Art Journal Every Day

Hello friends! My apologizes for the long silence and lack of blog posts. To say that life has been busy is an understatement. So much has been taking place over the past month that it's been difficult to create much less remember to take photos and post on my blog. Relax...this is going to be a long post.

Today I'm sharing the only art that I've been creating over the past few weeks, along with details on some major changes taking place in our family. First, let's get to the art!

Early last month I ended up signing up for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Junque Journal class, which is offered online. It's $125 for the class, but so worth the price! I think I mentioned this class previously, but I ended up taking close to 100 random pieces of cardstock, paper, half finished art journal pages, and lots of other odds and ends and turning them into two journals. They are spectacular! I can't say enough good things about this class...it was amazing.

Once I finished my journals, I ended up taking Julie's 30 Days in Your Junque Journal class (another online class), which includes 30 individual videos. Each video shows Julie's creating something in her journal each day. To be honest, I wish there was more of Julie creating her beautiful art in her journals (I could sit and watch her videos all day!), however, she does really break down how she uses her journal and how to get the most out of your journal. I felt like I learned a lot of tips and tricks attending both of these classes. (There's a discount if you bundle these two classes together)

Since the majority of my art studio has been packed for our pending move to CT (insert weeping and wailing), I've been only working with paint, some stencils, a whole lotta new pens (Julie has me hooked on Jelly Roll pens and white Sharpies!), and my journal. It's been refreshing...

I have also found that my journal has been a wonderful way for me to work through my many varying emotions about our move. Moving is not something I have desired and so there have been many days filled with a deep sadness and feeling of loss. We are giving up a lot to make this move. Journaling has helped me put those feelings down on paper, it's been a place to capture encouraging words that have been spoken to me by friends, and a location for special Bible verses that I've read. It's been a rewarding and somewhat therapeutic experience. 

The journal spread above was created with red paint (Dina Wakley), a leaf stencil (Crafters Workshop), and some embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi) that I colored with gold paint (also Dina). I put my journaling on two small tags, I love the look of the text against the red pages, and the butterfly was a scrap piece of chipboard left over from a die cut (Sweet 'n Sassy). I just added some paint and stamping (Prima stamps) to the chipboard before attaching it over another manila tag.

This page already had a gelli print on the paper (you can see the print through the bird), and I just added black paint around the bird mask (Donna Downey), poured out my thoughts on the page, using a white Sharpie, and added some red color to the bird. I also did a bit of doodling (love those Jelly Roll pens), and a piece of washi tape. I might add more to this bird, but no rush on making any changes right now. I'm finding that I work in small sections once or twice a day. It's all this mom has time for right now!

The page on the left was one that I created a while ago, you can read the details here, and I simply painted the page on the right to match. I journaled in the circles (fun stuff!), and added a few other elements to make the two pages flow together.

This spread was super, duper fun! The hearts on the right were already on the page and then I started doodling...and I just couldn't stop! I created this giant flower and used some watered down gesso to fade out the background behind the hearts, but left some of the text and design peeking through. The doodling was all done with Jelly Roll pens and Sharpies. The hearts were the perfect focal point for my journaling as my pages included a wonderful note from a friend who encouraged me about the decisions we're making as a family. (All of the date, day, and shape stamps are from Julie Balzer).

I have a few other pages that are in progress and hopefully I'll be able to pop back in sometime soon to share more.

As for our personal news...we are indeed moving to CT. I'm more at peace about the decision now as each day brings more conversations with my hubby, more news about his new position (he LOVES it), and closer to finding a new home. We've been faced with a host of challenges with this move, but we're finding that God is continuing to open doors so we've been encouraged that we're on the right path. We hope to close on our new home this week and we will be out of our beloved NH home right after Thanksgiving. 

This also means that I will no longer be teaching at Michaels in Epping or offering classes in my home. It's a bit sad to be closing this chapter of my life, but I confess that I have been overjoyed with the amount of free time I've had with my children. Being free from the stress of store ownership and creating only for classes, design teams, or my blog vs. creating just for fun and only when I have time has been liberating. I have missed so much with my boys...even though I've been home with them for many years...I haven't been as present as I should have been, and I'm grateful that I'm getting an opportunity to spend more time with them now...it's a tremendous privilege and blessing. 

I'm not sure what all of this means for my blog...I do know that things are going to be very quiet for the next month or so as we pack up the rest of our house and then unpack in our new home. I may share more art on Instagram so please follow me there, if you'd like. My user name is Kimita46. (You'll also see lots of photos of our cat! LOL!) I'd like to think I'll be back to regular blogging in a few months, but we'll see...I've been on design teams and blogging for close to 10 years and a big part of me wants to take a break and just work on my own art. However, I may miss this wonderful community too much to stay away for long! I do hope you'll remain on my mailing list for now and if there are any other big changes (you know, other than that whole moving to another state thing), I'll send out a note. (Maybe I'll share more of our moving journey on the blog...)

Thanks so much! Much love!