A New Journey

Hello all!

Today I begin a new journey. I am taking an online course from Christy Tomlinson called Your Living Canvas. Here is the short description from her website:

We all have a story to tell... one that we live and paint and breath everyday... through our heartaches and trials, joys and celebrations, insecurities and moments of clarity.  What story are we telling now and what story do we have yet to create? At the end of the day, it's our living canvas that will tell our story.

In this six week course we will help you discover that through art, techniques,journaling and soul searching exercises... that will help you create your canvas by design not by default. 

I would be lying if I said I thought this was going to be all about making fun art.  Christy and her friend Art McCracken (fun name lol) are helping us do some soul searching to discover more about ourselves.  I'm on a path to learn more about who God wants me to be.  If you read my post a few months ago about the 6x6 canvas I created for the 100 Women, 100 Words exhibition you will remember it really got me to thinking about Proverbs 31 and whether or not I was striving to be the virtuous women God wants me to be.  Very soon after I finished that piece I got an email from Christy's blog about this workshop and it made perfect sense to take it to help me along this journey.

It's not a cheap workshop, $104 to be exact and with me wanting to get my car paid off I didn't feel good about spending that so I went to work crocheting some purses thinking I might be able to sell them and lo and behold, I have sold 5! Here is what a few of them looked like.

The class doesn't even start until May but we have a private Facebook group where we are doing journaling exercises and other challenges to prepare us for the workshop.  So in order to really get into the journaling, which I have tried for years but never really followed through, I created a fun cover for mine and began with a few pages before my first journaling prompt.

Here is the cover:

This is the first page I am not finished with, but I was looking at one of my favorite artists websites, Junelle Jacobson and she had done a mixed media piece similar to this an it really spoke to me so I wanted to sketch it, then I wanted to paint it.

Below is the background for my first journaling prompt.  Not sure if I am going to share my actual entries yet though.  The prompt went something like this...for any of you that would like to play along:

Write down one moment of clarity or accomplishment that you are proud of that you remember and write one trial or heartache that shapes you in some way.  How did these things change your day to day way of doing things? from the experiences, did you find a purpose or motivation to do better or be better?

I have always wanted to do an art journal so here I go!

So that is what I have been up to and will be working on for a while.  I promise I will sprinkle in a few paper projects and some Pinterest playtime, so keep checking back.

Blessings,

Jana

Organizing Your Markers

Happy Sonday Everyone!
This is the day the Lord has made...(the crowd says)...let us rejoice and be glad in Him!  That is the way we started our church service today.  It makes me smile to hear so many people unashamed to proclaim the word of God.
Today is not Pinterest playtime but I had a few people ask me how I organize my markers, especially my Copic markers so I thought I would show you how I do mine.  Maybe it will spark a little idea for you.

For my Copic markers, I used the drawer organizers that are made to go inside the drawers for the cube storage systems.  It took two sets to do this for mine but you could do it with just one set.  Be sure to use your 50% off coupon from Michaels or Hobby Lobby so it is cheaper.  I had these in a few of my drawers and they were not being used so I took them out.

I slid the boards together like you are supposed to assemble them and then I used my hot glue bug and ran a bead along the seams so they would stay in place and not slide apart.  Then I set them on my shelf and the on the right side I actually ran a bead of hot glue under the 4 boards that touch the right wall so they would not sag and to also make it more stable.  

There is also hot glue on each side of the vertical boards where they meet the shelve.  This makes it semi-permanent.  You can always peel the hot glue off and remove the dividers easily.  This system works great for me and then when I am on the go I just put them in some snap lock containers and I am off!

Right next to my copics I have all my other markers like my Creative memory markers, gel pens, and even some of my tools.  These are in juice packet containers like the Crystal light but I bought the Great Value brand ones from Walmart that are rectangular instead of oval.  To make them nice and sturdy so they wouldn't slip apart I first ran some hot glue on the outside and stuck them together.  As soon as I got the glue cooled I then added a staple for good measure.

I did it row by row, gluing then stapling and then I actually put a little glue on the shelf and glued the set down so there wouldn't be any slipping and it works GREAT!
You can do this with the oval ones also you just have a tiny bit more storage space in these and less gaps in between.
I hope this is helpful to you.  I decided a while back that I wanted to help out with organizing ideas along with crafting ideas.  How do you store your markers??  I would love to hear, I am always up for improvements.
Thanks for stopping by and may your day be blessed with God's Grace,
Jana

Pinterest Playtime - Get Organized!

Hello all!
I have decided to start a new series here on my blog called "Pinterest Playtime."  I guess some one will let me know soon enough if I can't use the word Pinterest but until then, I am going for it :)

First a little news.  I am sad to say that I was not accepted for a new term as a design team member for Getting Cricky with K. Andrew.  It seems my life is too busy and I just could not post enough to be a consistent contributor to her team.  I am totally OK with that.  That really is fine.  I have to admit as I was awaiting the news to find out if I had made the team, I kept thinking to myself, "If I don't make it, that is ok, that will be less to have to get done with my already very busy life."  But to my surprise, when I got the dreaded "rejection" email, tears poured down my face and sadness really set in.  I had to really explore why I had taken the news so hard.  It was one more thing that had happened in recent weeks that took me to God to ask why?  I know it may not seem like a big deal to most people, and I thought it wouldn't be to me, but it was.  As I prayed over this and other issues I realized that feeding my creative soul is important.  Not just therapy but really important.  If feels good to create, even if under pressures of deadlines, it feels really, really good.  It's a big part of who I am and I NEED to be creative.  So when I lose the opportunity to share my passion and creativity, it hurt.  I loved the design team girls and Kristal.  They are simply wonderful, so...no more tears, I am over it and I will reapply again this summer.  Thanks Kristal for the opportunity you gave me to design for you.   Absolutely no hard feelings, I can't wait to see what the new DT creates :)

OK enough of that, I just had to share with you because I knew my blogger buddies would understand.  Well, so here I am.  Working to refocus on the important things, like being involved at church, being a good mother, a good wife and feeding my soul.  So look for some changes in my blog and I will share some big changes in my life, coming soon!

On to the fun stuff!  Pinterest Playtime.  This will be a segment to share with you the creations that I have made via inspiration or "pinspiration" that I have pinned from Pinterest.  In all cases I will make every effort to give credit to the originator of the project, not necessarily the pinner I pinned it from, although I am now making it a practice to visit the site the pin came from and pinning it from the original source. I am told that is good Pinterest etiquette.

I pinned this project onto my "Get Organized" board and finished the project in only an hour!!!
Stickles organization...I discovered in the project that I have 64 bottles.  Come on~enough already :)  Not really!!! One can never have enough Stickles, right?

Here is a first glance at it.

I purchased this sheet of metal from Hobby Lobby for 8.99.  The pinner suggested and showed a cookie sheet which would work fine but I like the way this is so flat and just looks like part of my shelving.

 Next I put that great red tape, and lots of it, on one side of the metal.  I wanted to make sure it would not come down.  I could have easily screwed some short screws through it but I didn't want to make holes just in case I decided to change it later.

 I bought these magnets from Hobby Lobby as well.  There are smaller and thinner ones but these held the best to the metal. They are 50magnets for $6.99.  BTW, this would be an even cheaper project using your 50% off coupons!!!  I used one on the metal, so this project was completed for less than $20.  I had to buy two packages of magnets but I have a LOT left over for future purchases.

 Next I used hot glue to glue the magnet to the bottom of the Stickles bottle.  I tried glue dots and pop dots but this worked the best and held the strongest.

I stuck the metal up onto the underside of one of the shelves, pressed it into place really well and then began placing the bottles.  I grouped my distressed, pearls, metals and such and then spaced them so that I could look to the side a bit and see all the colors.  If you put them too close together all you can see is the front row.  I had some space above my large format printer and since it doesn't open on top this was a great use of the space!  Tadaaaaaa!!!
Thanks you to http://wecanbeaoriginal.com/blog/ for posting this idea.  This link was also in the post but I never saw it on this blog but want to give credit any way.  http://smbogan.typepad.com/chickenscratch/

My plan is to later have Pinterest Playtime so that you can link up your projects and link back to mine and that way we all get more visitors to our blogs!  Sound like a good idea??  I would love to hear your input.  Next time I will show you how I organize my Copic Markers.
Blessings,
Jana