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! Art journaling can be defined in so many ways. Personally, I'm a fan... Read more →

Valentine's Day is almost upon us. I like getting candy as much as the next guy, but I don't always love the chocolates that come in those heart shaped boxes. So...why not make your own to fill with your favorite candy (or jewelry or popcorn or whatever)?! I found a great template (with detailed instructions) for making heart shaped boxes here. I took the template and converted it over to a ScanNCut file, which I used to make my three boxes: There are several ways to convert an existing template over to a ScanNCut file. You can: Scan it into... Read more →

I love the enthusiasm about yesterday's post! I'm so glad that you are making cards exploding with love! However, I must confess that I nearly fell off my chair when my normally-not-a-maker Mom texted me this: Wow! She said she did it from memory after watching the video. Way to go, Mom! I hope you'll try your hand at it too! Mom promises that it's super duper easy!! Now, onto today's post.... I went to Chinatown on Sunday for dim sum and came away with a full belly, a bunch of awesome new screenprinted papers... ...and some inspiration: As soon... Read more →

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a super easy card to make and give! It explodes with love! Watch the video for the how-to: This is a technique I learned a hundred years ago on Two Peas in a Bucket (a site now sadly defunct) and I can't remember the original source. However, a commenter on YouTube told me that this fold is actually a well known fold called "Turkish Map Fold." Sure enough, I did a quick google search and found lots of great written instructions with diagrams. Here's my favorite. Of course, while this card is intended for... Read more →

I was delighted to be asked to participate in the Ranger Designer Challenge by my sweet friend, Dina Wakley. We were sent a box of her goodies and asked to decorate a canvas panel. Here's what I made (heavily influenced by Matisse): It's a painted paper collage. Here are some detail photos: I'm very pleased with how the piece turned out. I feel like it's different than what I've done before and yet still feels like me. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by! 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! Helloooooooooo! I'm sharing some more pages from my every day art journal with... Read more →

So...I'm about a month late on my CHA report. I have a good excuse. In the month of January I flew on NINE airplane trips -- four of them into California. I'm a bit road weary as you can imagine. But, I've been home for a few days and I've had time to edit photos and gather my thoughts. Every January the Craft & Hobby Association hosts their CHA show. It's a giant trade show for craft and hobby manufacturers, retailers, and designers. There are classes -- the how-to topics are varied, from instagram to glue. There are parties --... Read more →

Oh my God, you guys! The response to #28Patterns has been absolutely amazing and staggering! I'm absolutely tickled to have so many super talented people playing along! Check out some of the amazing-ness from just the first three days! anndreyerdesigns: artl8dy: asouthernladysr: azamyazamy: comadiary: daleannepotter1: danweitran: jenhoney: jenniferperkins: junqueart: lisharb14: misscraftmad: nihaocupcake: nikinikimaki: nomad_1988: sandieloves2art: slsattler: therustedhen: upstatelisa: weirdzebra: zurabr: So much diversity of style and medium! And there's so much more if you search the hashtag! Here are my three patterns for the first three days of February: There's still plenty of time to join in! You don't have... Read more →

Hi, I'm Giovanna Zara from Italy. It’s so exciting to be here on Julie’s blog. I hope you like my project with fabric. I found a way to upcycle the old whit-ish cotton sheet to a supersmooth, flexible fabric for stencilling and stamping on. I sewed a kindle holder and a box pouch with it. Take your old piece of cotton fabric and cover it with super heavy gesso, thoroughly. Set aside to dry at least a couple of hours, you can use the heat gun to speed drying if you like. Once dry, lay the stencils on the fabric... Read more →

This is the final painting in my trio of Polke-inspired canvases. This canvas came together in pieces and parts over about a month. I started it at home, worked on it in class, and then finished it at home. I stitched two scraps of fabric together -- one handpainted and the other a commercial fabric. Then I stretched the stitched fabric scraps onto canvas stretcher bars instead of plain old canvas. The face is a Thermofax screen. I then scrawled all over the canvas with a white and a black pen. To finish the canvas off, I added several tags,... Read more →