As I mentioned yesterday, I am debuting fifteen new stencil designs with The Crafter's Workshop this summer. Here's a peek at more of the new stencils: You'll recall this "Butterfly" stencil: The 6x6 version coordinates with matching stamps from Impression Obsession. However, TCW is planning to release the stencil in 12x12 as well! You can see that I used both sizes on my layout. But I'm not counting this stencil among the fifteen new ones. However, the background of the layout (and the pattern in the butterflies) is the "Aboriginal" stencil... ...which is one of the new stencils and just... Read more →

I am currently in Chicago for the Craft & Hobby Association Summer Show (CHA). If you don't know what CHA is, read this post. I am debuting fifteen new stencil designs with The Crafter's Workshop this summer. There are two new coordinating stamp/stencil sets as well! Everything should be available for sale by August. Fingers crossed. I thought I'd share the new stencil designs with you over the next four days. I hope you're as excited about them as I am! I used five different stencils on this art journal page, but the ones you really notice are "4 Flowers"...... Read more →

This post originally appeared on January 21, 2011. It was one of the first Art Journal Every Day posts I ever wrote. The style of daily art journaling that you see in this post is what I teach in my 30 Days in Your Journal class. I have put a BRAND NEW linky list at the end of this post. So if you've done some art journaling this week, feel free to share! ALSO, the super big news is that I have quietly been working a massive redo of the Art Journal Every Day page. You can now find a... Read more →

This post originally appeared June 22, 2011. Even though it was a year ago, there isn't a ton of information out there about Distress Stains. I hope it's helpful to you! People often ask me where to buy the Adirondack Color Wash that I'm so darn fond of. (I use them constantly, including in the background tutorial for the spread above.) There's a great online store called Artist Cellar that carries the full range of colors (as well as Crafter's Workshop stencils)! And the owner of that store, Lisa, was kind enough to send me a few of the new... Read more →

I love posting photos to Instagram and peeking into other people's lives through their photos. I post a lot of photos of outfits, meals, and what I'm looking at. I also post a ton of photos of creative work in-progess. Today I thought I'd share some of the recent photos from the last category with you. The photo of the ring is a what-I'm-wearing photo, but it was just so pretty (and it is artist made, just not by me) that I had to share! And the photo of my Mom sitting at her computer features a painting by my... Read more →

If you're going to be at the Craft & Hobby Association show (CHA) in Chicago next week, I'd love to see you! Here's how you can find me: Monday, July 16 11am - 12pm: Building a Better Blog (room 23) A blog is an obligatory item for most professional artists and businesses and one of the best ways to develop a community. However, a poorly done blog can be worse than no blog at all. There is no one-size-fits-all solution – so much of building a better blog depends on your goals, the amount of time you can devote to... Read more →

The internet is such a wonderful place, full of inspiration. Here are some links to a few things that are inspiring me right now! The Painterly Monotype A great little video from Gelli Arts on creating a painterly monoprint. (Visit the Gelli Arts blog to see the video, the image above is simply a screenshot.) I adore my Gelli Plate. I can't stop using it! Abundance of Ideas The quote above is one I took from a lovely post by Karen Grunberg in which she talks about sharing your ideas. Definitely worth a read. Frosty Debossing A wonderful tutorial from... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, all the posts can be found here. Please read this post first. There is a flickr group for sharing right here. Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day! No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week and you've blogged about it, or put it on flickr, please leave a link in the linky list at the end of this post. Thanks! Today I thought I'd share a few more of my recent pages. I go through phases where... Read more →

Is it okay for me to admit that I'm a bit stressed out? I have a book deadline colliding with CHA colliding with heading to New Jersey to teach at CREATE colliding with a magazine deadline and I am running to keep up. And I'm not a very good runner. Basically I'm caught in a nasty circle where I'm just hating everything I'm making and that makes me feel bad about myself and then that makes me get angry at myself for feeling bad and then that...well, you get the gist of it. I'm trying to keep up with my... Read more →

Happy Fourth of July to those here in the U.S.A. And Happy Wednesday to everyone else! I've gathered up a collection of fun Fourth of July food projects. My Mom keeps trying to convince me that cooking is a form of craft and she might be winning! Patriotic Strawberries I'm not a huge fan of white chocolate, but I think this is just a super cool super easy idea. From the Best Bites blog and she has step-by-step instructions for you. Berry Patriotic Cupcakes The fruit on top almost makes me think I can call this a healthy cupcake! Almost.... Read more →