Mindfulness Art Journal and a Product Review

Hi guys!  I'm going on  virtually no sleep, so forgive any bad grammar and misspellings.  Anyway....recently my artist friend Amber was kind enough to gift me a set of her groovy printables (yay!)   She did it just 'cuz she's a sweetie.  I had the idea to make something with them and then write a blog post about it.  So...I did not get compensated for this review-the product was a gift because we are friends and the creator had no idea I would choose to review it like this.

I decided to make a quick art journal.  I think making the book and decorating all the pages...whole project was maybe 2 hours.  All my art journaling friends will appreciate how super mega FAST that is!  Before I get started on telling you about the book.  Amber's Etsy shop where she sells her original art, etc can be found HERE and her shop at Scrapbookgraphics (this is where you can buy the kit I am using) is HERE.  Specifically I am using the  Namaste Printable Art Collage Sheet Background and Namaste Printable Mini Art Journal Kit.  You can get both kits for a total of under $6.  So, yeah...just go ahead and get 'em.  You can print them out as many times as you like, so it's a great deal!!

I made my book by using her backgrounds for my pages.  I took two of her background pages which I had printed out and put them together with right sides facing out.  Then I stitched around the edges with my sewing machine.   I left some of the threads hanging long because I like the look.  I repeated until I had all pages ready to bind.  To bind my book I simply used my sewing machine to stitch right down the center of my stack of pages.  I folded in half along the stitch line and then got busy decorating my pages.  Oh...and I used two lengths of ribbon to close the book...one stiched to the front cover and one to the back. Now I'll add a little bit of description to each of the pics.

The pic below is the front cover.  All images are Amber's but the scraps of papers under the girl and under the words.

This spread features a photocopy of a girl from one of my other art journals. I added a spot for journaling on the upper right of the right side.  The "life is unpredictable" card is a project life card.  I decorated it with scraps of pretty paper from Amber's kit.

This page features plenty of my own art.  The eye is a stamp that I carved myself, the OM is a stencil I made and the flower is a stencil I made as well.  I stenciled the flower in black and then doodled over it with paint pens.  And...another Project Life card which has a photocopy of some of my art underneath. I tried to leave some room on most of the pages to do further artwork and written journaling.

This page has some of my favorite elements from her kit.  The scalloped painted edge on the left and the scribbly rainbow come with the kit.  I then added some of her words to a Project Life card along with a photocopy of some of my art.  Lots of room to add to this page, which I love.

 
This might be my favorite page(s) in the book.  The girl is a photocopy of a work I recently did.  The triangle on her forehead is from the kit as well as the words.  The left page has  a large Project Life card as a fold out "page".  I added a copy of one of my artworks to it.

 I went very simple with the last spread.  I wanted LOTS of room to do art and writing here.  Just a Project Life card and some words from the kit.

Finally...the most important remind of all...to breathe  I used another stencil I made myself and one of my favorite techniques of doodling over my stenciled image.

I hope you like the project and please do check out Amber's shops if you feel moved to do so.  xo

More Free Art Journaling Cards-WooHoo!!

Hello Friends! Thanks for all the lovely comments on Facebook about the journaling cards I posted yesterday.  I have another set of printable art journaling cards for you today-Yay! If you missed yesterday's post, be sure to check it out and grab the other set too.  Yesterday's cards are found HERE  .

 For today's set I used some of my hand carved stamps and embellished with pens and markers.  I hope you enjoy them!  These are totally free (personal use only please), but if you feel moved to give something back...I would really enjoy seeing how you use them!!  Sharing your work is of course, totally optional-but if you feel moved to share photos of my cards in your own journal I would really really enjoy it!  Feel free to post links to your blog (or wherever else you have pics of your work) in the comments below.  Or if you are feeling shy about it you can share with me privately.

A shout out to my friend Angella who inspired me with her own journaling cards which can be found HERE  Do check out her blog, it's full of wonderful things!

Printable PDF for these cards is HERE   I recommend printing on card stock using the highest print quality for best results.

Personally, I think I prefer yesterday's cards over today's.  Which do you prefer?  I would love to hear which you prefer (and why if you feel like sharing)...it will help me to choose what other things I might make available to you in the future.  Also  (at the time this post is being written) there is a little survey in the sidebar on the right...if you have a moment, I would appreciate your input.  Please do take a moment to answer the survey question. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement, it really gives me a great boost and warms my heart!!  xo