Becoming Loose

The first quarter of 2018 is almost over and I've been hustling. I'm always busy at the beginning of the year with things like post holiday clean up, taxes, professional certification renewals and winter garden projects. I can't believe I've managed to find any time to do anything creative. But this year I've got a new project management system and it's working for me. 

My journaling, gardening and artistic endeavors have come together into one notebook and I really like the way it's shaping up. There's more creative flow in my life and less rigidness.  I'm doing less, but accomplishing more. I can't explain it. 

I think part of it has to do with maturity and spiritual growth. Letting go of what no longer works is one of those life lessons that has taken me a long time to learn.  And I'm finally at a point where I understand what it means to embrace my feminine, right brain self. 

Very little is planned in my life right now. I just have an ongoing list of ideas I'd like to implement. If I lose interest, the ideas are tossed. If they pull me deeper into the rabbit hole, I fall freely.  Life is too short or at least that's my current perspective. 

Witchy Wednesday Series: My Garden Grimoire

From now until Halloween I'll be sharing different ways paper crafting and a little creativity can be used to decorate on a very small budget. I've always challenged myself to decorate for Halloween without spending much money. One year, I cut out tons of bat silhouettes from sheets of black construction paper. They were taped all over walls. People thought I was a genius. I think I spent a total of $5 and a few hours of my time. It can be done. 

Let's kick things off this year with a handmade junk journal made from a cereal box. I'm calling it my "grimoire" because French words just have a way of adding a special patina to just about anything. This book will used to decorate my Witchy Workspace in October. What is a Witchy Workspace you ask? More to come on that. For now, here's what I've got for you this week. 

Magazine Journaling

Hello September. I'm a few days late kicking off the month, but we just had hurricane Hermine blow through Florida. Now that it's gone, I can officially get back to blogging and making a mess in my craft room. 

Magazine journaling is my current focus. The idea comes from a video I saw on Dede Willingham's YouTube channel. Basically, you take any magazine you have (preferably one with thick paper stock) and paint over the pages with acrylic paints. You can paint over everything on the page or leave select images.  Once you are done with the first layer of paint, you can add more layers of paint, texture, collage, or handwriting. Now you have journal. Brilliant!

This is a fantastic way to use up all those Stampington & Company magazines I have stacked in my creative space. You know the ones: Where Women Create; Willow And Sage; Somerset Studio; etc. They have some of the most beautiful images and I just can't throw them away. If anything, this project gives me a good excuse to hoard my favorite magazines.

The prepping of the pages does take time. I am no where near finished, but slopping paint down haphazardly gives me great joy. Plus, it costs me nothing to make since I already have all the materials. I'll work on it on and off this year and, if all goes well, I'll have a fun journal to use in 2017.