Author Archives: Chrissy B.

8-Layer Journaling – Session 4!

Good morning!

I am so happy to share the 4th video of my new mini-series of art journal how to videos with you!

I am calling this series:

8-Layer Journaling

Back in February of 2015, Shannon Green put out a YouTube video series, called Journaling by 5s. It took the fear and guesswork out of art journaling. I would highly recommend you go check that process and her work out…Shannon is truly inspirational!!!

To quickly paraphrase her process is that you create 20 art journaling pages in 5 – 15 minute sessions, by layering 2 pre-determined media types per session.

Shannon’s Session are as follows:

  1. Background – Paint, Ink
  2. Texture – Collage, Recycle
  3. Pattern – Stamps, Stencils
  4. Focal Point – Words, Images
  5. Details – Pen, Pencils

Although, I really do love this process, I modified it pretty early on, because I was nowhere near able to get my sessions completed within the allotted time, which drove me BANANAS! I felt like I would do better if I limited myself to one medium per session, and to limit my use of mediums to only 5 options. For example, for the paint layer, I limit myself to only 5 tubes/bottles/jars/etc of color, to cut down on my need to overthink the process. Doing this allowed me to finally get all 20 pages done within the allotted 15 minutes. SUCCESS!!

I have used this process for creating my Soul Sister Cards, and for something I like to call Doodling books that I find super fun to play on while I am on an airplane or waiting someplace!! Every time I have done this process the pages end up looking so different from each other, and I am always so amazed at how cool they turn out!!!

So my modified version, which I am calling 8-Layer Journaling is:

  1. Paint
  2. Paper
  3. Washi
  4. Stamps
  5. Stencil
  6. Focal Image
  7. Words
  8. Pen Work

So, with all of the logistics out of the way…

Let’s get on to Layer #4

Stamping!

  1. I have a selected 5 different texture stamps (actually 7 – since I wasn’t liking how 2 of my original stamps were showing up)
  2. I selected a permanent black stamp pad (first I chose a Staz-On, and then changed to a Ranger pad)
  3. Set my timer
  4. and got to playing!!

If you do decide to do this 8-Layer Journaling process with me, I want to highly encourage you to not purchase anything new…use whatever you have in your stash. (This is probably something we could all hear a little bit more of!)

I hope that this is something that you might be inspired to try, and if you do, please share on Instagram #8layerjournaling I would LOVE to see your creations!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating!

Here is to having some fun!

 

8-Layer Journaling – Session 3!

Good morning!

I am so happy to share the 3 video of my new mini-series of art journal how to videos with you! I am calling this series

8-Layer Journaling

Back in February of 2015, Shannon Green put out a YouTube video series, called Journaling by 5s. It took the fear and guesswork out of art journaling. I would highly recommend you go check that process and her work out…Shannon is truly inspirational!!!

To quickly paraphrase her process is that you create 20 art journaling pages in 5 – 15 minute sessions, by layering 2 pre-determined media types per session.

Shannon’s Session are as follows:

  1. Background – Paint, Ink
  2. Texture – Collage, Recycle
  3. Pattern – Stamps, Stencils
  4. Focal Point – Words, Images
  5. Details – Pen, Pencils

Although, I really do love this process, I modified it pretty early on, because I was nowhere near able to get my sessions completed within the allotted time, which drove me BANANAS! I felt like I would do better if I limited myself to one medium per session, and to limit my use of mediums to only 5 options. For example, for the paint layer, I limit myself to only 5 tubes/bottles/jars/etc of color, to cut down on my need to overthink the process. Doing this allowed me to finally get all 20 pages done within the allotted 15 minutes. SUCCESS!!

I have used this process for creating my Soul Sister Cards, and for something I like to call Doodling books that I find super fun to play on while I am on an airplane or waiting someplace!! Every time I have done this process the pages end up looking so different from each other, and I am always so amazed at how cool they turn out!!!

So my modified version, which I am calling 8-Layer Journaling is:

  1. Paint
  2. Paper
  3. Washi
  4. Stamps
  5. Stencil
  6. Focal Image
  7. Words
  8. Pen Work

So, with all of the logistics out of the way…

Let’s get on to Layer #3

Washi Tape!

  1. I have a selected 6 different wash tapes, although I only used 5 of them.
  2. Set my timer
  3. and got to playing!!

If you do decide to do this 8-Layer Journaling process with me, I want to highly encourage you to not purchase anything new…use whatever you have in your stash. (This is probably something we could all hear a little bit more of!)

I hope that this is something that you might be inspired to try, and if you do, please share on Instagram #8layerjournaling I would LOVE to see your creations!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating!

Here is to having some fun!

 

8-Layer Journaling – Session 2!

Good morning!

I am so happy to share a new mini-series of art journal how to videos with you! I am calling this series

8-Layer Journaling

Back in February of 2015, Shannon Green put out a YouTube video series, called Journaling by 5s. It took the fear and guesswork out of art journaling. I would highly recommend you go check that process and her work out…Shannon is truly inspirational!!!

To quickly paraphrase her process is that you create 20 art journaling pages in 5 – 15 minute sessions, by layering 2 pre-determined media types per session.

Shannon’s Session are as follows:

  1. Background – Paint, Ink
  2. Texture – Collage, Recycle
  3. Pattern – Stamps, Stencils
  4. Focal Point – Words, Images
  5. Details – Pen, Pencils

Although, I really do love this process, I modified it pretty early on, because I was nowhere near able to get my sessions completed within the allotted time, which drove me BANANAS! I felt like I would do better if I limited myself to one medium per session, and to limit my use of mediums to only 5 options. For example, for the paint layer, I limit myself to only 5 tubes/bottles/jars/etc of color, to cut down on my need to overthink the process. Doing this allowed me to finally get all 20 pages done within the allotted 15 minutes. SUCCESS!!

I have used this process for creating my Soul Sister Cards, and for something I like to call Doodling books that I find super fun to play on while I am on an airplane or waiting someplace!! Every time I have done this process the pages end up looking so different from each other, and I am always so amazed at how cool they turn out!!!

So my modified version, which I am calling 8-Layer Journaling is:

  1. Paint
  2. Paper
  3. Washi
  4. Stamps
  5. Stencil
  6. Focal Image
  7. Words
  8. Pen Work

So, with all of the logistics out of the way…

Let’s get on to Layer #2

Paper!

  1. I have a selection of papers: Bible pages, music sheets, math pages, novel pages, graph papers, and ledger paper.
  2. I am using a sponge brush, for my gel medium. They are super cheap and because gel medium is so difficult to get out of brushes, I just use a sponge brush and toss it when I am finished (since if you try washing a sponge brush – they just fall apart)
  3. I grab some Jane Davenport Gel Medium
  4. Set my timer
  5. and got to playing!!

If you do decide to do this 8-Layer Journaling process with me, I want to highly encourage you to not purchase anything new…use whatever you have in your stash. (This is probably something we could all hear a little bit more of!)

I hope that this is something that you might be inspired to try, and if you do, please share on Instagram #8layerjournaling I would LOVE to see your creations!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating!

Here is to having some fun!

 

8-Layer Journaling – Session 1!

Good morning!

I am so happy to share a new mini-series of art journal how to videos with you! I am calling this series

8-Layer Journaling

Back in February of 2015, Shannon Green put out a YouTube video series, called Journaling by 5s. It took the fear and guesswork out of art journaling. I would highly recommend you go check that process and her work out…Shannon is truly inspirational!!!

To quickly paraphrase her process is that you create 20 art journaling pages in 5 – 15 minute sessions, by layering 2 pre-determined media types per session.

Shannon’s Session are as follows:

  1. Background – Paint, Ink
  2. Texture – Collage, Recycle
  3. Pattern – Stamps, Stencils
  4. Focal Point – Words, Images
  5. Details – Pen, Pencils

Although, I really do love this process, I modified it pretty early on, because I was nowhere near able to get my sessions completed within the allotted time, which drove me BANANAS! I felt like I would do better if I limited myself to one medium per session, and to limit my use of mediums to only 5 options. For example, for the paint layer, I limit myself to only 5 tubes/bottles/jars/etc of color, to cut down on my need to overthink the process. Doing this allowed me to finally get all 20 pages done within the allotted 15 minutes. SUCCESS!!

I have used this process for creating my Soul Sister Cards,

and for something I like to call Doodling books that I find super fun to play on while I am on an airplane or waiting someplace!! Every time I have done this process the pages end up looking so different from each other, and I am always so amazed at how cool they turn out!!!

So my modified version, which I am calling 8-Layer Journaling is:

  1. Paint
  2. Paper
  3. Washi
  4. Stamps
  5. Stencil
  6. Focal Image
  7. Words
  8. Pen Work

So, with all of the logistics out of the way…let’s get started!

I took 5 sheets of 9″ x 12″ Canson watercolor paper, and I cut them in half both directions so that I ended up with 20 sheets of paper sized 4 1/2″ x 6″.

Now let’s get on to Layer #1

 

Paint!

  1. I selected 5 colors of Dina Wakley’s Heavy Body Acrylic Paint: Tangerine, Magenta, Lime, Lemon, Turquoise. (I didn’t select any inks or sprays because I don’t have any in my art studio, at the moment.)
  2. I grabbed 2 paint brushes, 1 for the warm colors (tangerine, Magenta, Lemon), and 1 for the cool colors (Lime, Turquoise, Lemon)
  3. Set my timer
  4. and got to playing!!

If you do decide to do this 8-Layer Journaling process with me, I want to highly encourage you to not purchase anything new…use whatever you have in your stash. (This is probably something we could all hear a little bit more of!)

I hope that this is something that you might be inspired to try, and if you do, please share on Instagram #8layerjournaling I would LOVE to see your creations!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating!

Here is to having some fun!

 

Soul Book #6 – 100 Activities!

Good evening!

Today’s Soul Book spread is a list of 100 Activities I would Love to do in 2018.

I had a lot of fun creating the background for this spread. I put on some music and just had at it!!

Materials Used:

  • Gesso
  • Schminke watercolors
  • Acrylic paints
  • Paint brush
  • Staz-On inkpad
  • Circles stamp
  • Washi tape
  • Printed title page title and numbers 1-100 on regular printer paper using my computer
  • Black ink pen

I was surprised by how long it took me to create this list, but I am so glad that I did this.

I thought you might be curious to know what I wrote on my list, so I have provided that here. Maybe you can get some ideas for your own list.

  1. Live at the coast
  2. Hike out in nature
  3. Have an article published in a magazine
  4. Have an Easter Egg hunt
  5. Hula hoop
  6. Twirl in the park
  7. Blow bubbles with friends
  8. Hula dance
  9. Earth all the time (earthing)
  10. Have a meditation practice
  11. Go skinny dipping
  12. Learn to play guitar
  13. Sing with a  group of people
  14. Volunteer
  15. Go geode hunting
  16. Pumpkin carving
  17. Run a 5k
  18. Touch my toes
  19. Have a yoga practice
  20. Learn photography
  21. Go on a road trip
  22. Write a book
  23. Have 5k YouTube subscribers
  24. Learn how to do lettering
  25. Have a pen pal
  26. Learn another language
  27. Earn money doing the work I love
  28. Get through B-School
  29. Teach an online class
  30. Coach someone
  31. Coach a team
  32. Have a tea practice
  33. Have an AM routine
  34. Have a PM routine
  35. Have a plan to get out of debt
  36. Sell the condo
  37. Solder jewelry
  38. Make something pretty
  39. Post YouTube videos for 30 days in a row
  40. Do a new YouTube series
  41. Have an electronic-free weekend
  42. Do a puzzle
  43. Watch a movie outdoors
  44. Swing on a swing
  45. Sketch while hanging out a coffee shop
  46. Go for a bike ride
  47. Try a new food at a restaurant
  48. Go to a museum
  49. Go see a play
  50. Play a live musical performance
  51. Tend a garden
  52. Go for a long run
  53. Try aromatherapy
  54. Order takeout from someplace yummy
  55. Spend a day Netflixing
  56. Take a bubble bath
  57. Read a book just for fun
  58. Start your morning pages practice
  59. Take a nap for fun
  60. Live with a capsule wardrobe
  61. Play with the puppies
  62. Take a yoga class
  63. Jump rope
  64. Fly a kite
  65. Learn to draw
  66. Get comfortable drawing faces
  67. Fill a sketchbook
  68. Write a poem
  69. Have a pamper night
  70. Have a girls’ weekend
  71. Use my art stash
  72. Minimize our living expenses
  73. Park in Roseburg for a vacation
  74. Decorate the trailer for Christmas
  75. Learn how to bake in the RV oven
  76. Have a nude photo shoot
  77. Join a march
  78. Stand up for something you believe in
  79. Vote
  80. Send notes for no reason
  81. Bake french bread
  82. Bake a cake
  83. Read in the park under a tree
  84. Have a picnic
  85. Paddle board
  86. Swim in a lake
  87. Dance in the rain
  88. Climb a tree
  89. Catch bees
  90. Smile at a stranger
  91. Sit at a bonfire
  92. Wear sweatpants
  93. Gret dressed for a hot date
  94. Make a mood board
  95. Fix blog and use it
  96. Go to the farmer’s market
  97. Do a paint by number
  98. Color a coloring page
  99. Do an entire cross stitch
  100. Sell your art

Whew! That is a HUGE list!! I hope this gives you some ideas on what you might add to your own list in your Soul Book!

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book #5 – Word of the Year!

Good evening!

Tonight’s Soul Book video is me sharing my Word of the Year Soul Book spread.

I really struggled with coming up with a word of the year, I mean there are just so many words that could fit so well, with everything going on in my life. Adventure, brave, journey, transformation, I can go on and on and on.

The word I finally settled on was the word

Embrace

I chose the word embrace because I feel like what I need more than anything right now is to embrace all of the changes and new opportunities coming my way, embrace the authentic me that I am allowing to come out and shine through the facade of “what is expected”, embrace my uniquenesses, my body, this skin that I am in. Embrace embodies what my focus needs to be this year!!!

If you could choose 1 word for this year, what would that word be? Why? I would love you to tell me in the comment section! 🙂

Materials Used:

  • Gesso
  • Acrylic paints
  • Various stencils
  • Baby wipes
  • Decorative craft papers
  • Decorative stickers
  • Black pen
  • I printed my word of the year and the definitions (found by Googling “Define Embrace”) off of my computer onto regular printer paper
  • Black Staz-On inkpad
  • Various stamps
  • Gold Signo ink pen
  • Tag
  • Medium sized project life card
  • Hole punch
  • Corner rounder
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Black ink pen
  • Blue Stabilo All pencil

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book #4 – Making Space for Book Notes!

Good evening!

One of my favorite ways to use my Soul Book is to use a dedicated spread to take notes out of a really good self-help or inspirational book. The book I am reading right now is called, The 5 Second Rule, and is written by Mel Robbins, and it definitely falls under this category! There are so many juicy nuggets in here, that I know I will want to be able to call upon again! So, before I actually take notes into my Soul Book, I like to make sure that I have a spread decorated for just the purpose of documenting my notes. This will help me locate them again, and it is also a fun way to motivate myself to actually take the notes.

Materials Used:

  • Gesso
  • Palette knife
  • Prima watercolors
  • 2 Intense watercolor pencils
  • Decorative craft paper
  • Black pen
  • I also created and printed a book title on regular printer paper, and I printed a copy of the book cover, that I found doing a google search.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book #3 – Where I am Now vs Where I Want to Be!

Good evening!

Today’s video is about the journal prompts, Where I am now, and where I want to Be!

I found these two journal prompts in my paper stash and as soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted them in my Soul Book. I was sure that they would be a great way to do some self reflection so that I could make some decisions on where to go next!

Before dealing with my journal prompts, I had fun decorating my spread’s background with various mixed-media techniques.

Materials Used:

  • Dina Wakley heavy body paints
  • Chevron stamp
  • Staz-On ink pad
  • Various arrow stamps
  • 2 different Tim Holtz Distress ink pads
  • 4 different wash tapes
  • Black Stabilo Marks all pencil
  • Black ink pen

The thought at the bottom of my page was from my You Are A Badass, page-a-day calendar:

If you’re not where you want to be in life, keep going. Treat yourself like you’re the closest friend you’ve got. Celebrate the magnificent creature you are. Don’t let anyone mess with you and your dreams, least of all yourself.

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book 2018 #2 – Soul Book Landing Page!

Good evening!

Today’s Soul Book video is about 3 things, decorating the Soul Book opening landing page, writing a letter to your future self, and creating a vision board translation tip in from last week’s vision board exercise.

The landing page is the very first page you see when you open your Soul Book. This is the area I like to put positive images, thoughts, and things that make me happy, so I can see them as soon as I open my Soul book! I also like to include an envelope on this landing page. In this envelope I put a letter written to my future self, to be opening the first day of next year. This letter is me telling my future self what an awesome year 2018 turned out to be. I love doing this practice, because then when the first day of the next year comes along, I get to open and read the letter and see just how much of my past thoughts actually came to fruition, and what I still need to be working on!

The last thing that I did for this spread was I went back to last week’s vision board, and asked myself a few questions about the type of woman that would lead a life that the photos and words that I selected embodied (AKA me, hopefully)! 🙂 I took the answers to these prompts and created a tip-in that is attached to my Soul Book’s landing page. I chose to do a tip-in because I wanted to be able to see my translation whenever I work on any of my future Soul Book pages, and having this mini page able to be tipped-in or out, will let me do just that!

Materials used:

  • A sketch book to use as my Soul Book (Here is the link to the one I get every year)
  • Magazines (I used mostly O magazines, because they are filled with positivity)
  • Images printed from Pinterest
  • Tombo permanent adhesive tape strip
  • Uhu glue stick (my fave)
  • Stickers
  • Washi tape
  • Watercolor paper
  • Decorative craft paper
  • Scissors, or course
  • Envelope with a blank decorative card
  • Various pens (completely optional, but excellent if you decide to do any doodling around any of your images)

The prompts I used were:

My Soul Book

for

healing, dealing, documenting,

creating, imagining, planning,

doodling, writing, meditating,

brainstorming, organizing, learning,

& anything else my creative little heart desires!

My Personal Vision

In her alone time, she…

With her sweetie, she…

With her soul sisters, she…

In her home, she…

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!

Soul Book 2018 #1 – Vision Board

Good morning!

I know I am a bit late in getting this post published – a few weeks late to be exact, but my goal here is to be of service, and I realize that it might be very helpful to those of you who watch my YouTube videos to have a place where you can go to find which supplies I may have used on any of my Soul Book 2018 spreads. I also want to make sure that any prompts that I use are also available for you to use in your own Soul Books as well. Please note, that I do a lot of work to create these ideas, prompts and Soul Book spreads, so I would ask that if you do use any of these, that you please use them for your own personal use only. Thank you!

I decided to start my 2018 Soul Book creating my yearly vision board. I thought this would be a good place to start because I had been in a bit of a creativity rut, and cutting images and words out of magazines seemed like a really easy way to start to get some creative mojo back again.

Materials used:

  • A sketch book to use as my Soul Book (Here is the link to the one I get every year)
  • Magazines (I used mostly O magazines, because they are filled with positivity)
  • Uhu glue stick (my fave)
  • Scissors, or course
  • A black pen (completely optional, but excellent if you decide to do any doodling around your vision board images)
  • A good classic movie (I always create my vision board while having a great movie playing in the background!)

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section! I am always happy to be of help!!

Now it is your turn to get creating in your Soul Book!

Here is to having some fun!