Don’t you love to hear other people’s secrets? Well, just like when we were kids: if I share, then you have to share too. So in this week’s Art Journal challenge we are going to spill our beans. Pick one of your secrets and make an artful expression of it. While you are at it, upload it to our Art Journal Gallery, so we all can take part in your secret! 

This week, I am proud to present Starlite9711/Bailey, a member of our Creative Team, and her terrific page - she says this is her first Art Journal page and she is hooked. She made an important point in saying: “I made a vow to myself to scrap more OF me, and FOR me…..this stuff is important even if our kids faces aren’t plastered all over them.” I could not have said it better myself.
(And I promise, it was pure chance that both Bailey and myself decided to use Anna’s Potpourri paper!)

And here is my page and secret.

I used one of Anna Aspnes’ superfun Potpourri paper packs, where the white background paper is already folded and stitched down. The other elements I placed on top and carefully erased where I wanted to create the effect as if they were tucked beneath the fold. The phone I googled and shamelessly grabbed off the internet, used my Magic Wand Tool in Photoshop to erase all the white and then “glued” it onto my page. SO much easier and less messy than with a magazine, good old scissors and glue.

You may also notice that most of the title (Truth) is hidden and hard to see. Don’t be afraid to partially or mostly hide elements, titles or journaling on your pages. In the end, your Art Journal pages are not for a grand audience (well if you don’t mind the rest of us who are oooooh’ing and aaaaaaah’ing at your creative work) - these pages are for YOU. As long as you know what you wrote and your intentions, that’s good enough. I say it again, in Art Journaling it is the Process more than the final product that matters. And having fun while doing it.

These are some of the products I used: Anna Aspnes - Potpourri no2 (Coming soon!), Pattie Knox - Absolutely Acrylic: He Said/She Said, Jesse Edwards - Retrophide Kit no2, Katie Pertiet - Twisted Stitches and Watery Alphabet No. 03.

Have fun revealing your secret, opening the backdoor and unveiling part of you!!    - Aino.

Again I want to pull out a couple of pages to showcase the wonderful creativity that you bring to us all in the Art Journal Gallery.

sweetpeony created a beautiful, soft page with a strong message - love the curvy lines:

And jazzmatazz’s page blew me away with it’s strong symbols and thought-provoking message:

THIS WEEK I want to talk Layers. Lots of layers. That is what traditional paper art journaling is all about - layers of paint and papers and emphemera. Wonderful stuff! Doing it digitally, we have a few more tricks up our sleeve. We can use Blending Modes and create new and exciting color combinations and designs. Play also with the opacities of the blended layer. If there are certain edges I feel are too hard, I will add a mask to the blended layer and brush away with a soft brush to even out the hard edge. (I hope this does not sound like a horrible foreign language to you - I call it Photoshopese.)
So my challenge to you this week is to play with lots of layers and blending. Most of all - have fun and release yourself from the fear of creating something perfect - it is the process that is important here!! Then go ahead and post in the Art Journal Gallery so we can share your work.

We have a sale this weekend and I want to point to a few products I consider a must for your Art Journal pages. Anna’s Fotoblendz are sublime! Clip your photo or paper to the black mask and go from there. You can change the blending mode of the black mask layer if you want to play some more!
I also use Anna’s Artplay packages - they contain lots of goodies that are perfect for Art Journaling! Check them out!

I love Gretchen Thomas’ papers - they are grungy and fun and have that homemade feel. They are wonderful as background if you want to blend in photos and layer paint on top.

Not to forget Katie’s emphemera - a definite must and so much fun to add as that extra touch to you pages. Blend them in, paint on top of them, stick them on with a piece of tape. Good stuff!

Now here is my page for this week:

Here are some of the products I used: Grunged Pastels by Gretchen Thomas, Anna’s new Potpourri Paperie, Katie’s new Metal Monograms, FotoBlendz Clipping Masks No. 12 and Layered FotoBlendz Clipping Masks No. 02 by Anna.  - Aino.

First of all – I was amazed to see so many fantastic, personal, special and artistic layouts in the Art Journal Gallery since my last blog post!!  Wow!! 
To all of you who posted their pages (and to you who made, but didn’t post) – well done!! I was inspired and touched.
I decided to post some of your pages – it was difficult to choose which to pick.

KathyJ‘s inspiring page - love the way she put this together:

h_ryfa made a special page with lovely symbolism:

ExoGonia‘s page also spoke to me in a special way. Love the kite!

This week I want to focus on simplicity. An art journal page doesn’t have to be full of *everything*. It can be just as effective and speak volumes with very few words, symbols or colors. I was inspired this week by an advertisement I saw in an online newspaper and created this page – to remind myself of who I am, on days when I find it hard to find myself.

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I also wanted to point to a technique which is called automatic writing. I sometimes use this when I have a lot on my mind. I find a lot of release in simply writing all the thoughts, memories, emotions down. To write without considering grammar or spelling, using any font that speaks to me in the moment – perhaps a script font. I then incorporate the writing into my page, not as journaling per se, but as a decorative element - part of the background. The writing doesn’t have to eligible, only you need to know what you wrote and why. The writing process itself is supposed to be the therapy part, not necessarily being able to read it again at a later point. I used this technique in this page – also a more graphic page, where colors and design are the major elements.
Most importantly - have fun! Release yourself from the need to scrap - create a page for the fun of it! Go and create some art that is your expression only!

—Aino.

Some days I sit down by the computer with a drive to create something. An emotion, a dream, a memory, a twisted thought -  SOMETHING disturbs me and I need to digest it in order to move on.  I certainly don’t feel like scrapbooking. Right here and now, I have to deal with this *thing* that pulls me.
That’s when I turn to my art journal. My digital art journal. 
I have tried gesso and paint and all the loveliness that traditional art journaling involves. But it is messy. I have to clean up my hands, my work space (which is my laundry room LOL!!),  & with two small kids, a dog and a husband who just as often behaves like a big kid – I can’t come and go to create with gesso all over my hands and hair. (I am terribly messy when I get started.)

So I was thinking – I love scrapbooking, I know Photoshop, my digital stash is better equipped than my poor laundry room/art room – so why not do my art journaling on the computer? And that’s how I started. It is a free space for *me*. Where I don’t feel the pressure to make a scrapbook page, to write that memory. I release myself of the need for it to look perfect. I do this for me and me only. It is a tool for me to play with papers, colors, design, typography, words. To release that pressure that has been building over the last few days. To deal with that emotion. To put that happy/sad/frightening dream to rest. To show happiness, to show fear. To be me.

I sit down to create, not worrying about what the end result will look like or thinking about how my *audience* will comment on my page. I often start with a single word that encompasses today’s emotion. From there I work quickly and intuitively, try not to think about design. I use papers and masks, my own photos or photos I have googled. I use brushes and paint like I would in the *real world*. I use masks and stitches and everything else I keep in my stash.  For me typography and choice in font are important elements too.

I want this blog post to be a challenge for you to step outside your own comfort zone of scrapbooking . To try a different approach. To use all the wonderful Designer Digitals supplies to delve into your own emotions and memories, not to scrapbook – but to create something only for you, where you throw stuff on the page because it feels good right now – and not worry if it turns out perfect or not.
I will encourage you in these posts to use different techniques, words, moods, products – to create art for the fun of it. If you are uncomfortable about posting it in the Art Journal Gallery, don’t post – remember this is for you only - but step into the gallery and feel the inspiration anyway.

Final comment –
I am certainly no artist, but I love creating these pages. And if I can. Anyone can. 
It doesn’t have to be artsy and creative. It can be graphic and simple too. Let it be what it becomes. Just have a look at some of my pages. 
{aino}