Hello January 2019

I so love the start of a fresh year. 

Nothing literally changes between December 31 and January 1, but there is a mindset or perspective change that a new year will bring a new beginning, a fresh start. And I fully embrace that each year.

At my job, we usually close the office for the week between the holidays. So I am able to begin the new year, and January, feeling rested and refreshed. This year has been no different. I feel rested. I feel refreshed. However, I also began the new year in a bit of a creative slump. One thing I have come to know about myself over the past few years, is that after a long daily challenge, like Advent Words, I tend to go into a creative wandering phase. It's almost like having creative attention deficit disorder, I can't seem to focus on one thing for very long. Over time I have found that there are a few ways to jump start my creativity when in a slump: play with art supplies and/or make a new journal. I did both!

I had already made an altered book signature journal for my word of the year and our A-Z challenge in the Living Your Word group. You can read about that in this post. But I needed to just make a journal to play. 

Since I like using vintage papers and found items in my journals I have been drawn to junk journals. There a few junk journal artists that pop up in my Instagram feed and on Pinterest that inspire me, so I decided to make a junk journal. I've had this conference promotional folder saved for a few years waiting for the right project. The graphics caught my eye and I held on to it. The front cover folded in half made a perfect size for a journal.

The back side of the journal ended up narrower than the front because I wanted to keep the full graphic in view. So I simply cut a piece of kraft paper cardstock, folded it in half and attached it to the narrow side, making them both the same size. 

I then took a mix of magazine pages, book pages, maps, etc. and folded them in half, sewing them into the fold of the cover.

My assistant felt I needed a paper weight for the pile of papers I was combing through, so he cheerfully gave me his assistance.

My junk journal has enough pages to have one for each day in January. I'm following along with the Life Documented project again this year after not participating for a few years. Plus, there are a few junk journaling challenges this month on Instagram that I am not going to follow religiously, but will borrow from their prompts when I need some inspiration. So I will use this journal for the art I make in response to those projects and anything else outside of my word of the year pages.

It was great to play with supplies and make a junk journal. I really enjoy making journals and bookbinding so I may just make a new one each month...just to play and spark my creative juices!

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I facilitate a Facebook group about Living your Word of the Year. In it we share insights through blog posts and connect with other like-hearted and like-minded people who want to live out a word focus throughout the year. We offer participants a bi-weekly A-Z Inspiration to help prompt reflection and creativity, as well as other inspirational ways to connect with your word of the year and your faith. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word throughout the year, explore new ideas, record thoughts, prayers, and events, you are invited to join our Facebook group.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Please use #livingyourword2019 on social media.

Check out the other blogs:Bernice: www.newlycreative.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog

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.

June in Review

Summer is here and the busyness of the school year winds down for just a bit. It amazes me when I think about the fact that my daughter graduated from high school 18 years ago! The first year after she graduated it felt strange not to have the school year dictating our schedules and our calendar. We got past that - along with numerous other empty nest transitions! But then our church began a ministry to the elementary school nearby, and I soon became the leader of that ministry, and over the past 11 years I find that the school year once again has the greatest impact on my schedule and calendar! So, while I am not a teacher or a school employee, I find I release a huge sigh in June when the calendar and the schedule slows down for a while.

Tips for Using Old Books and Papers in Art Journaling

From time to time I receive questions from blog readers, Pinterest followers, Etsy customers, and members from groups I belong to. So I want to take some time throughout this month to answer some of them in a series of blog posts. I'll start with old books since so much of this started here for me.

The first time I made an altered book art journal I was hooked. I started going to book sales and buying books, making journals, using the book pages on my art journal pages, and stacking up books in my studio/office. I started my Etsy Shop, {found on brighton}, as a way to use up the books and leftover insides that were accumulating in my house.

So, what do I do with the book pages? It is quite rare that I make an art journal page where book text isn't peaking out of it somewhere, in some way. I love the look of book text in my backgrounds peaking out through subtle layers of gesso or paint.

I like to cut shapes and letters out of painted book paper.

Or make mosaics.

So these are some of the ways I use old books and book paper in my art journaling. Altered book journals and themed paper packs are available in my Etsy shop.

Are there ways you use books or book paper in your art journaling different than the ways I listed?

30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 7. I missed posting yesterday, so now they are not consecutive. But I press on with the challenge!

Hello Creative Spark! (And a giveaway winner)

September always makes me think of fall - even though we are in the middle of a heat wave here! But the fall bug has started for me! I read a quote the other day that really struck me:

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing.Wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating.There really is no such thing as bad weather,only different kinds of good weather."  ~John Ruskin

That really does sum things up well for me - maybe with the exception of hot, humid weather! I really do like all of the seasons and all types of weather, but I would have to say that autumn is my favorite followed closely be spring. I'm pushing the season a bit with this little package I ordered from Citron Faire shop on Etsy. Aren't they cute!

For the past few months I just haven't had a lot of creative energy. I've made art and done quite a bit of art journaling but I just haven't felt the creative juice I'm used to. I've started painting papers many times only to give up, unhappy with the results. But over the past few days that creative spark has returned. It really started with a little Bible study I stumbled on by accident. I was studying chapter 9 in the gospel of John for the study team I am on at my church. This is the chapter where Jesus heals the blind man and one of the places in the book where he says, "I am the light of the world." I got rabbit-trailed in my study by looking into the Old Testament, and especially Isaiah, at the Messianic references to light and how restoring sight would be a sign of the messiah. This rabbit-trail of light and sight made me want to make a journal to record my findings creatively, So I made a stitched pamphlet with water color paper and started painting some papers. In between all the other things that needed to get done over this holiday weekend I have been covering pages in this journal with painted papers. And I have felt that creative spark ignite! I can make art without the spark, but, wow, do I really feel more connected to it creatively when that spark exists! I just don't like doing things on auto-pilot, whether it's art or Bible study, and it's easy to get into ruts and do just that. My Light and Sight journal pages are filling up with background papers and then I'll start adding what I gleaned from my study.

Our Take Me Deeper theme for faithart devotional studies in September is about God's promises. My first page of the month:

Now for the winner of the bird themed vintage paper pack from my Etsy shop: Shawna Rash! If you like birds join our newest class from the His Kingdom Come foundation team, God's Aviary. Thank you to everyone who participated! Shawna, send me your mailing address: marybrack@gmail.com.

Congratulations Shawna!

A Giveaway and a New Class at HKC

Tomorrow we are releasing a new collaborative class from the foundation team of the His Kingdom Come community. This will be our third collaborative class offering this year. The five of us have such a great time connecting and sharing ideas and art, and it's always neat to see how different our five projects end up!

The class is called Faithart 102: God's Aviary. Anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time knows how much I enjoy birds! We each took a different bird or bird subject and traced the theme through the Bible. We then each made a different type of journal to put our study notes and art into. You can purchase each class individually for $8 or a bundle of all five for $35. Visit here to read more about the classes. Here is a sneak peak video of the class:

For my study I dug into bird symbolism used in the Bible and focused on three areas: trust, refuge and renewal. Here is a sneak peak into my journal:

Since I love birds and I love collage and I have bird themed collage packs of vintage papers in my Etsy shop I decided it would be fun to do a giveaway on my blog.  Here is what you do: pop over to my Etsy shop, {found on brighton}, and take a peak around. then come back here and share a comment about an item you saw there. The winner of the random drawing will win a bird themed paper pack plus a few extra goodies! Leave your comment here by 6:00 pm EST Sunday.  I will announce the winner here on Monday, September 7. 

Well, I'm looking forward to a long weekend and a little extra time to play with art. I hope you enjoy your holiday weekend and that you find time to be creative. :)