Things to consider when choosing your very first art journal:

There are a few questions I try to answer before going out and picking up a book for my art.  Store bought journals can be expensive.  I just picked up the Jane Davenport large journal for a test drive, and without a coupon, that book was a budget-busting $36.00. (I used a 60% off coupon) At that price, this isn't the kind of book you want to start arting in and then find out you don't like anything about it.  The surface where I express my heart or just lay down layers of rainbow happiness is super important.  If it doesn't "relate" to me, if it doesn't feel right in my hands and under my paint brush, I'm not going to want to use it.  If I feel like I paid too much and then don't like what I paid for, guilt can creep in and get in the way of all my fun self-expression. 

But fear not fellow creativity explorers!  Asking yourself a few simple questions while looking for your perfect book will eliminate the risk of buying the wrong book. 

This is the huge version of this journal and includes burlap and canvas pages.

What size best fits your style and needs?

If you have ever done any journaling before, this might be an easy question to answer.  You might already own several books with lines of words and emotion.  Not only do you have a favorite size you also have a favorite pen!  But if journaling is completely new to you, you're going to want to think about where you're going to do your arting.  Is your book going to travel with you?  How will you carry it?  What will you carry your supplies in and how do the book and your supplies fit together?  What size feels right in your hands?  Does a large surface feel like just too much space to fill?  Is a smaller surface too small to express what you want to do?  If you aren’t sure, take a risk and just buy something that appeals to you.  Go with your gut!   

       What type and weight of paper do you need?

There are books out there that have paper for sketching, drawing, mixed media and watercolor painting. You can even buy a pad of canvas paper for acrylic painting.  The books also have different bindings. Whenever possible, open the book and touch the paper.  How does it feel in your hands?  Does the book lay flat? Check the weight of the paper.  It will be somewhere in the description.  60lb, 90lb, 140lb, the weight of the paper is important because of how you're going to use it.  Will you just use pens and pencils?  Are you going to want to collage on the page?  Will you be trying to create texture with pastes and layers?  Will you use a lot of water or other wet media to spread your color on the page? I like to use watercolor paper (140lb weight) because it stands up to whatever I throw at it.  It takes a lot of wet to make the page curl – in fact I have never really had that happen.  Mixed Media books are usually 90lb.  They can take the watercolors, but the paper will curl, and sometimes color soaks through to the other side.  However, even thin paper can be built up with some collage, gesso, and matte medium (or mod podge.) 

And old book can become a great altered book or art journal.

  How are you planning to use your art journal?

This is really the most important question. Having an idea of how you want to use your book will help you choose the perfect book.  If you are just starting out and developing your style, discovering what just makes the art flow out of you,  and  just want to try everything – go for the watercolor 140lb weight.  It can take all the creativity you have to offer. 

This book has thin pages, but it lays flat, which makes it great for drawing and writing.

I hope this helps.  The fact is there are a lot of options for your art journal.  You can even make and bind your own, which is probably easier than you think.  If you are day dreaming of a space where you can spread happy colors on a page, stop dreaming, grab a coupon, and get a journal! 

Happy Arting!
Dapoppins

Discovering what I like 

My Top 5 Favorite Art Supplies

1.Paper Scraps -  I layer and collage with paper scraps and tissue paper. 

2. Gel-Medium or Mod Podge :  I use different types of Gel-Mediums for my paintings and loads of Matte Mod Podge for my art journal to glue down the papers. Gel-Medium and Mod Podge are basically both a "glue" with different thickness and quality. 

3. Gesso:  From the cheap gesso I can buy at WalMart, to Prima Marketings thick, smooth white gesso and clear gesso, my "character" paintings in my art journal always, always have a layer or ten of gesso. 

4. Stabilo Marks All Pencil -  Do you have one yet?  I love them and I don't think I quite have discovered all it's capabilities yet. 

5. Color:  Just add color.  I layer acrylic and water based paints to create unique effects.  I really need to take a class about the chemistry of doing layers with these truly mixed mediums. Because while I am sure my work will hold up for a few years, I don't think it has archival quality.  I'm still in the Art Exploration stage and there is so much I don't know.  Throw in some oil based crayons like Gelatos, Distress Crayons, or the slightly more waxy and water colorish Neocolor II crayons and I have no idea what will happen in 50 years, but that doesn't stop me from doing it.  I LOVE COLOR. 

 Let's Spread A Little Happy

What is the Happy Project?  It's a pen-pal plan to send color, creativity, and encouragement to girls across the globe.

It kinda just happened out of my Words of the Year from 2016 and 2017, Pursue and Outcome - this is all about engaging my community in a positive heart felt way.  I gotta get outta myself and my stuff.

The idea also comes from a little girl in Texas.

 I sent her mom a copy of a hand drawn "zine" and she stole it. Or rather she begged her mom for it and Mom gave it to her.

A zine is a little booklet made from one piece of paper.  I can make one, copy it, then have lots to share. Last year I entered a Zine challenge with the YouTuber Crafty Irene. I have been making and sending out zine's to random friends as often as I managed to put stamps on envelops.  Which, actually, takes longer than you think it would. And while many of my friends were thankful, not a one of them was willing to beg for that happy mail.

Unlike a certain little girl in Texas.

And I remembered the girl I was and how much a little colorful mail in my mailbox would have meant to me.  I've used my scrapbook stash to make junk journals, flipbooks, and pocket letters which I've swapped with a decidedly post-teenage crowd of women, who, while they still love some colorful fun mail - most (if not all) of them already have a craft room full of it.

But what about creative girls who don't have access to all the extras us established crafters have overflowing in bins, baskets, and drawers?

And the Happy Project was born. 

 I posted on Facebook inviting moms to send me addresses for girls who might enjoy a pen-pal.  Within 1 day I had 10 girls signed up for "free" happy mail and a waiting list for more. 

Do You have a girl who needs needs a little encouragement and color in her life?  I have ages 7-15 on my list and even one elderly person.  

5 Ways you can join the Happy Project

1. Send your own Happy Mail & Let me know.  Take photos of your pretty envelope, letter, flipbook, pocket letter, etc, and share them on my Facebook Page.  Once you do that I will also share them on my Instagram. Don't forget:  #TheHappyProject

2. Donate to the cause so that I can send more free Happy Mail to those who need it most. Send me something from your own craft room to pass on to a girl from my list. Or help me send more of my own Happy Mail by donating to help me to afford more postage.

You can use my email and send me funds through PayPal. Dapoppins@gmail.com 

And drop me and email for information about how to snail mail me.

Just make sure to say it's for #TheHappyProject.  Every bit helps send some Happy. 

3. Join the Happy Club or Give the Happy Club -Next month (April) I will roll out my idea for some summer fun. This paid subscription will be 3 months of interactive mail, creativity, reading and art challenges, downloads, tutorials, and a lot of creative silliness. And I promise to go way overboard with the creativity.  Cause that's just how I roll. The Membership will be LIMITED. Some of the proceeds from this paid service will also help provide for girls whose can't afford something like this but who will be thrilled to get some Happy in the mailbox.

4. Spread the Word.  Share posts from my Facebook & Instagram and YouTube about  #TheHappyProject. Share this email.

5.  Know a girl in need of some Happy?  Get on her on my waiting list.  Email me directly with her story and address.  Dapoppins@gmail.com

As usual I don't know how any of this is gonna turn out.  But part of my "fearless" story is to : DO IT ANYWAY.  

To keep updated on all of this (and more) you might want to subscribe to my email list.  I haven't quite got mail-chip figured out, but I'm willing to keep trying in an effort to spread the word.

Thanks For Your Time,

Dapoppins

Getting ART outside

Testing My Boundaries

Find this HERE.

An Idea

When you were small did you feel out of place or different?  I have this idea that has been formulating since my late thirties (I'm gettin into my fabulous fifties now,) I have this idea that every person on the planet has at one point felt out of place and different. 

In any group of people, when I am feeling awkward, someone else in the group is feeling the same way. Maybe everyone in the whole group is feeling that way, at the same time. I think this happens in every gathering of people, at every every age, in every setting.

I think everyone feels like they are on the outside looking in.

When does it happen that we start thinking certain people never feel insecure, inadequate or imperfect? Famous people sometimes look like they have it all going for them.  We see them on t.v, watch their stories unfold, but even reality t.v. makes it look so much more perfect and comfortable compared to our own lives. I wonder if Kim Kardashian ever feels ugly or stupid. I wonder if  (insert famous actress of your choice here) ever felt like she wasn't worthy, wasn't good enough and didn't fit in.

Closer to reality there is probably at least one person at your workplace who looks like they have it all together.  Or think of church, sometimes there are entire families who seem to be living the dream of the perfect life.  Think back during the school years, college, high-school and jr. high and the first time you really became aware of social differences.

My theory is that every human being no matter how wealthy, beautiful or gifted she is, has felt different and inadequate many times during their lives.

Take a introspection moment here.  Look back at all those times where you were so uncomfortable with yourself and the situation that you wanted to peel off your skin, that you wanted to hide under a rock, that you felt  not good enough...

Add a few people who always look like they have everything together and they always know what they are doing...

Draw a mental picture for yourself.

Now see them with the same pain you felt. See that what is really happening underneath.

What Happened With Me

I remember feeling like an outsider the first time I stepped on school property.  I'd had a small social circle before Kindergarten which consisted of my older brother and some cousins.  A pattern of me feeling different within my own family had already been established and school did nothing but reinforce it from Day One.

After some really pain filled, emotional years as a child I became a Christian at sixteen.  Jesus revealed His love to me and brought me out of a very dark place.  I was filled with despair and hate. I had a hair trigger temper that was capable of very destructive rages.  I loathed everything about myself.  Stupid, fat, ugly, awkward, lost, different, not enough, not good enough.  And I hated everyone else.

And then I met Jesus, Son of God, God in the Flesh, He showed me a love so profound it literally changed my personality.  First He loved me as I was, stupid, fat, ugly, ect.  Then He showed me who I was:  Loved, Wanted, Good Enough to Suffer and Die For.  And then He showed me how He saw everyone else.

How I Became Confident

I think understanding these three things is the key to being the best, most confident person you can be.

Understand who you are

Understand Who loves you.

Understand who everyone else is. 

And once you have these three revelations, being the best, most confident You is so much easier.

post card for Canvas Corp Brands DT swap

When I share my art, it's not because I think it is perfect, professional or worth the big bucks.  It isn't perfect.  But very few artists are ever fully satisfied with their work plus we all stated at the same place and we are all on equal playing ground.

I share it because I want you to not be afraid to share yours.  I share it because it is a part of my story.  I share my story because it might make you feel like you are not alone, different, and out of place. I create fearlessly because it is so much fun, I am all most certain everyone on the planet should be doing it too.

Silly Glasses postcard - but it was too fat to send so it went in anenvelope!

Okay.  Maybe not.  But if you want to make stuff---fearing what other people think about it should not be a reason for holding back.  They feel the same fear you feel and they do it anyway.  Some of them even create fearlessly and teach classes!

Art cards from the index card a day challenge at DaisyYello.com#ICAD2016

Confidence may not happen for you like it did for me.  And sometimes it is a process.  (Almost fifty, did I say?  I am still learning stuff.  Which is actually kind of wonderful when I think about it.)  But if you haven't started the process what are you waiting for?

Did you make any New Year's resolutions to be more confident?  Did you make any decision to become a better You?  Did you Pick a One Word this year that has been guiding you on a pathway to more positive wonderfulness in your life?

If you did , Yourdori.com & The Gratitude Girls Cheer League is hosting a Heart Check event on facebook. You are invited.  There are five daily prompts for comments and photo sharing.  (feel free to go back and do the previous prompts!)  Comments will get you entered to win a coffee gift card and a "flip book" made by me.





If we are to teach are children to be confident, we must learn the path for ourselves too.  Do you think my theory is correct?  How are you learning to be a more confident person?

. 
The Kraaft Shaak design team members were each gifted a mixed-media kit from the Kraaft Shaak store to use.   You can find out about all the projects and other fantastic designers HERE.  I love this kit so much and have already written a long post about it.  I couldn't help myself.  There were just so many good things that I had to tell you about, you might want to also check out my post Mixed Media Art Kit Adventures.

I got a kit with two 5 x 7 canvas's and picked Eggshell Prima Chalkboard Paint and the White Sand Texture Paste.

The Mixed media kit was my "Spark" for Kreativity  for this project.  I'm kinda of a "seat of my pants" krafter, trying new things and learning as I go.  I decided to use both my canvas's (should I say, kan-vas?)  in one project, stack them together and make a book. 

I've never made anything like this before.  

I got a little too excited about all my great ideas that I forgot to take good photos of all the cool stuff in the kit.  ARG.  Note to self - grab a camera like +Sylvia Tabor does whenever I open a box.  It drives me nutty when folks don't share all the good stuff they get in the mail - but what do I do when I get good stuff?  I tear right into it like a kid on Christmas.  

Little Samples of fun things that go a looong way. This is  Art Sugar, Micro Beads, Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals, Mica Flakes, Butter Beads, Glass sitter, and Sample Collage Papers from the Kit.

These are some of the collage papers and the selection of all the mediums I got to play with. I used the papers for the base of the project and glued them down with Mod Podge, painted them with a couple of coats of chalk paint, and then added some of my own Lindy's Stamp Gang Moon Shadow Colors as well of some Prima Color Bloom Sprays. I didn't have trouble with color layers sticking BUT I also used the Mod Podge and Aleene's spray sealer between some of the layers. 











I got a little Finnibair wood grain stamp in my kit that I used on the inside of the canvas. I also added some gold Pearl Ex to the texture paste and spread that on the inside of the one of the 5 x 7's.  And did some fun swirls with some the kit goodies.  I thought the sand would be dull, but even plain it had a nice kind of gloss that I really liked.





I love adding layers and depth.  And once I got going - well I just kept going.  Pulling things from here and there.  Taking an hour to look for just that one thing that I needed from my own stash.  This project took awhile because I tried to let things air dry.  I din't want to rush anything and ruin it.  I misted, I daubed, I layered and dripped to my hearts content to get this messy, grungy-pretty look.  

I bet that you didn't realize that "grungy-pretty" was a thing.  Well it totally is! Tell your husband I said so - y'know  that guy who usually asks you, "Did you mean to do it that way?"

I made the two canvas's into a book just adding gaffers tape down the one side and on the insides.  I was going to hinge it too, but the hings were too small or in the wrong place or something.  They kept  the book from opening nicely so I pulled them out and re-taped it. 







I worked on the inside of the canvas and the outside.  There were die-cuts and a napkin in the kit and I used layered them onto every side of the canvases.





You might have noticed the empty compartment?  I made something to fit right in there....