A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

ten

My daughter Maisey's birthday is December 27. As those of you with birthdays around the holidays know, no matter how hard we try, she pretty much always gets the shaft--fewer presents, less friends around to celebrate with. We usually have a little family party on her actual birthday, but this weekend we'll be celebrating her very special 10th Birthday, Part 2 with afternoon tea and a sleepover. I don't know how we'll make it to tea time with all this excitement.

You might think that having a artsy, creative mom my kids would have handmade clothes and toys and decor. But you would be oh-so-wrong. I'm ashamed to say that Maisey has been begging me forever to make her a journal (she made her first journal when we took Mary Ann Moss's Remains of the Day class together several years ago. Highly recommended--and it's on sale!). She had already picked out the cover and papers she wanted me to use, so I decided to surprise her with a new journal for her big 10th birthday. You know, using the fact that she'd asked for so long she'd probably given up hope of ever actually seeing one to create that element of surprise.

 
We're both pretty happy with the way it turned out. I included lots of blank pages for her to write and doodle and dream in. I was even able to use a little flower I saved from a cardigan she wore as toddler. The cardigan itself is still waiting around to be unraveled for yarn. I must google how to do that soon! Ten years old (and going on 16)! I can hardly believe it. Happy second 10th birthday, sweet girl!

new year giveaway: book & inspiration pack!

It's a new year and that means it is time to clean out last year's clutter (me), bring in some new inspiration (you) and get those creative juices flowing to get us through the cold winter months ahead (both of us).

Now, you could focus your new year's aspirations and newly found motivation to lose weight, stop eating junk food or run a marathon and all that's great, but why not resolve to do something else that's equally (well, maybe not equally but close) as good for you and fun, too? Let's resolve to make more art! And if we can't make the world a better place overnight, we can make it prettier. And that's a good start.

So, in the spirit of fresh starts and great art, I'm giving away a copy of Jenny Doh's Journal It: Perspectives In Creative Journaling, in which I had a tiny little role, and a package of goodies I put together to get you inspired and on your way to recording the new year in your own art journal. One of the things I love most about visual journaling is simply keeping a record of daily life. There are so many things we think we will never forget--special occasions, words of encouragement, funny things our children say, the way the light falls through the kitchen window on your morning cup of coffee--but the truth is we do forget. And writing down every day's highlights alone takes more time than most of us have in our hectic and overfilled lives. But when I glance back through my journals, I don't have to read everything I've written to be instantly reminded of what seems like just yesterday but is quietly slipping farther into the past. It's the visual element that instantly transports me back, and I may not remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I can tell you exactly where I was, what was going on around me and what I was feeling when I doodled those flowers over my lunch receipt from that too warm afternoon in July.

So now is the perfect time to get started with your first visual journal or just get a little inspiration for your art in the new year by getting to know the 19 visual artists featured in Journal It!, which includes signature techniques and an in depth Q&A with each artist. And all you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment on this post telling me something new you'd like to learn in the coming year. (And don't forget to leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner.) It's as easy as that! And on January 31 I will announce the winner on this blog, chosen randomly.

And if you have been wanting to finally take the plunge into art journaling or just want a new journal for the new year, take a look at the hand bound art journals in my Etsy shop or contact me for a custom art journal made especially for your needs and personality!

best wishes

This past summer as we approached my son Soren's eleventh birthday, he naturally began making a Wish List of presents he hoped he might see on his special day. That's half the fun of a birthday, right, planning and dreaming and looking forward to the big day? Well one afternoon, feeling a little left out of the fun, his sister Maisey began moping around the house with nothing to do. She found me in the studio not wanting to hear every parent's nightmare--the dreaded, "I'm bored! There's nothing to do!"--all afternoon, I told her she should make her own wish list--with a twist. She should come up with 8-10 things for her list but only two of them could be material things (toys and books and such). She immediately ran back inside the house and I happily started back to work thinking that challenge should occupy her for a couple of hours. But about 15 minutes later, she returned with her list. So sweet and innocent and full of hope it made me cry and want to give her everything she asked for.

Maisey's Special Wish List (Age 9)

1. Love

2. A good friendship

3. A little more respect

4. More privileges

5. That people would never be mean

6. That I would be super smart! (Oh, how I love that little exclamation point!)

7. That things bad would never happen

8. That Mom & Dad would tell me things when I ask! (This last one's a little jab at me for not telling her what we had planned for her brother's birthday. Maisey, like her dad, is notoriously bad at keeping anything exciting a secret for more than two minutes!)

For days I just couldn't get this list off my mind. It occured to me that most of these are things we would all wish for if God asked us make our own a little wish list for life in this beautiful but broken world. Love, friendship, kindness, peace. Who could ask for much more than that?

It is my hope that you find all of these in abundance in your homes and families this holiday season and into the new year. Merry Christmas and thank you all for taking the time out of your precious days to visit my little blog!

xo, debra

an unveiling

I'm excited to finally share with you a little project I'm honored to have been a part of. Journal It!: Perspectives in Creative Art Journaling, by Jenny Doh, is a collection of books and pages by 19 diverse mixed-media artists that includes detailed descriptions of our favorite techniques plus discussions on why we do what we do in the first place and why we all feel so passionately about sharing our love of journaling with others.

If you've been fascinated by others' visual journals but never stuck your toes in the water to give it a try yourself, this beautiful book will be an excellent place to gather ideas to get you started on expressing your own unique voice through words and images. If you are a seasoned pro, the diversity of expression alone will motivate you to try something you've maybe never tried before (journaling is all about experimentation and play, after all) and inspire a fresh vision and passion for your own books.

Many of the journal artists you will recognize, but there are many more new faces I know will inspire you! Let me know what you think! Here's a little sneak peek:

stuck

I'm kinda stuck in my journaling right now. For the last week or so I've tried to get lost in its pages, but just keep finding myself...stuck. I know what it is. I started this journal exactly a year ago (it isn't even half filled yet) and haven't strayed an inch. But a year ago's pages sound too much like yesterday's pages and I'm a little burned out of going there.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my huge, glorious...never ending...overwhelming book. When I thumb through the (many) pages that still await me, I feel excited, even giddy, at the possibilities. But then I browse the years worth of completed pages and they feel heavy with emotion, heavy with memories--not all of them good--and then I'm stuck again.

But I will plough through. I love the idea of looking back, a decade from now, at several years of work invested in one overstuffed book. But carrying the weight of those years can be burdensome to the creative process. Yes, it is good to look back at where you've been, but mostly it's better to look forward.

So, I'm taking a break from its overly familiar pages without any guilt (or without too much guilt), knowing I won't be able to stay away for long. Other creative projects are keeping me occupied for now. Lavishly beaded mobiles and necklaces. Wire wrapped feathers and a few last painted signs. Its good to keep working, to keep the creative juices flowing--even when they don't always flow in the direction you think they should go. And its good to remind yourself that pushing through the mental blocks is as much a part of the creative process as discovery, experimentation and play. Even if it is a whole lot less fun.

make art...or just watch another episode

Has it been almost 2 weeks since my last post?? What a slacker I've been. At least in the blogging department.

 

So many things distracting me lately. Life, to do lists, anticipating the change in seasons, frantically working to finish up our unit on Ancient Greece so we can move on to Rome (and hopefully make it to the modern era before my kids reach high school), figuring out creative ways to use up the zucchini before they turn into compost, making as much time for art as I can scrape together, and all while trying to keep the stray dog we found from destroying our (already sad looking) garden until we find her a home. Staying up until after 1am nearly every night watching back to back episodes of Breaking Bad doesn't help either. (Anyone else as hooked on this as I am?? Or Prison Break?? Anyone?) I'm telling you, my brain is mush.

And before you know it, the holidays will be here. There's still light at the end of the tunnel, right?

new journals

There are six (six!!) new journals in my Etsy Shop this morning. Just waiting for a new home.

And these journals are fat. No skimping on pages here. Each one has probably close to 200 colorful, stitched and mixed-up pages - an inspiration in themselves - ready for pen or brush, glue stick or marker. Whatever your heart desires.

7 signatures bound in a coptic stitch. I'll admit that many unlady-like curse words were muttered under my breath binding these things. But they are oh-so-worth-it in the end.

just to let you know

A few new-ish journal pages.

working on...

1. Haiku speaking into journal pages. 2. Brand new journals waiting to be bound. 3. Paper strips to be sewn together, never to be alone again. 4. Spines for hanging on fishing line. 5. Blank papers, folded and stitched. 6. Buttons and dangly things to hang on painted boards and brighten someone else's garden.

What are you working on this week?

journal peek