ATTENTION MEMBERS: Week 11 Member Downloads

You Week 11 Member Downloads will not be ready until Tuesday this week.
I am working hard on getting them ready for you, but have run into some difficulties (lack of sleep due to farm animal noises).
I will have them ready for you by tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you for your patience!

Let Go - August 5th

TODAY'S WORD: HATE
(you can use the word in any form you like: Hate, hatred, etc.)

Write the word, do a drawing, make a doodle, write a poem, or something else you come to think of when you hear the word 'HATE'.

Let Go and Enjoy!

If you feel up to it you are ALWAYS welcome to upload your pages to our Flickr Gallery

Let Go - August 4th

TODAY'S WORD: Shine
(you can use the word in any form you like: Shine Shining, etc.)

Write the word, do a drawing, make a doodle, write a poem, or something else you come to think of when you hear the word 'SHINE'.

Let Go and Enjoy!

If you feel up to it you are ALWAYS welcome to upload your pages to our Flickr Gallery

I used a bunch of yellow, orange, and red crayons and coloring pencils here. Then used a little plastic thingy (used for plastic canvas projects) as a stamp to add a little texture. And last I wrote the word SHINE using Sharpie poster pens and Sakura Glaze pens.

ATTENTION MEMBERS: Renewed Memberships

Hi Friends
I just wanted to let you all know that I have extended the membership for all of you who have taken advantage of the 50% OFF sale. So no need to email me your info.
Please be sure to tell your friends about this 50% off sale. I am sure I can think of some kind of rewards for any you for any referrals you bring me. Just tell your friends about the 50% OFF sale, give them the coupon code, and tell them to mention your name when they purchase the 1 year membership.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Let Go - August 3rd

TODAY'S WORD: Fear
(you can use the word in any form you like: Fear, Fearing, Fearful, etc.)

Write the word, do a drawing, make a doodle, write a poem, or something else you come to think of when you hear the word 'FEAR'.

Let Go and Enjoy!

If you feel up to it you are ALWAYS welcome to upload your pages to our Flickr Gallery

Let Go - August 2nd

TODAY'S WORD: Love
(you can use the word in any form you like: Love, Loving, etc.)

Write the word, do a drawing, make a doodle, write a poem, or something else you come to think of when you hear the word 'LOVE'.

Let Go and Enjoy!

If you feel up to it you are ALWAYS welcome to upload your pages to our Flickr Gallery

Challenge - Week 10 - Let Go

This CHALLENGE will run through the entire month of August.

I know that most of you are digital art journalers, and this challenge is not digital. However, it is something you can do even if you have never done any hands on art journaling before. And I really suggest you try. I think it is something that will help you become a better art journaler (even digital art journaler). Please just humor me for this one month.

During the month of August, you will be working on a Mini 'Let Go' Art Journal. We are taking Art Journaling back to it's basics. Let's doodle, scribble, draw, write. You will not need any fancy art supplies for this one.

What you will need:
A journal
Pencils
Coloring pencils
Crayons
Ink pens

And no you do not need to go shopping for everything on the list. If all you have are ink pens or regular pencils, then that is perfectly fine.

The Journal:
The smaller the journal the better. The journal I will be using in my examples is a 5.5x3.87 inches, 48 sheet notebook I bought at Walmart a while ago. I think I paid less than $2 for it. I do not plan on using a lot of wet medium in my journal, so the light paper is ok.
You can also choose to do it on index cards. You can get 100 index cards at the Dollar Tree (in the US) for a dollar, and it is not much more at Walmart or office supply stores.
And if you can't get either, maybe cut paper out in trading card sizes and use those.
Anything will work.

You want to keep your journal/index cards at a size so you can fill your page/sheet with colors, doodles, or text in a very short time. No more than 10 minutes. Preferably less than 5 minutes.

Journal Examples:

The largest one of the journals in the photo is a regular size composition notebook. It is 9.75x7.5 inches with 100 sheets of paper. That is actually a little too big for the "Let Go" challenge. The colored journals are 5.5x3.87 inches with 48 sheets of paper and are perfectly sized for this challenge. The smallest ones are 4.5x3.25 inches with 80 sheets of paper. They might actually be just a bit too small. But it is up to you. Maybe you have a small journal somewhere in your house already that you can use.

Index Cards: They do come in various sizes and they all will work well with this challenge. Here I have two recipe card boxes. The one to the left is full of just plain white cards, but the one to the right I have pre-colored all the cards. I just did a slight watercolor wash on all the cards in various natural colors.

These are my recipe card boxes. One is an old antique and the other my husband made for me at Christmas a few years ago. You can get these sorts of boxes everywhere. You can try looking at Goodwill or other second hand store. Craft supply stores also have them plain so you can decorate them yourself. And you can also get index card boxes at office supply store.
Of course you dont need a box. You can punch holes in your cards and tie them together with a ribbon, or use rings.

This CHALLENGE is all about letting go. Go back to the basics.
Each day you will be provided with a word. You can use that word any way you like. You can write the word on your page. Draw or write whatever comes to mind when reading the word. Or maybe you want to do some poetry. Forget what others might think. This is YOUR journal. You dont have to share with anyone.

TODAY'S WORD: Create
(you can use the word in any form you like: Create, creative, creations, etc.)

Use one page in your journal. Draw, doodle, write, whatever you want to do. It does not need to be fancy or museum worthy. Just LET GO and LET'S GET BACK TO BASICS.

EXAMPLES:

Pink coloring pencil to add a little color to the background. Ink pen to write the word. I colored in the letters with Glaze pens from Sakura.
You can add the date to your page.
Less than 5 minutes.

I used Neocolor II watercolor crayons for the black background and a Sharpie poster paint pen for the text.

Less than 5 minutes.

Again I added some color to the background using Neocolor II watercolor crayons. Then I added some scrapbook alpha letters with glue. Then embellished with some glitter glue.

About 10 minutes (due to glitter glue drying time)

This one I actually made watching TV last night. It took probably 1 hour due to using Glaze pens by Sakura and glitter glue. Both requires some drying time.

I used various coloring pencils, crayons, Glaze pens by Sakura, and Elmer's glitter glue.

As you can see you can go from just a simple 5 minute page to a more elaborate page with lots of color. It is up to you.

Try using as few art supplies as possible. LET GO and go BACK TO BASICS.

If you carry a purse or bag with you when you leave your house, take your 'journal' with you. Bring a few different making tools with you too. If you have a few moments while waiting in the Dr's office, at the DMV, etc. pull out and use your journal. Think about the word of the day.

 I will also post reminders every day, and sometimes share my pages.

I really do hope that you all will join me in this challenge/exercise. I know it will be fun, and even if you ever never done any hands-on art before you are all more then qualified to do this little project. Have fun!