time and projects. I do strive to finish the projects I start, but the higher value for me is simply practicing creativity and enjoying the energy and refreshment it provides.

Caylee Greyvenstein from the Get Messy Art Journal community had a class that began on December 16. The start of this class coincided perfectly with school beginning its Christmas break on December 15, and my schedule slowing down. So, I jumped right into it! I am taking my time working through the project and enjoying the tips and techniques that Caylee and the other artists provide. I used an old cardboard photo folder from my dad's hometown as my journal cover. I then  added sewn in pages from a variety of materials, such as watercolor paper, vintage map pages, end-papers from old books, etc.

I have one more project that I'll save for my next post.

Advent Day 5 & Some December Lists

For Advent this year I have been following along in Kris Camealy's new Advent book Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting. Kris' daily devotions follow the December calendar, December 1-25, rather than the Advent calendar. I have also been a part of the team at our church who have been writing devotionals and have created weekly Advent guides. Links to all of these resources are below.

Today's reading was a reminder that Advent itself is a reminder to us, that while we live life in a broken and sin-filled world, we wait for a day when God will heal all things.

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." Isaiah 40:1

"The ripples of life leave us stumbling, exhausted, weary and defeated. But this is not how it will always be.

"Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain." (Isaiah 40:4)

One day, God will grab hold of the edges of the earth and straighten forever the wrinkles that sin has gathered in its fists. Things now are not as they will be. Isaiah tells us that this leveling out will reveal the glory of God (Isaiah 40:5)....The things of this earth will fade, but in God's perfect, appointed season, He will mend what sin has broken. We will celebrate for eternity, a perpetual Christmas, in the very presence of Jesus." ~Kris Camealy, p24-25.

I am also participating in the 30 Days of Lists December project. I enjoy these daily list-making projects because they provide a quick, simple way to make a little art. And the December project is another way to connect with the season, plus look back a bit over the past year. Here are my lists for Days 1-4:

I have even crossed off one of the items on my "things to try this season" list! November and December are busy times in my job overseeing community outreach at my church. For the past few years I haven't set up our Christmas tree. I think part of the reason I stopped decorating for Christmas was in reaction to the 20+ years I worked in hospitality and retail - those industries just sucked the holiday spirit right out of me! I have written in the past about how participating in Advent has restored the spirit of this season in me and I think simplifying holiday decorating pairs with that well. So this year a small tabletop tree, a wreath on the door and a centerpiece on the dining room table bring some Christmas sparkle to the house without the exhaustion!

Resources:
Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting by Kris Camealy. Available at Amazon.
Come, Lord Jesus Advent Book Club at Creative and Free.
Visit my church's website where we are offering a weekly Advent theme devotion and resources on our blog: Grace Church 

30 Days of Lists December

Art Journaling Lists

I am a list maker. I make daily to-do lists. I make lists of things I'd like to do. I make lists of observations I see when studying the Bible or reading a book. And from time-to-time I will participate in making art journal lists. In April and May the "Get Messy" art journaling community is doing a season of list making. I'm not doing all of the lists, but am selecting one or two each week. I'm making my art journal lists on large shipping tags and inserting them in my DLP journal. Here are a few of my lists from the "Get Messy" art journal prompts.

In April I changed the format for my weekly Documented Life Project (DLP) pages as I wanted wider spaces to write in. I'm working on getting caught up with April and May.

Pop over to my Etsy shop and check out the new altered book art journals I listed this week.

I'm off to make a few more lists! How about you?

September Projects

In yesterday's post, Blog Hop With a Difference, I wrote about some of the projects I am participating in this month. Here are my art journal pages from those projects:
*Warning: I haven't posted much this month so there are a lot of photos in this post.

30 Days of Lists

The Documented Life Project

DLP Challenge 38: Use a feather

Made Course 2014

That's all for me today, Don't forget to stop back on Thursday ~ I have something to celebrate!