As I wrote in my last post, I'm super stoked about honing in on my word of the year and, as promised, I'm back this week with a spin-off project about it. With some help from Tangie's Word of the Year Workbook (available exclusively in the Art Journal Emporium) I chose strength as my guiding word for 2016. I had other words in mind, but once I read its definition, strength won me over.
I love the practice of using a word of the year, but just choosing one isn't enough for me. I really need to visualize my word so that it becomes ingrained. It has become a personal tradition of mine to create a page for my word and really solidify it, like a piece of history, into my art journal. There's something meaningful about putting it all down in print and really owning it that appeals to me. Here's what I came up with this year:
How have you visualized your word this year? Leave a message below and tell us what's working for you!
Credits: ARTist Collage Sheet #674, ARTist Collage Sheet #688, ARTist Collage Sheet #699, ARTist Collage Sheet #705, Tangible Plans™ {Add On No. 020}, Art*tionary No. 2
For more information about the Art Journal Emporium: http://shoptangiebaxter.com/pages/art-journal-emporium.
Art Journal Caravan Returns January 8th!
[Posted by Karli-Marie]
My one little word in 2015 was surrender and surrender I did. In the process, I felt a gentle whisper calling me back to where this part of my journey started 6 years ago. The Art Journal Caravan is returning January 8th, we're going to have a heartfelt discussion and create lots of art around the topic "Uncaged". Members of the Art Journal Emporium receive everything the Caravan has to offer as part of their membership at no extra cost to them. There are other ways to join the Expedition, including some of the workshop delivered FREE right here in our newsletter. You can see all the details below or in the shop. You'll also find 2 freebies below as I celebrate the return of the Caravan all week long.
I started out with TB147 and TB148 Art Journal Pocket Pages, available as part of the Art Journal Pockets Workshop. I decided that I wanted to start out the new year by mixing these to create a two page spread with my intentions for the new year. I then arranged the cards for each page.
I applied PanPastels® to the white cards in coordinating colors with the colored cards.
Then finished off the cards with misc. scrapbooking ephemera to illustrate my intentions for 2016.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
For more information on Art Journal Pockets visit Art Journal Pockets- Tangie Baxter & CO..
[posted by Jess]
Happy New Year everyone! Tangie Baxter & CO crew member Glenda here to wrap up 2015 by sharing a couple of beautiful hybrid Art Journal Emporium Gems...
First we have an absolutely adorable handmade book created by Joanne! She used the instructional videos in the Education and Learning section of the AJE, along with the December 2015 Collage Sheets, plus her personal stash of stamps and watercolors, to make a sweet and oh-so-giftable homemade book from scratch! I love the soft, muted colors that somehow make her illustrations pop off the page...
Joanne’s credits: December 2015 Collage Sheet Workshop #18 by Tangie Baxter & CO, Quietfire Design stamps and watercolors.
We also have a wonderful hybrid collage created by Liz Waechter! Each time I look at it, something else catches my eye... First the woman to the left, who seems a bit mysterious to me, then the whimsical hedgehog, and finally the white stars and deep blue flower in the background! But what keeps me coming back is that it’s Liz’s first hybrid piece! Very cool!
Liz’s credits: Evergreen and the December 2015 Collage Sheet Workshop #18 by Tangie Baxter & CO, Brusho and stencils.
I think the most amazing thing about these two pieces is that they have inspired me to try something new! In fact, I can’t wait to try my hand at mixed media... How about you?
Thank you to Joanne and Liz for sharing their lovely pieces with us! I wish all of you a peaceful and wondrous new year!
For more information about the Art Journal Emporium: http://shoptangiebaxter.com/pages/art-journal-emporium.
[Posted by: Glenda Mulac]
2016 is upon us! I love the idea of a fresh start. The new year is a great time to refocus our lives and make sure that we are minding the gap between who we are and who we want to become. It is a time to stop drifting and start leading a conscious life, one we design ourselves.
While I’ve given up on the concept of ‘resolutions', I do use several practices to help gain clarity on what I really want to achieve. Among them is choosing a single word as a beacon to guide my actions in the year to come. Unlike resolutions (which often fail within just a few weeks), a word of the year is meant to become a part of you, intertwined throughout the many facets of your life.
Finding your word can come in many different forms. Some years my word has practically thrown itself at me, choosing me instead of the other way around. Other years (like this one) it has taken a little bit of time and effort to determine just the right word for me.
As I saw the days of December dwindling away I realized my word had not found me yet… so I decided to seek it out instead. I made lists of words, tried a few on for size, but none seemed to capture my intentions for 2016.
Then, I got an email from Tangie regarding her updated worksheets for the "Word of the Year" project. Kismet. I immediately printed out the sheets and worked my way through Tangie’s process. Sure enough, with just a few quick exercises, my word emerged triumphantly: STRENGTH.
I cannot wait to dig in and start making my word a part of my daily routine. No doubt I’ll be back with some spin-off projects stemming from my word of the year. But first, I’m off to help my husband choose his word for 2016!
Have you found your word of the year yet? Wondering how you can get ahold of this awesome resource? Become a subscriber to the Art Journal Emporium. It is THE place to be in twenty sixteen!
[posted by Karli-Marie]
For those of us who have been members of the Art Journal Emporium since its inception a year ago, it is no surprise to hear that we have a wide range of artists in our community. We have digital artists and mixed media artists and some that do both. We are younger and older. We are beginners and more experienced. We might live anywhere in the United States or somewhere else in the world. The wonderful thing is that despite our skills or experience, we are a kind and supportive community chock-full of creativity! Combine a group of amazing people with our awesome teacher, leader, and co-creator--the inspiring Tangie Baxter--and you will find a great place to learn, grow, and create...aka the Art Journal Emporium!
Over the next several months I will be introducing you to some of our members in a twice-monthly Spotlight. To break the ice, I will start by telling you about ME!
My name is Jennifer. I live south of Nashville, Tennessee. I consider myself to be a "baby" artist. I have always been "crafty," but I took my very first art class in my 30s. Really! It has only been in the last 2 years that I have been experimenting with mixed media, which is incredibly challenging for me. When I first found Tangie and her work I was excited to find someone so fun and encouraging. She makes it look easy, and really breaks things down so that I'm not too afraid to give it a shot.
I am enjoying trying new things. I love collaging and playing with paint. I have a natural love for techy stuff, so in 2016 I plan to explore digital art using some of Tangie's awesome resources. I might even go wild and play with some digital work on my phone. There is a great series of tutorials going on in the AJE to get me started. I know it's safe there to post pictures of my experiments and get positive feedback.
A few more factoids:
- Favorite art supply: repositionable glue stick
- Favorite technique: spreading paint with an old gift card
- Favorite embellishing tools: white gel pen and washi tape
- Favorite color palette: turquoise and ocean tones
- What I'm exploring now: layering
- Favorite part of the Emporium right now: GORGEOUS collage sheets
- I love to make: hats!
Some of My Projects:
Part of the mural started on my studio wall
Mixed media in my art journal planner
Drawing in my art journal planner
Photo for my blog
Cover of my FanGirl journal (Yes, I'm a fan of the Hats of Downton Abbey!)
Mixed media background
You can find me at the Art Journal Emporium, JenLovesHats@gmail.com, or I'm relaunching my blog at www.BeautifulAliveCoaching.com
By the way, now is a great time to join the AJE! Tangie has some incredible stuff planned for 2016!
TB&CO's Fan Girl Workshop
TB&CO's Art Journal Emporium
[posted by Jennifer Rowe]
This month’s Mobile Art Challenge was tons of fun for me because it was a perfect example of what I call a “happy accident’. I think what I love about mobile art the most is that it’s low pressure and it’s all about discovery. No matter where you start there’s always a surprise waiting to be discovered as you keep layering the effects of one app on top of the other.
This month I used the highlighters in a note taking app called Noteshelf to make a doodle wreath. It took me a few tries to make a wreath that I liked and as it turned out - simplicity was best. All I did was change the colors and make dots with the Noteshelf highlighters in repeating circles.
The magic happened when I saved my wreath and opened it up in a couple of painting apps. I messed around with my paint applications, Brushstroke and Glaze, and most of the filters created some very pretty versions of my wreath. But the final version looked different from all the others. It looked like a party! And it took me by complete surprise. I think that may be why I liked this version the most because it surprised me the most.
There’s plenty more to be discovered in TB&CO's Art Journal Emporium. If you’re intrigued and want to play along and create your own ‘happy accidents’, please consider joining us. The more the merrier! Have a wonderful holiday season!
For more information on the Art Journal Emporium visit Art Journal Emporium - Tangie Baxter & CO.
[posted by Kirsten]
I’m often asked about how I start my Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), which are the basis for Art Journaling Pockets (AJPs). What is the process? Do you start with an element, a paper, an idea or what?
I think that there really is no process that I go through. An ATC/AJP, for me, is a free form expression.
Of course, now that I’ve said that, I realise that there is one constant, which is the image. I usually start with an image; everything else just follows on from there.
I sometimes see an image and I know exactly what I want to do with it, other times, I grab random papers and elements and see what happens. That can be fun. It’s surprising what can be achieved doing this.
It goes something like this:
Go through your photos or stock images or whatever other resources you have for images. The first one that catches your eye, grab it.
If you are doing this digitally, open up a new document in your graphics program or, if you are doing this ‘hands on’ lay out a fresh piece of paper (hmm, smell that fresh piece of paper, wonderful, isn’t it?). Doesn’t matter what size document or paper; I usually have something larger than the image.
Place your image on the document or piece of paper
Now, if you are doing this digitally, open up a random paper or, if ‘hands on’, grab a piece from your scrap stash (you know you have one!) and put that in your document or on your piece of paper. Grab some random elements and put them on there too.
Move them around. Change them, blend them, layer them, paint them, rip them, or whatever, just go with the flow.
You don’t like some of what you chose? Doesn’t matter, remove it and grab some more, or leave it and come back later. It’s amazing how much it seems to change when you haven’t seen it in a while.
Keep going until you have something you are happy with.
See, that was fun, wasn’t it?
I find it’s also a great process for when you have lost your mojo and have absolutely no clue as to what you want to do next. Often, you may not keep what you started with, but it does get the inspiration flowing. The result doesn’t have to be over the top, or it can be, it’s entirely up to you.
That’s the fun of it, or at least, it is for me.
Here's some some sets I've done:
Credits: TB&CO Kits from The Vault, Uncle Gill's Wallpaper Book, Art Journal Pockets Starter Kit, December's AJP Sheet - Abstract available as part of the Art Journal Pockets Workshop, and kits from Art Journal Caravan™2010.
So, go forth and create something wonderful. I would love to see what you come up with.
For more information on Art Journal Pockets visit Art Journal Pockets- Tangie Baxter & CO..
For more information on the return of the Art Journal Caravan visit Art Journal Caravan™ 2016 - Tangie Baxter & CO.
[posted by Karin]
I hope everyone had wonderful holiday! For those of you in denial it's time to face the fact that a new year is about to begin! A new year usually means setting resolutions, goals and challenges for the next 12 months. One of the best ways to help stay on track is with a planner.
I personally have had a difficult time using a standard planner. It's so impersonal and well bland. Last year I tried Tange's Tangible Plans™ system. And with the help of the Tangible Plans™ 2015 "How To" Workshop" I created a planner I actually used! I was able to customize it to my lifestyle needs and adapt it throughout the year as my needs changed. Plus there was the added bonus of getting to use all the wonderful TB&CO digital supplies to create a fun, unique planner that I couldn't wait to open each day and use.
So if you're ready to create your own fun and creative planner that you will want to use everyday head over to TB&CO for Tangible Plans™ 2016 "How To" Workshop". Hope to see you there!
You'll need to have the starter kit for the workshop which is on sale right now!
[posted by Joy]
Just in case you missed the big news....
Friday, December 18, 2015
Over the years I've seen so much growth and an explosion of online resources for Art Journaling, it's awesome-- in the true sense of that word. I can't help but sit here with a huge smile on my face, grateful for the journey. To think it was six years ago that I started a little adventure called "The Art Journal Caravan", the first online workshop of it's kind. I've grown so much since then, as has the creative world we live in. It is with deep affection and a little skip in my step that I openly tell the world that my heart has been called back to that original journey. The Caravan is back, come join the adventure!
I'm also announcing our *NEW* prepaid packages for those of you who don't want a monthly subscription.
The Tangerine Telescope and the Printed collage sheets will now coordinate with the monthly Art Journal Caravan themes. You will want to sign up now if you want the January Shipment!
[posted by Joy]
