Easy Art Journaling

With the onset of summer just a few days away, I thought I would put a post up about art journaling through the summer. Summer is a great time to start an art journal if you have been toying with the idea. There are many quick ways to art journal, and I will be sharing some ideas here along the way.

Journal pages can as easy or as complicated as you want them to be.  The wonderful thing about art journaling is that there are no mistakes ... no right or wrong way to journal and no one ever has to see your pages if you don't want them to!  It is a place where you are free to try new techniques, learn and explore. Its also an expressive way process your your days and weeks, your memories, hopes, dreams & celebrations, as well as your hurts and struggles.

Lately, I have been remembering what summer felt like as a child and the words, "the lazy days of summer" often come to mind. Summer days as a child were often a blank slate that I filled through-out the day. There was little planned until our family vacation, and I recall the excitement of waking up knowing I could, within reason, do whatever came to mind. 

I have a package of adorable patterned paper that I have not yet used and last night I was eager to create a journal page with a few pieces, but my time was limited.  So I pulled out my paper stack, adhesive, washi tape (colourful, often patterned tape ... see pic below), as well as a few other materials and got to work:

The patterns I chose felt so summery and carefree!

I glued some old wall paper samples down as my base and then added colourful pieces of paper with the washi tape.

basket of washi tape

I added a few little details with markers and a smudge of acrylic paint and I was ready to go!

Under the flaps that I created with the paper and washi I wrote all about my childhood summer memories. And as we head into this summer, I hope to create some wonderful memories for my own kids.

These two pages were fast and easy and I love how simple and pretty they look.

Look around your home and see what you could use to create some easy art journaling pages and get started!!

(A few ideas: coloured paper, old cards, wrapping paper, patterned napkins, washi tape, tempera paint, stamps, old envelopes, funky labels.)

Silvia