If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. 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'm very pleased to be able to share a guest post from... Read more →

It's time for another episode of the Adventures in Arting Podcast! This week the topic is home renovation and our guest is Bethany Larsen! About Bethany: Bethany Larsen works by day as the Business Manager for a Broadway press office in NYC, and by night works on fixing up the 1887 Victorian home she and her husband bought and moved into in early 2012. She recently started blogging about her home improvement adventures at The Larsens Live Here. Bethany also proudly serves on the board of the Fordham Alumni Theatre Company and the junior board of Solving Kids' Cancer. Here's... Read more →

Thank you so much for all the get well wishes! I'm still coughing, but definitely feeling ten times better than I did over the weekend. That said, sitting on the couch did have its benefits. On Saturday I spent seven hours watching a Harry Potter marathon and stitching up a wolf mask. It's for the Mister to wear to a wedding we're going to. That's right, we're going to a Halloween-themed costumes required wedding. Having not done Halloween in a long long long time, I had to put on my thinking cap. I bought a Little Red Riding Hood costume... Read more →

Today is the tenth Second Floor challenge! Are you ready to take it to the second floor? The challenge this time around is to use white cardstock. Whatever that means to you or however it inspires you. The prompt is simply meant to get you started. The level of challenge you aim for is entirely internal and up to you. Click here to see what Nat did. As for me, I followed the shiny ball. If you're a long time reader of my blog you've heard that phrase before. What it means is to let go of pre-planning and follow... Read more →

I am super duper sick and so today I'm giving you a post from the Balzer Designs archives. This one was originally posted on July 21, 2008. And the amazing thing is that four years later, I still agree with every single point! Enjoy! Today I thought I'd share 10 techniques that I use on almost every scrapbooking layout I make... 1. Ink the edges of the photos. Several years ago I read an interview in Scrapbooks Etc. where the designer said that she inked the edges of all of her photos. I had long inked the edges of my... Read more →

This was a good mail week for me! Here are five lovely things that arrived in the mail this week: New books always make me squeal with delight! Two boxes from Cocoa Daisy! One is my monthly kit (I'm a subscriber) and the other is the Art Journal Every Day December kit that I designed for Cocoa Daisy! I can't wait to dig in to both! On Monday my Mom sent flowers for our anniversary. Today (Sunday) she sent fruit as a "get well soon" gift. Both the Mister and I are sick, sick, sick. Seriously, this is the house... Read more →

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here. All of the previous posts can be found archived here. 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! I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's the contributors to... Read more →

If you'll recall, I mentioned in an earlier post that I tend to paint in batches. Setting up to paint is kind of a pain, so once I'm set up I like to get a couple of paintings done. I painted today's canvas on the same day as canvas #2. It's also a do-over canvas. This particular canvas has had two previous lives: And now it looks like this: I'm trying very hard to be a minimalist and not fill up every inch of space with pattern. I like the textured background, and seeing all those brushstrokes, but it was... Read more →

Jets Linebacker Aaron Maybin was on ESPN a few nights ago talking about how art is something that he *must* do. Watch the video: I feel like many of the things Maybin said about making art resonated with me. The reason I got into art journaling was to process some heavy feelings during a particularly dark and difficult period of my life. And I have often joked that art keeps me from having to go to therapy. But, there's a grain of truth in there. For me, there's nothing so calming as sitting down to carve a stamp. There's nothing... Read more →

First, thank you so much for all the lovely anniversary wishes! I always read all the comments and appreciate them so very much! I hope you know how happy each and every comment makes me. Your words matter. So, thank you! So many people asked about my wedding dress that I decided to share a bit about it. Please note that all photos in this post were taken by Glenn Livermore Photography. The dress is a truly wonderful creation. I wish I could take credit for it, but I did absolutely nothing but put it on. It was made for... Read more →