about the artist + random facts you asked

about the artist:

some of you asked about me; you asked me to share more about myself...

so here's a few little tidbits:

1. I started art journaling only a short time ago, and since have fallen in love. 

2. I don't eat blue m&ms. True story. Also, peanut butter and chocolate = best combo ever.

3. I sneeze a lot. No, really.

4. I'm addicted to coffee. It's kind of bad. Working at Starbucks only makes it worse. (or better, depending on your view..)

5. I currently work in three art journals simultaneously. Yeah, I'm rad.

6. I'm reading a book that's changing my life. I'll post about it when I finish.

7. My birthday is tomorrow! (eek!)

8. My favorite colors are yellow, pink and orange. It's hard to stay away from them when i'm journaling. I constantly have to use other colors. 

9. I've been learning that feelings can be a good thing when they're shared but not judged. I'm practicing feeling without judging things.

10. If you knew me, you'd know that I often contemplate locking my twitter feed. I never do, but the thought's there. 

11. At my house, you either always hear music or Fox News on TV. 

12. I love caramel anything. And I make wicked amazing salted caramels.

13. Speaking of making things... I love to bake. Cookies, cakes, cake pops... anything yummy. Lovelove.

14. I'd tell you that I've had a string of really bad dates this week and last week. Dates are not so fun sometimes. There is light at the end of the tunnel though.... my phone has been blowing up today. Saturday should be a very good day. :D

15. I'm excited to spend tomorrow with my family and spending time in my journal, creating. I can't wait to get elbow-deep in paint!

16. My favorite movie of all time is "A Walk to Remember." I wanted to be Jamie when I was in high school. (And Shane West is hotttttt.)

17. I've been more active in church these last few weeks and I'm really loving it. The church I attend is super super growing and they're adding a second campus. 

18. I sing in the shower. All the time.

19. I've been loving all over my Kindle lately. I downloaded eleven books and added a ton of books onto my amazon wish list! If I get birthday money, you can bet it'll be spent on art books and paints!

20. I loathe snow. And as I type this, there's a foot and a half of it outside.... true story.

Announcing the Smashbook Art Journal Workshop!

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art journal sneak peek + my recent pages

I use these pajama prints as inspiration. What's not better with polka dots, right?

A number of you asked to see my desk! This is how it looked before I organized everything into orderly piles. :D

You know you make it into my art journal when you're mean or upsetting. After all, my art journal is a place for my space and thoughts and feelings. I'm learning to express those better through the love I have for art journaling. This made me laugh. All the bottom says is, "he's a douche." Hahahaha.

Friends and family made it into this page. I have a good friend who's amazing at making me laugh when the chips are down. He's rad at cheering me up, so he made it onto this page! If you have questions about the paint or stamps, comment below and I'll respond back. :]

Sneak peek of a little something fun! 

And a little something at the end. :] Love how these pages turned out!

I also wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has signed up for the Smashbook Newsletter. I am so incredibly grateful and awestruck at how many of you complete the prompts each week. It's amazing and I love you guys! Keep tuned tomorrow on the blog for a HUGE announcement you won't want to miss! (If you have my newsletter, you already know what it is!) :D

xoxo,

C

5 Favorite Art Journal Supplies

I'm always curious to see what fellow art journalers use when they create! I thought I'd share five of my favorite supplies/materials for creating in my art journal!

1. Acrylic paints! I LOVE LOVE them. I use them in every page except my watercolor pages... and sometimes (on rare occasion) I do both! They're so versatile and so easy to use-- you can stamp, paint, texturize, cover, embellish... pretty much anything with them!
2. Watercolor pencils! If you've never used them, they're basically like colored pencils-- except you can paint over them with a wet brush and they become watercolor-like! They're really fantastic for detail work and/or tiny embellishments!
3. Stamps! I only recently started using stamps and they're freakin' awesome. You can use rubber ones or the silicone ones that stick to acrylic blocks! I use the silicone ones mostly, but I do have quite a few rubber ones. Collect them-- you can reuse them, which I ADORE!
4. Permanent markers. My art journals would be dead without them. I use them in every single page. They're amazing for journaling words and detail work, doodles, outlining... pretty much everything!
5. Gel pens. Specifically the white ones. They get used a lot over other lettering and for miniature detail work / doodles on the pages with a dark background!

What are your favorite supplies and materials to use?! I'm so curious to know your favorites!

Happy Creating!

-C

DIY homemade smashbook + my recent pages

This is the cover of my homemade smashbook! I'm not talking about the big spiral I do pages in... this is a whole new journal! I thought I'd show you guys how to make it and maybe give you some ideas for pages along the way!

The inside cover holds one of my favorite quotes. I firmly believe in self discovery through artistic expression. Adore.

So here's how you make it! Ready?!

1. Scour your kitchen cabinets/house/boyfriend's house/parent's house/etc for cardboard boxes. They can be different "strengths" (think cereal box versus cardboard box). Just get whatever boxes you'd like to work with! Any size works for this, too! 

2. Compile the pieces in whatever ways you'd like. You can trim them all to size, use the flaps (bottom of boxes or sides of boxes) attached or unattached if you'd like. 

3. Trim them to be the same size or leave them different. It's all up to you-- it's your journal! 

4. Align pages on one side, á la book. You're going to punch holes in them, so orient the pieces of board how you'd like them to be in your book. Keep in mind the fronts/backs of cereal boxes and things. Do you want the text to be all right side up? Check before you punch holes!

5. Punch holes in your pages! I recommend using a three hole punch. You can also use a single hole punch if one particular page is being stubborn!

6. Use big jump rings/split rings (I got mine at an office supply store!)

7. Feed your rings through the page holes!

That's it! Woot!

Here's a close up of the rings and the pages! You can see I used all cereal boxes, as the pages are all the same "strength"! I really love the feel. I'm going to add pages in to this book as well, made of legal paper, phone book pages, etc. Because the main bulk of the book is cereal box weight, the book is bulky and chunky. I ADORE this!

 You can see some elements sticking out of the bottom of this book so far (like the ribbon)! It's coming along GREAT so far!

Now for my recent pages!

I used some produce bag netting for a page! Yay, apple packaging! :D

Working with a different theme here, I decided to just use a quote with no journaling on the page. I like the way it turned out. I also used a different painting technique on this page I'll discuss later this week!

Isn't the paint cool looking?!

Last week it snowed pretty hardcore in Denver! We got 18" in 24 hours. I used the wrappers from many many cups of hot cocoa to make this spread.

Love love love my homemade smash! Let me know if you make one!

If you have questions, leave a comment below!

And don't forget to subscribe to my weekly art journal prompt newsletter!