Just Because

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

what's with all this journal business

i love journals.  i love to journal.  i always have.  i've always written in some form or fashion.  poetry, journaling, prayers, doodles, lists - i just love to put a pen to paper and see what happens.  right after high school i had a series of journals that i filled almost daily for about 3 years.  if something wasn't in those journals, it didn't happen - in my head, at least!  also during that time a friend and i started doing "i believes".  we each had book filled with things we believed - pretty much just a list, but they spanned from serious to silly and philosophical to funny. 

a couple of years ago i saw on the internet where someone was taking paper and fabric and recovering journals. i made a couple for myself and then some for gifts - and i was pretty much hooked.  this past january i took an online course on art techniques and journaling that i talked about here and since then i have been exploring the many. many ways of art journaling. i love the idea of doing art "for my eyes only" and i really feel like i've gotten more confidence to do other artsy things through some of the things i have done in my art journal.

right now i have three journals "going".  one is the first journal that i embellished a few years ago - i write all kinds of things in there - prayers, lists, ideas, and just general stuff about what's going on.  i also have my art journal.  this is the one that i started in january during the class.  i paint in it, mod podge paper, fabric and other things in it, i write and draw and collage - pretty much anything goes in this book!  i love that it won't close all the way.  i love that there are "blank" pages that i have painted or mod podged a background on, but haven't completely filled up - i will get to them!!

this is the other one:

(pardon the bad cell phone pics)
this is one that i covered just last week, and i really liked it, so i kept it for myself instead of adding to my stash to sell. 
simple, solid colored fabric (in fact the blue is actually a napkin that i got for .25 at a Dillard's that was going out of business in St. Louis).  the inside pages of the journal have yellow circles on them, so the yellow dot ribbon works perfectly.  this book is my "sunshine" book.  only happy things inside. 

just planning to fill it with happy words of inspiration, scripture, songs, etc.  and when i'm having a gray day, i can open this and get little dose of sunshine!

if you want to journal - do it!!  there is no right or wrong way to do it.  do what works for you.  paint, write, draw, cut pictures out of magazines, whatever!!  it really is theraputic!! there are tons of blogs with journaling tips and prompts to help you get going if you are new to journaling or are stuck.  go to pinterest.com and search "journal" or "art journal" and there sure to be more than enough results!

do you journal?  how? 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

kacymade

i FINALLY got it in gear and started my craft business.  it actually happened officially on Sept. 14 - when i opened my shop on etsy.com.  then on Oct. 15 - i was part of an open house, which was my first actual event.  it went really well, and i sold quite a bit of the stuff i made - and i've continued to sell over the last few weeks. 

what i am selling right now are paper and fabric covered journals, pleated tote bags and painted/collaged canvases with words, scripture or songs on them.  i think i am most surprised at how well the canvases sold, especially since including them in the shop was kind of after thought because i had found the canvases on sale at Michael's a couple of months ago.

here's what i like about having this business thing so far:
- i have an excuse to craft everyday!  last week i went days without making anything and i kind of started shaking a little bit...i. need. to. craft.
- so many people that i love have supported me for a long time, have encouraged me to do this, and are supporting me in it.  it makes me feel loved.
- i am using up (slowly but surely) the completely inappropriate amount of scrapbook paper i own.
- as i told a friend of mine after the first show "people are paying real money for crap i made!"
-did i mention crafting everyday - yeah - that's a good thing!

here's what i don't necessarily like about this business thing so far:
- the "what if no one likes it?" thing that constantly runs through my head.
- feeling like any second i am not crafting i am wasting - even when i stay up until 11 and 12 most nights.
- not selling anything on etsy yet.  i plan to really dig into that after my next two events are over - we'll see!
- so many ideas, so little time (always a struggle for me)

all in all, i am very excited that i have taken this step.  i am thankful for the people in my life who encourage me along the way.  i am anxious to see what God has in store for kacymade - and just enjoying creating =)