Tag Archives: Journaling

A Peaceful Sunday Morning!

beautiful landscape of meadow sunrise

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

This morning, at my house, is a very peaceful place to be!

Almost all of the chores are already done, papa is in the kitchen making breakfast, and Gracie and Bitsy are in their bed in the living room playing with one of their favorite stuffed squeaky toys!

Breakfast, in case you are curious, is 1/2 a bagel with cream cheese, 2 scrambled eggs with one slice of bacon in it! That will be followed by some fresh berries!! YUM!

After breakfast, we will all pile into the car and head over to Dutch Brothers to pick up our weekend splurge, which is one of their freezes! But then, we are back to the house, and spending a quality lazy day together!

So far, besides hanging with my little fam at the manse, I know I am going to put a big pot of chili on later this afternoon, which is one of our favorites! That is in honor of the fact that the weather is finally starting to cool down around here, and we can feel our favorite season rolling in…FALL!! I can not wait until the leave starts changing colors – they may have already, I just don’t seem to get out of the house every day to check on their progress! So, for my hubby and I, we are officially back into the season of Hygge!! MY FAVE!!!

For us this means, candles, homey meals, fires in the fireplace, snuggling while watching movies, or reading, under big fuzzy blankets on the sofa, bundled up walks around our neighborhood while holding hands, and pretty much living a quality, but simple life just enjoying each other in the moment! Doesn’t that sound dreamy??? Now you can see why Fall is our favorite time of year!

As I write this, I also stop and think about all of the people in the Southeastern part of this country, and all of the tragedy they are going through, as the States experience one of the worst hurricane seasons in our history. It really breaks my heart! I feel so helpless, and don’t really know what to do to help! So, for now, I pray!

Okay, so I realize that might have come a little bit out of left field, but this is how my brain works…random thoughts pop in and out whenever and wherever they want to. I have made the conscious decision that if this morning journaling session is going to happen, then it has to be real. So there you go…you are welcome! 😉

Anyway, I am hoping that this feeling of peace can last throughout the entirety of my day, I realize that not everyone is so lucky. My heart goes out to you!

Here is to finding a little bit of peace, wherever you may be!

Starting Anew!

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives!

I have decided that I may be the world’s worst blogger. I never seem to get around to updating my blog, so, instead of dwelling on that, I’ve decided that this morning I will start anew!

I have been asking myself, “how can I improve myself?” This question is something that seems to be following me everywhere I go. I am not sure why, but last night I had a bit of an ah-ha moment when, out of the blue, I reheard something that I have known for a long looooong time! You can improve yourself by taking baby steps every single day to do something – anything – better than you did the day before!

So, that is what I am doing, starting this morning!!

I woke to go pee – now come on, I am pretty dang sure that is the first thing you do every day too!! 😉

The difference for me this morning, is that I told myself I could not play on my phone until I had done two things, brushed my teeth, and did my face skincare routine (which is I guess technically has to be done on a regular basis to be considered a routine!)

I am not sure if this is true for you, but my phone can seriously be a major time-suck in my life!! I great avoidance measure for getting anything of actual great importance done in my day!!

Anyway, I have decided today is the day to change all of that!

So, this morning, so far,

I have…

brushed my hair (working from home, this is not always a requirement, since no-one by my sweetie usually ever sees me)
Brushed my teeth
Flossed
Tongue scraped
Mouthwashed
Washed my face (with more than just water)
Used facial toner (I am not sure I have done that in years!!!) Oh, and this is where I should probably tell you that I have recently gotten new skin care products, because EWWWWWW-GROSS to something I might have used years ago!!!)
Moisturized, down to my neck – yes, something that doesn’t happen too often either, so I am feel rather proud of myself!
Let my sweetie and the girls sleep in a little bit, we all are a little sleep deprived, and anything I can do to help us all stay grump-mode-free is always a good thing!
and now I am blogging!

Did I mention that I have done all of this before 5:30 AM this morning?

Well, yeah, I did! 😉

I am trying to figure out how I want to track my progress, do I want to carry a mini notebook, something that could fit in my pocket, or do I want to track my baby steps electronically? I do not yet know, but I will keep you posted!

I am hoping that I can take just a few moments every morning to journal/blog! I figure I can kill two birds with one stone (man, I really hate that phrase!) and maybe I might be able to share some helpful ideas, insights, or maybe even just give people a reason to smile every morning!

Alright, so there you have it, short and sweet!!

Here is to a BEAUTIFULLY CREATIVE day!

If you want a beautiful creative life, you have to take beautiful creative actions!

Art Journal Thursday #24!

It is better late than never…

I am happy to announce that my Art Journal Thursday video has been posted out on YouTube!

The supplies I used this week were:

White gesso
Art Advantage Acrylic Paint: Permanent Green Light, Phthalo Turquoise, Cerulean Blue
Dina Wakley Media Stencils: Halves, and Spinners
Dylusions 5×8 Stencil: Circles Small
Black Stabilo Pencil
Finalize Bottle filled with white acrylic paint
Punchinella
M. Graham & Co Titanium White Acrylic Paint

This week’s page is actually really simple, but I love the way that it turned out.

I was really excited to get started on this week’s art journal spread because this was the week that I got to start in my crisp, clean, new art journal!

My new art journal is a Strathmore 400 series, 8.5×11 watercolor paper journal, and I am just LOVING the size! It is so much more manageable than the art journal I just finished, which was a Strathmore 500 series 11×17, I think!

The pages of this journal aren’t quite as smooth as the last journal, but I think I will be able to enjoy myself so much more, now that I don’t have the pressure of trying to figure out to cover such a large spread! So YEAH FOR THAT!! 😉

I am LOVING all of the textures that this background technique has created!

I also really LOVE the colors that I have chosen for this page – ACTUALLY, it was my hubby who chose blue and green – his favorite colors!! Thank you, Sweetie! 😉

I also am really enjoying adding art journaling to my spreads!! It has kind of become a game to see if I can figure out a new way to journal on my page each week! I really like the circular journaling though…might be my new fave! 🙂

So, even though this page was really simple to do, and actually came together rather quickly, I am really very happy with how it turned out! I think that this new journal is off to a great start!! I can’t wait to see what comes out next!!!

What do you think? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!! 🙂

Also, if you have any ideas, or techniques that you might like to see me try in one of my future layouts, please let me know in the comment section and I will see what I can do to be accommodating! Also, I really do LOVE answering any questions you may have about art journaling, mixed-media, or anything you might have seen me do here! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I will try and get back to you in a timely manner!!

Until next time!

Here is to a BEAUTIFUL CREATIVE life! 🙂

If you want to have a different life, live differently!

Art Journal Thursday #23!

I am happy to announce that my Art Journal Thursday #23 video has been posted out on YouTube!

This week the materials I used were:

White gesso
Tissue paper – two different patterns, the teal and white chevron patterned tissue paper was from Paper Source
Gel medium
Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints: Lime, Magenta, Tangerine, Night
Apple Barrel Craft Paint: White
Balzer Designs Stencil: 12X12 Stones Divided
Balzer Designs Stencil: 6X6 Mini Fifties Clock
Dylusions Stencil: 9X12 Flossie
Fineline Bottle with White Acrylic Craft Paint
Distress Ink Reinker: Festive Berries
Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Pen
Pilot Permaball Black Pen
#2 Pencil
Scissors
Uhu Glue Stick

Well, what can I say about my Art Journal Thursday this week? I was so excited to be finishing up with this particular art journal that I really had no idea where to begin. So, maybe that is where I will start in my explanation for this week’s art journal – my art journal. The journal that I have been using is a Strathmore 500 Series, Mixed Media Paper Journal, which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this brand, and the paper is SUPER tough, and is so CREAMY to work on…the problem that I have been having is the S.I.Z.E!! I saw that Donna Downey (who I LOVE, by the way!!!) was using this size, 11×14 sized pages, I thought, “I CAN DO THAT!!!” Well, when you are a newbie art journaler, which I am, and you work full time at a non-artsy kind of job, which I do, and when you have committed to yourself to do a two page art journal spread EVERY SINGLE week, and NOT ONLY that, but to record your process and post out on YouTube EVERY SINGLE WEEK, which I SOOO INSANELY DID – you quickly come to the realization that THIS IS A LOT!!! 😉 You DO NOT want to make things harder for yourself by buying the LARGEST art journal that you can possibly find!! What was I thinking???

So, the next art journal, which I will start using in next week’s art journal video, is a MUCH more manageable 8.5 x 11 size!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Anyway, back to this week’s spread! When I started I didn’t really have a plan, I usually don’t, but I knew that I wanted to use this AWESOME new tissue paper that I had found a Paper Source!

Once I got my colors, patterns, and textures started it was very VERY tricky for me to reign it in, but I was having some good fun playing, and staying in my head!!

I decided that I wanted to use all of that pattern as an element that would pop off of the page by covering a lot of it with a dark color, and a silhouette stencil. Once I had done that I wasn’t really sure where to go from there, but I had some deep, stop-and-listen-to-your-soul-cuz-she’s-a-speakin’ kind of thoughts going on, so I decided to grab my Fineline bottle with some white acrylic paint, and decided to journal some of those thoughts out onto my page.

“She knew that she was going to have to get out of her own way if she were ever going to make her dreams come true. No one was going to do the hard work for her. She knew it was going to have to be all up to her!”

Yeah, I am not sure where that came from, because it came from someplace deep, deep down, and even as I write it now, I KNOW that it is the TRUTH that I am living with right now!

I am not sure if I really love the design of this finished spread – when I look closely it is kind of a bit of train wreck, and I know it definitely had parts of it that I would do differently (for example, the Distress Ink Festive Berries never did really dry – even after 48 hours!! UGH!!! I should’ve used my Dylusions spray ink with a dropper!), if I were to do it again, but for some reason that this spread really resonated with me, so my final thought is that I really LOVE it!!

What do you think? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!! 🙂

Until next time!

Here is to a BEAUTIFUL CREATIVE life! 😉

If you want a different life, live differently!

Art Journal Thursday #22

Good morning!

I am very happy to announce that my Art Journal Thursday video #21 is up on YouTube!

The supplies I used this week were:

Gesso
Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints: Tangerine, Magenta, Lime
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Re-inker: Peeled Paint
Alesa Baker Designs Wood Mounted Stamp: French Handwriting
Art Impressions Wood Mounted Rubber Stamp: Squiggly line (that’s what I am calling it)
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint: White
Paper Towel that had mopped up various Dylusions sprays
Scissors
Uhu Glue Stick
Fineline Applicator filled with White Acrylic Paint
Black Pilot Multiball Pen – my new FAVE doodling pen!!!

If you watched this week’s video, you already know that I really didn’t have any kind of plan when I went into this week’s art journal spread! In all honesty, I just knew that I had to get an art journal video done for this week, but I was so tired from a week of not really taking very good care of myself sleep-wise, compounded with losing another hour of sleep due to daylight savings time, I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to get this one done!

I decided to help get me into the arting mood that I would listen to some loud happy music, and it worked! Before I knew what hit me, I had found my stride, and was once again a very VERY happy girl! 😉

I had a lot of fun this week just putting down colors, doodling, and just really letting myself play! I find that when I revert back to my inner, kindergarten Chrissie, that I have a tendency to be really happy with my art journal pages!

This week was no different!!! As soon as I released my inner me, I found myself having fun, and pulling from a pile that I haven’t really played with in a while – and that was my stash of used paper towels, which may not seem like something to be proud of, but trust me, I am!!! I just LOVE finding new ways to use treasures from my stash!!

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed watching this week’s video! I really hope that these weekly videos can, in some way, inspire you to try something new in your own art journals – that would be so AMAZING to me!!! 😉

What do you think of this week’s spread? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!! 🙂

Until next time!

Here is to a BEAUTIFUL CREATIVE life! 😉

If you want to have a different life, live differently!

Art Journal Thursday #20!

I realize this is better late than never, but I am happy to report that my Art Journal Thursday #20 has been posted out on YouTube!

The art supplies I used this week were:

3X5 Gelli Plate
Brayer
Blick Studio Acrylic Paints: Titanium White, Phthalo Green, Cadmium Orange Hue, Green Light Permanent, Primary Red, Primary Blue
Dina Wakley Stencils: Mod, Organic Shapes, Halves
Dylusions Stencils: Circles Large, Shattered Large, Triangles Large
Huey’s Mask Stencil: Bubbles
Liquitex White Gesso
Dylusions Spray Inks: White Linen, Vibrant Turquoise, Calypso Teal, London Blue, Fresh Lime, Cut Grass
Apple Barrel Acrylic Craft Paint: White
Uhu Glue Stick
Black Stabilo Pencil
Blue Stabilo Pencil
Ranger’s Archival Black Ink Pad

If you watched the video this week, you might notice that I was really struggling to get this spread to a point that I was happy with!

I also, generally, frown on completely whiting a page out and starting over…I usually am a firm believer that every spread is salvageable in some way or another! So, when I finally hit day three, try three, and I was still feeling really stuck, I knew that whiting the spread out was going to have to be my solution this week!

Although I felt the need to completely white out my backgrounds and start over, I really had fun just playing with my Gelli Plate and playing some with a few new stencils!

My final attempt at this spread, which is the one that I was finally happy with was so much fun to create. I think the reason that I felt I was finally successful was that I finally got out of my own head, and started to really just go with the flow! I think I was having so much trouble because I was overthinking what I was trying to do…I have a tendency to do that at times! 😉

I also think that where the genius of this spread shows up is in some of the close up photographs! I can say genius, right??? Yeah! I can do that! I just LOVE all the yummily-scrumptious color combinations that unexpectantly showed up!

I also really LOVE the very textured background that was created by all of the layers that I had inadvertently created with all of my ugly background tries! It has resulted in a very tactile friendly kind of spread, which I surprisingly LOVE!

See what I mean??? This green and blue are just AMAZING together!! I love the pop that it creates!

And somehow, I ended up with a few speckles of a deep burgundy, red – I am not sure how that happened, but I am really LOVING that too!! 😉 So, all-in-all, I think that after more than a few heartbreaking tries, this page turned into something that I can be very happy about! 😉

What do you think? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this week’s art spread!! 🙂

Also, if you have any ideas, or techniques that you might like to see me try in one of my future layouts, please let me know in the comment section and I will see what I can do to be accommodating! Also, I really do LOVE answering any questions you may have about art journaling, mixed-media, or anything you might have seen me do here! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments, and I will try and get back to you in a timely manner!!

Until next time!

Here is to a BEAUTIFUL CREATIVE life! 😉

If you want a different life, live differently!

Weekly Art Journal Page Video Series!

Good afternoon!

I have been “retired” since the 4th of July of this year. These past 3 1/2 months have practically flown by.

I have been spending my time taking care of myself, catching up on some much needed sleep, getting back in touch with friends that I hadn’t had time to spend time with before, watching copious amounts of artist’s videos on YouTube, arting with friends in town, and playing up in my art studio. Yes, I know I am a very VERY lucky girl!!!

Those of you who have been reading my blog might know that I really love arting, but in the past 3 /2 months I have discovered that all things mixed media and art journaling have become quite essential to my sense of happiness. That really shouldn’t be surprising to me, but it really has been! Because of my newfound love affair, (hee! hee!) I have been trying all sorts of new products, mixed media techniques, and all sorts of new art ideas and projects to help me explore this new creative outlet!

Although I wouldn’t change a thing about the past 3 1/2 months, I think that it is time that I stop frittering away my time, and put all of this arty goodness to use, at least in some small way! So, as my first act of artsy bravery, I have decided to start sharing my artwork with the world…er…well, at least anyone in the world who might be interesting in seeing it! 🙂 To do this, I thought it would be fun to start my very own YouTube channel!!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4Of6Y-cX-foVyd-upZKbQ

I am so excited to also announce that I have started a weekly Art Journal Page video series, and I am very happy to share that I have already uploaded my first two videos! Last week’s video took such a long learning curve, that I couldn’t seem to muster the strength to have a blog post accompany that video, however I will get it together enough to post today’s video details now! and, I will work on getting last week’s video info up tomorrow!

Here is this week’s Art Journal Video info!

I went into this spread with no idea on what was going to come out on the pages. I just picked a few colors I thought might look good together and went for it! The background stamp that I chose is one of my favorite stamps! I find that I use it often in my journaling projects!

I also thought some drips would be nice, I have seen a lot of my favorite artists do this and thought it would be easy to do, which I am sure it really should have been, but as you might’ve seen…it was a little trickier, and messier than I had expected!! At least I didn’t get any of the red paint on my beige carpet!! WHEW!!! Can I also mention how much I love my new fineline bottles??? I just love how easy they are to use. I have one bottle for my white paint, and one for black! I highly recommend them!

The green that I added to this page was purely a gut reaction to wanting to go in the absolute opposite direction from where the page had gone at the get go. After putting the red drips down the page, it just looked like the scene of a bloody massacre!! LOL! I think the green turned out rather well, and felt the need to make sure to spread the green all throughout the design.

By the time that this spread was completed, I was a very happy girl!!

Not only because I was able to salvage this design and turn it into something that looks like I had planned it that way on purpose, but because I got some much needed guidance on some questions that I had been mulling over.

While I am arting, I do so in silence. I do that so I can hear my soul tell me what I need to hear, or teach my what I need to be taught. This page caused me to reflect on how amazing this past 3 1/2 months has been. It has been amazing, but it has also been a dream that is not maintainable…at least not yet. Even though my sweetie has given me a free and clear to continue on like this for as long as I want, I want more. I want to be earning my keep, making a living.

Living a life that is bigger than just me.

I really don’t know what all of that will look like, but I know right now, this first step of sharing my art with you is my first start! I keep hearing, “You don’t have to see all of the steps in the staircase, just see the first step, and all subsequent steps will appear at the exact right time!” That is what this is. My first step!! I can’t wait to see how my staircase unfolds!! 🙂

As for my YouTube channel and videos, I would LOVE it if you would watch, thumbs up, subscribe, and share any comments or feedback you might have! That would be EXCELLENT!!

So here is to putting on my big girl panties and taking that first step!! 🙂

~Chrissie B.

If you want to have a different life, live differently!

Getting Back Into the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have discovered my new favorite art supply shop, Runaway. It is a cool little place that is located in downtown Salem. I have been down there a few times this past week, and after spending waaaay too much money on some much wanted, but not really needed art supplies, my sweetie and I agreed that I really had to commit to getting back into the art studio. So, for the past few days, I have made it a point to spend a little time in my art studio every day!

When I first got got back in there, I was overwhelmed by a blank journal page, and an overwhelming amount of art supplies, go figure! So, to break the ice, I decided to hop on to YouTube, and see if I could find some inspiration from some other fellow creatives. Thankfully, I happened to stumble upon this video:

Dyan Reaveley.

Yep, I said her name.

She is my new artsy hero!

I love her style, he sass, her creativity, and her can do attitude!!

Her patchwork quilt design had me inspired to give this project a try, and tonight I thought I would share with you my project in progress! 🙂

Click on image to enlarge

I was actually surprised how long it took to do just this step! It took me a little more than 3 evenings to get this completed, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. If you watched the above video, you know that my next step is to black a lot of this out. I have a feeling that THAT is going to be harder to do, since it took me so much time to get this step done, but I am going to take a leap of faith and do it anyway! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!! 🙂

Here are some closer pics of each of the two pages.

Click on image to enlarge

This is basically like a giant Zentangle, and even though it took me a long time to draw and then color in, this part of the project was actually quite peaceful! I just turned on some inspiring music and just went for it! 🙂

I will make sure to share with you how it turns out in a couple of days!

Here is to an FABULOUSLY arsty evening!! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Tutorial Tuesday: Packing Tape Image Transfer

Good evening!

Tonight I wanted to show you a cool, inexpensive image transfer technique! I am calling this technique Packing Tape Image Transfer.

To get started, there are a few supplies you will need to round up:

Clear Packing Tape

A pair of scissors

Water. Here I am using a small spray bottle, but you can use a bowl of water and a brush, or whatever is handy.

You will need various images either cut out from magazines, printed on a laser printer, or photocopied images. The important thing about the images that you choose is that you want to make sure the ink is colorfast. You do not want the image to run when you get the image wet.

I have a tendency to use small images; images that fit the height of the packing tape, however you can use larger images by overlapping the edges of the tape to make sure the entire image is covered by the tape.

To get started press the tape to the image, making sure that the image is fully covered, and smooth. You can use a brayer, a bone folder, or a finger, which is my tool of choice to make sure the image is stuck firmly.

Flip the adhered image over and spray with plenty of water, let soak for a few minutes. You can also brush water on with a brush if you would like, and I have also heard that some people sometimes just drop the entire adhered image into a bowl of water to accomplish this – I find that spraying the water is just faster, and less messy for me! 🙂

After a few minutes of letting the water permeate the paper, start vigorously rubbing the back of the image to peel all of the paper off. The thicker the paper, the longer this will take. Be careful that when you get down to the ink from the image itself, make sure not to rub or scratch the ink off of the tape, otherwise you will end up with only a partial image. However, if you do not rub all of the paper off, you will end up with a milky looking transparency. So stop when you get to the desired look that you are going for.

Once all of the paper has been rubbed off, you will then be left with a transparent image to use any way you would like. NOTE: The tape will still be tacky to the touch, and can be stored by placing on a sheet of wax paper, if you are not going to use them right away.

Here is a sample of another magazine image I have created a transparency out of, and have overlayed it onto some decorative paper.

Here is an example of a journal page that I used this technique on the words, which I printed using a laser printer.

NOTE: Even though these images were still tacky to the touch, I used Gel medium to make sure that they will stay adhered to the pages.

I hope that you have enjoyed this Tuesday Tutorial and are inspired to give this technique a try yourself! If you do, please feel free to share the link with us in the comment section! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

If you have not yet subscribed to This Artsy Life already, please do so by clicking on the Subscribe button kn the right-hand column.

Also please feel free to take a copy of my Blog Button to share with your blog readers. That Code is found under the This Artsy Life Blog button in the right hand column.

You will be happy that you did!

Here is to a FABULOUSLY ARTSY evening! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Creating Custom Tape: Personalizing Envelopes With Photo Transfers (whataboutthis.biz)
Tutorial: Leprechaun Silhouette Art (annumography.wordpress.com)
New Address Cards (bluecrafty.wordpress.com)

Tutorial Tuesday: Convert a Book Into an Art Journal

Good evening!

Welcome to my very first ever tutorial Tuesday!!

YEAH!! WHOO!! HOOOO!!!! APPLAUSE!!!! 😉

If you saw yesterday’s post, you would have seen that I am in the habit of writing Morning Pages every morning. I do those Morning Pages in a leather bound book, that has grid-lined paper inside of it. I like the fact that it is not just regular boring lines, in case I want to doodle or draw in my journal, I feel like the grid-lines support me in thinking outside of the box.

However, I am also a big fan of art journals, and today I want to show you how to convert any regular book into an easy and inexpensive art journal of your very own.

What you will need:

A book – I have found that hard covers hold up the best

Paper tape – this could be any kind, but what I enjoy using is the paper tape that you find in the first aid section of most any pharmacy

Paper tape found in first aid section of pharmacy

Scissors (optional)
White gesso

A wide paint brush to use with the gesso

To convert your book into an art journal:

The first thing you will have to do is to create room in your art journal so that all of the fun elements that you might want to use to decorate your art pages, such as decorative papers, buttons, beads, lace, fabric, broken jewelry, pictures, etc, have space to go.

To do this, count the first three pages of the book, then count the next three pages of the book. Tear out the second set of 3 pages. Otherwise leave in pages 1, 2, and 3, and carefully tear out pages 4, 5, and 6. You will want to tear the pages out as closely, and as carefully to the spine as you can get, but remember perfection is not necessary.

Count three pages, to skip.

Tear out the next 3 pages.

You will keep repeating this step over and over again until every other set of three pages have been removed.

Once you have torn out every other set of three pages, you will then want to reinforce the remaining sets of 3 pages that you have left.

To do this, you will go back to the beginning of your book, and gather the first set of three pages. Using your paper tape, you will want to either tear, or cut a piece of tape that measures the width of your page.

Once you have the correct length of tape, carefully lay it across the bottom edge of the book, with half the tape hanging off of the edge

Cover bottom of page, with tape letting 1/2 of the tape hang over the edge

Cover bottom edge of page, with tape letting 1/2 of the tape hang over the edge

Once that has been smoothed into place, turn your set of three pages (treating as if they are now one page, because they essentially will be), and then fold the overhang of tape up and over the back side of your new page.

Turn 3-page set, and fold up the remaining tape to create one new page out of your original three pages.

Do this to all three sides of your new page: bottom, top, and side.

Do this to the bottom edge, the top edge, and the side edge of your new page.

Each set of three individual pages will now become one thick page per taped bundle. This reinforces your pages, and makes them sturdier for any kind of media or technique that you might want to use to decorate your journal pages with.

Repeat these taping steps for all of your sets of three pages.

Once you have your pages reinforced, you are now ready to prep your pages for arting on! WHEW!!! 😉

To do this, you will want to use your paint brush and apply a thin layer or two over each page of your new art journal.

Apply a thin coat or two of gesso to each page and let thoroughly dry, so your pages don’t stick together. As you can see I don’t mind some words showing through.

If you are impatient like me, you may want to use a hair dryer, or a embossing heat gun to speed up the drying process. Please note, if you do use an embossing heat gun to dry your pages (like I do) make sure not to leave the gun pointing at one spot for too long, you do not want to accidentally burn your gesso. Not fun, and kinda smelly!!

Once your pages are gesso’ed you are ready to get arting and customizing your new art journal in any way you would like!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments section of this post! I am always happy to help!

Keep an eye out for more tutorials in the future, including many ideas and techniques on how you can decorate your new art journal! I can’t wait!

If you haven’t already, please follow This Artsy Life by hitting the “Subscribe” button on the right. I would really appreciate it!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening creating!! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

If you want a beautiful creative life, you have to take beautiful creative actions!

If you want to have a different life, live differently!

“She knew that she was going to have to get out of her own way if she were ever going to make her dreams come true. No one was going to do the hard work for her. She knew it was going to have to be all up to her!”

If you want a different life, live differently!

If you want to have a different life, live differently!

If you want a different life, live differently!

Here is this week’s Art Journal Video info!

Living a life that is bigger than just me.

If you want to have a different life, live differently!

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