Friday Favorites #7 - Music!

Music as part of your journaling environment? Yes or no? Is it a must or do you need peace and quiet? And, more importantly, who or what do you listen to? I know I'm always on the lookout for new artists, musical that is.

Lately I'm enjoying:

Konk by the Kooks

We Started Nothing by the Ting Tings

Oracular Spectacular by MGMT


And you?

Go to the Journal Pages Facebook Group board here and join in the discussion.

Friday Favorites #5 - Process

Topic over at Journal Pages today is Process.

"Process... how do you go about making a page? Do you just jump in and create a page start to finish? Do you paint several pages ahead of time so that you have semi-finished “pretty” pages to write on when you’re ready? Is it something you’ve never really consciously thought about?"

I tend to paint several pages first. Then I'll go back and put images down. Do some doodling and scribbling. Then I'll journal when the urge hits me. Here are some of my pages in progress.

Just a plain and dirty painted background.


Painted backgrounds with papers bordering the edges. I like the last one so much I'm having trouble adding any images or even text to it. :)


Here I've added some images, ephemera, text from magazines. The blue one has lettering done with a marker.


These have some freehand doodling.

And these are all finished pages. As you can see I'm not snobbish about what I use in my journals, either. It can be anything from scrapbook paper to vintage labels to a dirty sketch I wanted to keep.

What's your technique?

Friday Favorites #4 – Books

Have you ever hit a brick wall creatively? No, really! I know it’s not just me. You know those times when you pull out your creative bible, that book that never fails to inspire, the one that at leaves gives you a little inkling of an idea. Everybody’s creative bible is different. What book is your creative bible?

When’s the last time you were in a bookstore flipping through the art books and instead of writing down the title and artist of a book so you could price check it on Amazon you *gasp* paid full price for it right then and there? It really was that yummy, that informative, that spark you needed at that moment. (Or maybe you started writing notes in it before you even paid for it. Guilty!) What book was that?

When your friend emails or calls you up and says “I just don’t feel it lately. My creative juices are dried up.” what book do you immediately recommend to him/her?

What fascinating new (or just new-to-you) book have you found lately and eye-openers did you get out of it?

And, finally, listen up, authors! Tell me about YOUR books! Make me want to read them!


1. My creative bible – Lynne Perrella’s Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks: Exploring and Creating Personal Pages – never fails!

2. the book I wrote notes in? Holly Harrison and Paula Grasdal’s Collage for the Soul: Expressing Hopes and Dreams Through Art

3. Recommended Reading – Dawn Devries Sokol’s 1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations

I have lots more books I recommend and love. I encourage you to check them out on my LibraryThing. Just click on the “journaling” tag. (nope, I don’t make anything off your clicks to LibraryThing. I just feel limited sharing these 3.)

Favorite Five Friday #3 – Artists

Quick! What pops into your head when I ask who your favorite artists are? Do you write those down or do you fudge a little? Do you have a favorite artist but you tend not to mention him/her because *everyone* likes them? Or conversely, is there an artist that you think you SHOULD like because everyone else does? And what about those old masters? I know some people really do like them but for me, they sometimes seem rather… distant. Or Frida… I absolutely love how colorful she was but some of her more anatomical work is just not my thing no matter how popular she is.

So now that I’ve burnt my bridges here’s who’s currently in my fave five:

1. Liza Corbett http://www.lizacorbett.com/

2. Julie West http://www.juliewest.com/

3. Stella Im Hultberg http://stellaimhultberg.com/index.html

4. Dan Casado http://www.dancasado.com/

5. Amy Alice Thompson http://www.amyalice.com/

These are not journal artists primarily. These inspire me to reach further, deeper… to want to paint or to make giant collaged canvases. I also have a fave five for jewelry and fabric. :)

Favorite Five Friday #2 – Websites

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday last weekend. Did you get some journaling done? Or did you spend it living in the moment with family and friends like I did? :)

This Friday’s favorite five is websites. Do you have certain websites that you find yourself visiting time after time, whether it’s for techniques, supplies, or just plain ole eye candy?

Mine are (in in no particular order)

1. Dispatch from L.A. http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/ MaryAnn Moss

MaryAnn not only has some of the juiciest journal pages and best martini recipes, she has got a sense of humor you wouldn’t believe. And when she shares her sister’s pages, too, it’s a double dose of inspiration. In the summers they travel together while we sit home and live vicariously through her blog.

2. Be… Dream… Play… http://elizabethbunsen.typepad.com/be_dream_play/ Elizabeth Bunsen

Elizabeth journals everyday it seems and her pages are filled with tons of beautiful imagery. She doesn’t overexplain her pages leaving them just begging to be interpreted by the viewer. She also shares lovely photos of her world.

3. Judy Wise http://judywise.blogspot.com/

I think many of us know of Judy Wise from her beautiful encaustic pieces. She also does journal pages that are edge to edge packed with feeling. I love the stencils she makes from her childhood photos and how much written journaling she does. That’s something I’ve never been able to get the hang of… getting words down on paper without feeling self-conscious about them. Judy does it, and well.

4. Old Lady in A Teenager http://oldladyinateenager.blogspot.com/ Kara Haupt

This isn’t technically a journaling blog. Kara isn’t technically your average teenager. She is a sixteen year old who scrapbooks. Wait! Don’t run off yet. Check out some of her stuff first. The new scrapbooking is really just visual journaling one page at a time. I’m still waiting for other people to realize this and there to be some sort of crossover. It’s gonna happen, folks.

5. Pomegranates and Paper http://artjournaler.typepad.com/pomegranatesandpaper/ Loretta Marvel

Loretta only posts art occasionally. I believe most of it is saved for her magazine articles. But, oh, this woman can turn a phrase. She can write about New York at Christmastime and you can almost smell the chestnuts and hear the crowds. The photos she posts of the window displays make you wish you were right there with her. You’ll want to be one of her shopping/lunch buddies. Or the way she writes about the beach and seafood… my goodness. If you have not visited her blog, do yourself a big favor and read thru her archives.

What are yours?

Fave Five Friday #1 (Early Bird Special)

Every Friday in the Facebook Journal Pages group I’ll be introducing a Fave Five topic where we can discuss our favorite tools, art books, pens, sites, etc. I’ll also post it here for those readers who aren’t a member of Facebook.

I’m posting early this week because I’m going out of town tonight.

For our first Fave Five I thought we might talk about journaling tools. What are you five favorite tools (or supplies) you couldn’t live without, especially non-traditional ones? Is there a special pen that you order from monks in Timbuktu because it doesn’t skip no matter what surface you use it on? Or a paint that has ground dragon scales in it that gives your pages that special shimmer?

My five would be:

1. Caran d’Ache water soluble crayons – even if I don’t use water with them. I love the rich color. I love even just scribbling on my pages with them.

2. Spray paint!

3. Tape – masking tape, duct tape, metal auto detailing tape from the auto parts store is especially cool. There’s also a wide aluminum tape sold in the parts store for mufflers and things that’s really interesting. Also while browsing MantoFev.com last night I saw a new-to-me tape that i can't wait to try - Rainbow Tape.

4. Scrapbook paper – There are some awesome papers, guys. I use to be snooty about scrapbook stores. I thought it was all babies and rainbows. Hambly Screenprints, Cosmo Cricket, and Basic Grey are some of my favorites.

5. Cheap Elmer’s gluesticks - In the fall they go on sale: a 2 pack for a quarter. I buy about $20 worth. This barely lasts me thru the next year til they go on sale again. And I want to stock up, because in November the price goes back to $1.24 for the 2 pack. And I can go thru 4-5 gluesticks in a sitting.

I do not make any commission from the links in this post. I just wanted to provide pictures and possible sources.