Video: Let’s Make a Junk Journal

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Happy Monday!

Today I am digging through my collection of this and that and making a fun “junk journal.” Maybe you would like to make one too?

If you aren’t familiar with the term-junk journal is simply something you make with-junk! Items you would be throwing away or recycling that you repurpose and give new life to. Almost anything works. Postcards, envelopes, magazines, catalogs, junk mail-and more! Really the only limit is your imagination so why not have a dig through the recycling bin and see what you can find.

I was cleaning off the shelf in my studio that I use to hold my cardboard and such. It was beyond overflowing and I went through and did a clean out, a little organize and pulled aside some items I thought would be fun to make a journal with.

Initially I was going to use some smaller envelopes but decided that they didn’t quite go so I left them out. I used a large USPS mailer I received some stamps in as the cover and some brown paper bags for the pages. I cut the brown paper to size and used a 3-hole pamphlet stitch to attach them to the cover. I glued down half the flap of the envelope and left the side with the window open so I could add a focal image later.

Once everything was sewed into place I painted the cover a soft perwinkle/light purple color. I let it dry and then used one of the sheets from my latest digikit to sketch out a face on. I colored it in with some kids watercolor paint and cut it out. I attached the sketch to a gelli print page I made with some collage added to it and slid it inside the envelope. Lastly I added some more collage elements to the cover to tie everything together.

I am really happy with the journal and particularly how my sketch came out. I plan to fill this journal up soon so be sure to keep an eye out for more journal with me videos and photos. I will also be sharing my gelli print process in Wednesday’s video so be sure to keep an eye out.

I would love to hear if you make your own junk journal and what materials you ended up using. Do you have a specific plan for your journal? I have an idea for mine but we will have to see how everything unfolds.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Music by Eli Lev – Dancin’ on the Lawn – https://thmatc.co/?l=9EA04504
Music by Little Boots – Silver Balloons – https://thmatc.co/?l=54B37541

Staying on Path

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A beautiful desk-but not mine 🙂

I am sitting in the studio, in my cozy chair with a cup of decaf french vanilla. Dinner was delicious-albeit a bit decadent with all it’s cheesy yumminess-and I am taking time to just sit and visit with you all a bit.

The ideas have been swirling and for what feels like the first time I am able to keep up with them. In the past I have had ideas flood in that often took me in various different directions. Lately however, I feel more grounded, my plans and ideas have a direction and I am able to move along at what feels like a grounded steady pace. Sometimes I just don’t have the energy or if I am being honest, the inclination or dedication to stick to the plans I set out. If I were to offer a guess, it’s because in the past I let anything that peaked my interest take center stage rather than vetting it for cohesiveness and longevity.

So often I was lead off of my path to be taken down one that, while interesting, isn’t for me.  My husband and I will joke that we get distracted by “something shiny” and off we go. I am working very diligently at appreciating the shiny but letting it float on its merry way to it’s real home.

My focus lately has been on my first in-person art journaling class. Launching my new digikits as well as my dollhouse channel. I want creativity to be my focus and I want to focus on sharing it in an inspiring way to others but I also want to be spending time each day living my creativity not just creating content. I was guided today to take a good look at my creative corner at home. If you aren’t familiar it’s a little corner in our bedroom where I have a desk and lots of creative goodies to play with. The desk was covered with laundry and bags and various things that needed putting away. Most days if I am working at home I am at the kitchen table with my laptop but it was being suggested that maybe, I need to clear off my creative space so I can practice what I preach a bit more.

It’s hard to do little bits of creativity through the day when you need to dig through laundry to find your journal. And while I love creating content my creative practice is first and foremost what sustains me through the day to day of life. It’s what supports me when I am feeling frazzled-giving me an outlet for the struggles-and it’s also what grounds me in the good days-helping to savor the little moments.

So today I cleared the desk, I uncovered the 10 journals I have started prepping and made a plan to sit there each day-if only for 5 minutes-and have a play.

Our world makes distractions so easy and focus-especially on the truth of what matters to us-hard to come by. I want to be deliberate with my time and how I spend my energy and paint covered hands and collage pages always bring me joy.

Thursdays are also the days where I give my book club update. This week I am still working on the same 3 books I mentioned last week. I have been listening to the audiobook during studio time and have been trying to read my Scottish Bookshop book during the day but haven’t been very successful. With any luck come next Thursday I will have completed these 3 books and have some new ones to share with you.

I hope this post finds you well. Are you reading anything good? I would love to hear!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

Video: New DigiKit Reveal & Journal Play

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I have some really exciting news today. I have finally launched my first digital art journaling kit! I am so excited to share this kit with you in today’s video along with an entire process video to give you some ideas on how to use this kit.

If you aren’t familiar, digital kits are kits you purchase once and can then print out as many times as you would like to use in your projects. The kit I am sharing today is perfect for spring with butterflies, birds and lots of flowers. You receive 10 pages along with 3 pages of tags. I had so much fun creating this kit and I have 2 more that are almost ready to share-hopefully within in the next week. If you are interested you can watch the video to see all the kit has and visit my shop here to purchase.

I started out by making the tag. I printed the kit on regular weight copy paper and then backed the tags onto some chip board I had. Then I took different elements from the kit to collage on the tag finishing off with a ribbon and a handmade journal charm.

Starting in my journal I added some soft pink and blue gray acryllic paint and then tore up some more pages and glued them down. I added lace and a few more charms along with a pocket to hold my very thick journaling tag.

I am so happy with how the page turned out! If you have any questions about the kit please do comment below and if you happen to make a purchase let me know how you end up using the kit.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Pretty Pink Journal Page

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(Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links you don’t pay anything more but I earn a small commission)

I wanted to create something pretty, soft and pink today.

Originally I hadn’t planned on filming but decided to hit record just in case and I’m glad I did. I don’t often sit down to my art journal with an particular idea in mind. I hardly ever know what I am going to create before hand but today I had a theme in mind.

I wanted to create something to go on the flyer for my new in-person art journaling class. I wanted it to be bright and soft and really convey a feeling of peace and calm so I turned to my favorite color-soft pink.

I began by adding gesso to the pages and then dried it with my heat tool Once it was dry I added some old book pages I had in my scraps drawer with matte Mod Podge (affiliate link). I then wen through some old magazines and chose a pretty pink photo of some dahlias to add along the bottom. The rest of the images I struggled with but in the end I think it’s the addition of lace and pink sari silk that really pulled the page together.

I hope you enjoy the video and that you maybe even create alongside me. If you do be sure to comment below and let me know what you made!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

Music by Saint Stephen – 50’s Milkshake – https://thmatc.co/?l=352EAE2D
Music by Eli Lev – Dancin’ on the Lawn – https://thmatc.co/?l=9EA04504

Gardening, Books & Dollhouses

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(Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links you don’t pay anything more but I earn a small commission)

Happy Thursday!

I am sitting in my studio after having spent some time today in the garden! Oh it feels so good to be out in the sunshine! I planted my lettuce seeds and cleared out 2 beds and had a nice long sit, petting the dogs, and thinking about what my plans are for the garden this year.

I am really excited that after 20+ years of wanting we are finally purchasing privacy trees for the back border of our yard. This is something I have always wanted to do but at first our yard was already full of trees that cast it in full shade so growing anything like evergreens wasn’t going to work. Sadly most of those trees died, the upside is that our backyard is now full sun-yay! I have also been able to replace almost all of the trees we have lost and just put them in more appropriate spots.

The other thing I did was had a good swing on the swing set. Last year my husband built one for the kids and I had requested that he build it sturdy enough so that I could also use it as swings were my favorite as a child. I have to ask the last time you were on a swing set? Can I just say that I forgot how amazing it feels! I told my husband that from now on whenever we are grumbly we should just come out and swing for 5 minutes and suddenly all is right with the world. Really it was pretty awesome.

In other, more blog-focused news I will be hosting my first in-person class this June! I am so excited and really can’t wait to get everything pulled together. I already have lists and ideas and I am planning a goody bag-including a brand new art journal-for each participant. It’s going to be so much fun! I will be sure to keep you updated and I do plan on offering an online version of the class so be sure to keep an eye out for that.

With the gorgeous weather today my husband was kind enough to help me transport my dollhouse to the studio. Originally I was excited to work on it at home but other than the very first steps I just haven’t been able to find the time. I spent this past week designing a digital planner so I could plot out my studio time with my current projects. I was able to use it to carve out time each week to work on the dollhouse and the content creation that goes along with it.

If you read this post you know I am dipping my toe into the world of miniatures and I have begun my first project-renovating my childhood dollhouse. I have quite a bit of footage filmed and wanted to see how I was going to do with it before deciding if it was content I was prepared to create and share on a regular basis. I feel ready now and I am going to spend the rest of April filming some videos and then launch a separate YouTube channel just for the dollhouse.

I will keep the same format here which is writing a blog post and sharing the YouTube video. I’ll create a separate link that takes your right to the dollhouse content and all the appropriate videos but I didn’t want the videos on YouTube to be under my art journaling channel. I really thought it would be confusing for subscribers and probably make some algorithm somewhere cranky. I have designated Sundays as my dollhouse day to share all things miniature. Currently I post content here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I thought adding Sundays would help you know what to expect and when here on the blog.

That brings me to another thought-my podcast. I have loved making podcasts in the past but lately I have been struggling to find topics to share about. I have some ideas and things I might do-including taking a step back all-together but I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you listen to the podcasts? If so what would you like me to talk about? For now, I am going to take the rest of April off and see what comes up for May.

Lastly I did want to give you a Book Club update. I finished 1 mini book this week-“A Christmas Tartan” by Paige Shelton (affiliate link). It was really good-her Scottish Bookshop Mysteries (affiliate link) are one of my favorites. I am currently reading the next book, “Lost Books and Old Bones” (affiliate link) along with “Emerald Isle” (affiliate link) Stacy Justice Mysteries Book #5 by Barbara Annino. I started this book last year and then just stopped reading on my kindle for a bit. I am hoping to finish both of these books this week along with the audio book I am currently listening to which is “The Secret Adversary” by Agatha Christie.  I mentioned in the last book club update that I am working on The Agatha Christie Mystery Challenge and I really enjoy listening to them in my studio. They are so well produced. If you are interested in the version I am listening to it’s on Audible here (affiliate link).

So that is the news for me! It’s funny I didn’t know how much I would have to share with you this week but it turns out it’s been quite a bit! I would love to hear what you are up to so please do share a comment below. If you share about your reading adventures on your own blog you can join my link part (see below) and we can all come and see what you have been reading. One day I hope to host a virtual book club-does that sound fun? Let me know!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

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Video: Interactive Journal Page: Create a Door with a Secret Message

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I thought it would be fun to break in my new handmade journal with an interactive page at the back. It’s really a simple process and you can place pretty much anything in your little secret door. I am thinking of writing an inspirational message on the back of my heart but you could put a photo, a focal image-anything!

I kept my image loose but you could glue it in if you want.

I began by cutting out my heart shape twice from a piece of chipboard and gluing them together. Then I began gluing several pages together. I added gesso to the heart since I wasn’t sure if I was going to paint and collage or just collage. Then I added gesso to the journal pages, some paint and some stamped images for a background. I also added a focal image from a book I have on birds and flowers. I glued all my images down with mod podge and then used mod podge to add some dictionary pages and tissue paper to the heart. I then used the heart to get an idea of how big to make the door and cut through all the layers on three sides. I put a cutting mat behind them to protect my journal cover.

I ended up adding a bit of ribbon to the door with a button for decoration. I am so happy with how it turned out and it was really fun to make! I can’t wait to get some more done in this journal.

You can watch the video below and maybe make an interactive page in your own journal.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Music by Julia Pauletti – You Are Mine – https://thmatc.co/?l=63BE6B37
Music by Eli Lev – Dancin’ on the Lawn – https://thmatc.co/?l=9EA04504
Music by Saint Stephen – 50’s Milkshake – https://thmatc.co/?l=352EAE2D