A Portable Art Journal Kit

I've been having a wonderful time in my new "Art Palace." While I have spent some time working on arranging things to where they are more conducive to accomplishing my projects with less hunting around, I have also been working in my Art Journal. I was skimming through the book "Journal Spilling" by Diana Trout and came across the concept of putting together a journaling kit with the bare basics so that everything truly required is within arms reach. I thought that was a great idea since I have the worst habit of starting something, deciding I need such and such, going to find it, getting distracted with something totally different and never really finishing my journal pages.

I had this old Whitman's chocolate tin lying around (somehow it survived the purging of stuff from the basement) and its just the right size. I base painted the sides of the tin, collaged the top with some awesome art paper I had laying around. I used chipboard/plastic letters I've been collecting to put "Art Journal Kit" on the front and then painted my name above it because I didn't like the open space at the top. I had a face I sketched Sunday while waiting for a bible class to begin laying nearby and I glued that on as well. I then added some rub and buff to soften the edges of the face. I went around all the lettering with black marker to help the words stand out from the busy background better. Its got glue sticks, pens, markers, pencils, scissors, some lace/ribbon scraps, gum wrappers, etc. inside. I can't say that I still dont reach for things outside of the kit while I'm journaling, but this has definetly helped me to get started without a 10 minute gathering of materials ordeal.

What tricks or pointers can you share with me to make art journaling more spontaneous? I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by.

New Year, New Art Space

I went on a cleaning spree in our house that started in the fall and continued until I had gutted our attic and basement of stuff. I'm not sure what we were thinking when we moved into the house 13 years ago, but we seemed to have kept every box anything we'd ever bought. Our attic was full of them. (And plenty of other junk as well.) I spent 2 weeks cleaning and organizing that area and felt such a sense of order and happiness that I tackled the basement shortly after finishing the attic.

Our basement had furniture built in. No, not like a dining nook built into the walls, but old, yucky, uncomfortable upholstered furniture from the 1950's actually stuck down there because some previous owners changed the entry to the basement and it would not fit up the stairs to get taken out! We had a sofa, 2 chairs, a refridgerator, and a stove/oven stuck down there. Not to mention a shower stall that sat just underneat the live electric lines. (That has to be up to code, right?!) That's why we haven't done anything about the situation until now. I finally thought "Hey, that's alot of wasted space that I could really have fun using" so I developed a plan. My first plan was-hey it'd be fun to smash the furniture with a sledgehammer. So I found a sledgehammer, took aim at a chair, swung with all my might and the hammer bounced right off the damn chair. I returned the hammer to its spot and noticed my hubby's sawsall. New Plan!!

I actually had a blast cutting the furniture up and was able to even physically do almost all of the removal by myself. My hubby got in on the very tail end of the action by cutting the metal beams of the sofa and he hauled that out. With the furniture gone, I started putting my misc. craft things in totes and cleaning. I must have sparked something in my hubby because after he saw the space that getting rid of the furniture created and discussing putting in an art area down there I asked him if he could run an electric plug and a cable wire for me. He did so much more.

He and his dad worked on the space for about a month. They removed the cheap, damaged panelling and drywalled my 2 inner walls. Gave me about 10 electrical outlets, a cable line, and installed 3 times the lighting that was down there. (I'm still not sure how I got all of that after asking for so little!) My FIL also said he could build me some workbenches and asked me what I would desire in them. So, after a few discussions, I opened my Christmas gift from him and my MIL and found a picture of one of the completed benches. (There are actually 3 so I can change the configuration if I want to!) What a wonderful gift!!

I knew I wanted to store totes under 2 of the benches and I didn't want to see them so I decided I would hang fabric to cover them. That's where the color scheme originated. I looked for just the right fabric and found 2 I loved. One in oranges and pinks and the green/blue/purple combo you see. I bought all they had left and it worked out just about perfect. After selecting the fabric, I took it to the paint counter and had them mix me the blue and purple for the walls, and my favorite, the lime green for the floor paint. I thought my hubby's eyes were going to bulge out of his head when he came back and she had just popped the top after mixing and he saw the color! So after lots of cleaning and painting and arranging I now have an art workspace that I never imagined having. Its amazing! So here's what I got, Pic 1 is my awesome workspace. Its 18 feet long and hides a bunch of storage totes. Pic. 2 is "media control" so I can veg out if I want. Pic. 3 is my storage area. It still might undergo some tweaking to make it more appealing to look at daily, but its a great start. Pic. 4 is my "relaxation station" complete with our wine storage. (I gotta remember to move a corkscrew down there!) Pic. 5 shows the only section not done. I still need to paint the floor and organize that corner. The wine barrels will go there and also the smaller wine racks.

Thanks you so much for taking the time to stop by and read what I'm up to. I'm feeling very lucky right now and still just in shock that its all mine. Sometimes life gives you amazing things and this area for me is such a blessing.