My first art journal...

Hello!

Today I have something different to share with you... It's been some time now that I've been flirting with the idea of art journaling, but I have to admit I was intimidated.

Last Saturday we had a book binding seminar with Zeffy... I fell in love! Zeffy is simply amazing, our little gang was awesome and I was astonished by the final result - I never expected to make my own book.

The fact that the book we made was supposed to be an art journal seemed like a kind of omen to me. For the first time I seriously considered the idea of starting an art journal.

Just two days later I found out about a new blog, the Art Journal Cafe - obviously it is about art journaling. And they had their first challenge with a theme that I really liked - our mantra of the day. I'm copying their words here:

"that little well formulated sentence you keep repeating yourself to motivate yourself, to stay positive, to move forward, to grow!
What's your mantra of the day? What colors, textures, shapes, techniques does it inspire you?"

I chose my everyday mantra: "Everything happens for a reason". These last few years I have chosen to believe that really everything happens for a reason and that everything is an opportunity to learn something. About ourselves, about others, about anything. When we seize the opportunity and learn from what's happening to us, be it positive or negative, this is how we grow. And this thought gives me the strength and the courage to keep going when things don't look very bright.

And here's the page I made:

A quite simple page, but I really enjoyed making it... It took me three days, which means that I really, really enjoyed it indeed and took my time with it! For the first time I used modeling paste, I was super-happy to use lots and lots of misting, and - maybe most important of all - I got to use a number of stamps that I really liked but I had never used before!

The black and white frame was inspired by Rachel at Artful Evidence. A few months ago I was admiring her videos at youtube, but since I wasn't into art journaling, it's been a while since I last watched her videos. Well, that is going to change now, as I find her art really stunning and inspiring!

I chose the yellow-orange-red pallet since for me these colours are very happy colours that lift my spirits. I highlighted the page with black and white details to remind myself that life is not black and white, but has endless shades of colours.

And a close-up for some details:

Thank you!

Hugs,
Anastasia