A whole lotta projects...

Hello fabulously artsy friends, there is sooooooooooo much I want to share with you - so many new projects that are manifesting from ideas to wonderful physical creation but not much I can actually show (though I'm dying to!) because they all are upcoming tutorials I'm working on and I don't like spoiling the surprise...plus I enjoy keeping you guessing too much hehehe

So, as you many have realised I am well and truly over my mojo-slump (go me!) but just don't have enough time make everything I want to create (- completely back to normal then! =( ).

So what you are looking at instead of my current projects is another lil 'reconnecting' mini journal I made in an hour which I dedicated just to making myself happy =)

I will try and post projects when I can...I am so excited about some that hopefully it won't be too long, but at the same time they're all kind of intermingled so I think I'm going to have a battle on my hands just unravelling my self-made mystery lol have a happy weekend, much love Jennibellie xx

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Dianna Malinao

Hi guys, sorry for the lateness of my TAT post this week, I've have had a very busy day so I'll be short in my introduction of this week's artist so I can get the post up, her name is Dianna Malinao and I'm sure hope you'll enjoy her interview and work, happy reading =)

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are:

I am mostly a mixed media art journal artist. I love playing with paint and color. I also crochet, sew, and lots of other crafty things.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

The hardest thing as an artist is creating something when I'm feeling sad or upset. When this happens I force myself to add paint to a page or doodle or add texture or something to get my mind into a better state.you could say I force myself to play! Other times I will write how I'm feeling and then paint over the page or cover it with papers and paint. Sometimes I find it hard to start a new page or a new project after completing something that I feel is really special. Feels like I want to just take it all in before moving on to the next thing. I move on rather quickly though since I strive to post on my blog everyday and that forces me to do something even if it's only a background. 

What do you most wish your art to achieve?

I want my art to be an inspiration to others and make people feel happy when they are viewing my art. I want to encourage others to do art, it does't have to be art with paint, but i feel like any number of things can be achieved when we are creative. I want to share my knowledge and ideas as much as possible with other people. I feel like art is a window into the soul and it can help heal and give happiness when we don't feel so happy. I think through sharing and inspiring and learning only good things can come from that.

Do you think you have achieved a uniquely recognisable style as an artist, or do you find it a struggle to find your own style?
I find it a struggle to find my style. It seems when I draw faces I have a style, but when it comes to creating a whole journal page I feel like I'm all over the place. I really enjoy experimenting and enjoying art instead of trying to find my style. My art journal is like my free for all happy place...no limitations. Every now and then I do challenge myself to something I wouldn't normally do. Most recently I challenged myself to try to make an elegant page because most of what I do I don't consider elegant! Though my page turned out more vintage than elegant it is still one of my favorites. There is so much to explore that I am rebelling against finding my style. I don't want to be confined to one thing at this moment!

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?
All of my art can be seen here: www.365artjournal.blogspot.com

Thank you Dianna, I do not feel there is one sentence in your interview that I have not felt myself at some point on my own creative journey, and therefore I imagine other artistic souls can relate to all you say. In regards to you hardest challenge when I'm sad sometimes ALL I can do is create; usually it has been the lowest points of my life that has driven me to create, but other times....other times I do not feel like I can even manage to make one ink splat. It's the same when I'm happy - at my happiest all the journals (mainly written) suddenly lose 6 months, because I'm just too darn happy to feel that deep need for expression. It's so strange, how I create muse's guide and divide us! Thank you for sharing your story =) 

Would you like to be a featured artist? Please click the details here to find out how =D

Creativity is Not Brought From A Craft Store

Hey there, happy Saturday =) this post is titled the same as a video I uploaded last night as I think it's the best way of saying what I feel at the moment. I am getting asked a LOT of questions about products, brands and 'this' verses 'that' etc, especially via email and on youtube. I love my new supplies as much as anyone but do think the mentality of crafters sometimes is a little too heavily placed on the products, rather than the process...and when I'm asked, I just want to pull it back to creativity and say something like 'products are there to serve YOU, you are not the slave to products' lol here is the video with a tutorial as to how I make journaling cards =)

Thanks for visiting, have a great weekend much love Jennibellie xx

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Ashton Elaine

Hello lovelies, I hope everyone is a happy camper today, if not I've an inspiring artist to share for this weeks TAT that I'm sure will make you so. I loved Ashton's work when I first saw it and having peeked around her blog I think all art journalers/smash bookers especially will feel the same when they see it. Let me know what you think, I'm sure you'll love her too:

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.

Well, first I am an artist, and second I am an almost 20-year-old Computer Science student at Georgia State University. I love reading and learning so college has been a lot of fun for me so far. I changed my major from Art History to Art to Computer Science. I love all of these areas and I am still in some internal conflict about what I want to do with my life after school. I am a mixed media artist; sometimes a painter, sometimes I draw and watercolor, and lately I am very interested in art journals, sketchbooks, and book making. My art is usually some sort of personal self-expression. I have a lot of hidden messages and meanings in my art, some of which I expose more than others. I use art as my personal exploration through a feeling, idea, or whatever I am trying to learn about at the time.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

Artist's block is the most challenging and frustrating thing for me. There are times when I am completely out of ideas of just lack motivation. The only thing that helps is to try simple art therapy, which for me means trying to put my feelings on paper visually. It's usually the case that I don't even know what the problem is, but I can draw something abstract and look within the drawing to try to figure out what the cause of my artist's block is. I'll draw something with a bunch of messy, organic shapes and colors overlapping and think, okay, this looks like the work of a very overwhelmed person. Maybe I need to do simplify things in my life. Art is the way that I keep in touch with my goals, ideas, and feelings. That's all I know how to do - just keep drawing!

Do you think you have achieved a uniquely recognizable style as an artist, or do you find it a struggle to find your own style?
Yes and no. I feel like I used to have a very concrete style. But as I have explored art journaling more and more, and experimented, I think my style has split into two: my 'traditional' painting and drawing style and my art journal style. I read somewhere once that a gymnast, as he or she grows taller, has to sort of re-learn all of their moves to adjust to their new body. I feel the same way about art - whenever I learn new techniques or find new ideas I have to readjust a little to figure out where these things fit into my style. It's a constant learning process.

What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist?
My dream is of course to be a famous artist. I would love for some of my work to be in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC or something like that. But I'll be happy just to know that my work has made someone happy or inspired someone. I want to share the joy I've found in art with others.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

I have a website, ashtonelaine.com, where you'll find my artwork and a link to my blog.

Thank you Ashton, I really enjoyed that and your art work, the last piece especially I absolutely love. I'm sure you'll find your right balance between your areas of interest after school, we all do; though it may take us a while to figure it lol 

'All will be okay in the end, and if it's not okay, then it's not the end' (yes I did steal that from the hotel film with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith lol boy do I love watching those amazing actresses together =) )

Do you feel up to sharing & want to be a featured artist on Tell All Tuesday? Click the TAT lady on the right for more details

Re-Connecting with Art: A Mini Journal & Some Paintings

Hey guys, hope you're having a fab weekend so far =D firstly thank you to everyone who left supportive comments and ideas on my last post, there were some really good mojo-prompting suggestions going on & I'm really grateful to have such awesome bloggin' friends & readers =)

So I just thought I would do a post to show what I ended up doing, firstly I tried some different styles of painting - kinds that would help me feel 'free' in what I was doing to try and reawake the mojo. The first one above ended up quite abstract, and the one below was a texture experiment done by carving semi-dry paint with a palette knife:

They were quite freeing, however I realised the problem was I still didn't feel connected to what I was doing. As my lovely online pal Rita pointed out to me on the last post to external eyes I must still look quite creative in my slumps, and to some degree that's true - for instance the ideas never stop, even if I don't actually do much with my hands. The trouble was I was feeling completely disassociated from what I was creating...and so ended up just not wanting to do it. Without that connection, there is no fulfilment. So I had a think & approached it a little differently. I thought about all the things that give me fulfilment just to look at or think about - my favourite colours, my favourite textures, favourite places and I put them all together in one place:

This mini journal is the result. I used supplies I had been hoarding (we all do it, don't we?!) and everything I enjoy using and it is by far the best thing I've done to feel connected again.

I used favourite stickers, stamps & paints, London Underground map, things already made by my hand, hoarded vintage ephemera and basically anything that I already had a connection to.

I didn't worry about creating great art, I slapped it all together in a way that made me happy and it did...not only while creating it, but also it's like my own personally designed eye candy to look back on and flip through. YAY! So that's my best tip, to be added to the great ones given in the last post - if you ever need to feel re-connected to your art - start by using what you already have a connection to =)

That's all for now, much love Jennibellie xx

Finding the Will (to get Creative)

Hi Guys, okay I have to admit it...I've avoided it long enough, I am having a slump. The past few weeks, this month especially, I have found it ridiculously difficult to get creative. We all know life can easily get in the way of our art, and this is partly to blame, but what I found incredibly frustrating is that even when I have actually found the time to create...I have just wanted to watch tv! My will has deserted me, and I'm hoping this confession will shock my mojo into action.  I understand that our mojo's sometimes need a little down time, but it's had it for weeks and weeks. Now I'm beginning to feel the itch of really wanting to create again, albeit feeling a little lost as to how to do it. So the past few days I have forced myself to do something creative each day, which has at least ridden me of that horrid feeling of unproductiveness...and hopefully will mean that a week from now I'll at least feel like I'm back on a path again (any path, I don't care where it goes) rather than in the verge! Here's one of those days & the kind of things I'm doing to bring my creative self around:

Thanks for visiting, Jennibellie xx

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Annika Johnson

Hi Guys, welcome to the tenth TAT artist interview, this week is another first as we have our very first teen participant =) I have to say I was quite reflective of my own artistic past as I read this interview, see what you guys think:

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are. 

My name is Annika Johnson and I am an artistic teen. I do art to release the stress of school and other life traumas. I love to experiment with different mediums of art! These mediums include polymer clay, mixed media, and cartooning. I have been working with polymer clay since I was about 7 years old, and thus it is my favorite medium. My drawing skills have evolved over the years and I plan to keep them evolving, I love creating new styles and hopefully they keep on getting better. 

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? 

My biggest challenge is most likely finding my own styles. Seeing as my school isn’t involved in arts, not many kids appreciate our talent. I have to fight through all of the people who won’t even talk to me because they don’t know me, and find the artistic person hiding inside during school. But I know that art is my style and I have to keep to it and show everybody who’s the boss of me 

What do you most wish your art to achieve?

I am going into high school next year and all I want to do is ART, but since my public school’s strong suit isn’t art I have been thinking of transferring to Perpich Center for Arts Education in 11th grade. I love art and if I can have more art time in school I will be happier and hopefully more successful in life!  

What is the best thing / worst thing that art has brought into your life?

I think the best thing art has brought me is freedom. My school is a little troubling because not everybody is friends with everybody like they were in my old elementary. But art is basically my escape from the world of hormonal teenagers! The worst thing art has brought into my life is probably how others disrespects me. I mean they don’t even know me and they think that I am weird because I like art. I wish they would get to know me first! But what can I do? If I have a talent I am going to use it!

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

Most of my art is portrayed on my deviant art account. There you can find all my different Medias and some poems I have written. I also write 2 blogs, How to be a confident kid is basically a “how-to” blog which covers a vast amount of topics. The next one is my art blog called Life in the day of me, it is filled with random post and a lot of art projects I have done. I am also coming out with more tutorials for my art blog, so stay tuned!

Link to my Deviant Art

Link to Life in the Day of Me

Link to Confidence is the Key

Thank you Annika, I think you are very lucky to have understand your artistic talent in your teens and be able to develop it from now onwards. I'm also glad you've found something to help you with tough times, especially considering how stressful school can be. Did anyone else find themselves reminiscing as they read Annika's answers? I had exactly the same experience of going to a non-arty school which, I think, was the trigger to squashing my artistic expression for (too) many years. I'm so pleased Annika you are stronger, and now with the net as a constant source of support and inspiration, which didn't exist when I was at school, it doesn't matter what values any school has - but the individual in question.

Would you like to be a featured artist on Tell All Tuesday? Click the TAT lady on the right for the info.

Old and New Art Journals

Hi guys, firstly sorry for my absence from blogland & other online places recently, especially if you've sent me an email etc...as I'm sure I've mentioned before I suffer from migraines and I had a terror at the beginning of the week, which kind of knocked me out for the rest of it =(

But I began feeling much better about friday and good job, as I had a day trip planned that I simply could not cancel, and then over the weekend I made a video. I wasn't really feeling like recording something that would take a lot of editing though so I decided to show journals I haven't entirely shown before. 

That's what these images are from, 3 of my very first art journals. I'm beginning to notice that a lot more new art journalers are contacting me over the past couple of months, so I decided to share these with both good and bad pages & show the progress a regular old art journaler takes through the 'unsteady' to 'now it comes naturally' stages. Here's the video if you are interested:

So that's the old journals, and the day trip is where the new journals comes in. On Friday we took children of a family friend to the Harry Potter Studios just outside London (though in truth I think it was they that were humouring us ;) )

I made journals for both of the boys for them to draw and write in (I printed questions for them to answer and added HP images to it). I forgot to take pictures but I did take film so once I have done what I want to in my new Gryffindor parchment journal...

I may make a film showing all of the journals together. (I know, I know I buckled under the pressure of merchandise - it was probably the parchment lol but hey I was v.good in Venice when I could have brought twenty!). That's all for now, hope you're having a great weekend, thanks for visiting =)

Jennibellie xxx

Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Rebecca Walker

Hey guys, it's another Tuesday...already! And another artist is ready and waiting in the wings. This week it is an artist that is working in many different areas and the nearest geographically to me yet. Her name is Rebecca Walker, I'm going to save my opinions on this one until the end of the post; I'll tell you why later. Enjoy the interview:

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.

My name is Rebecca Walker, I'm an artist currently based in the midlands. I play around with all sorts of media and techniques but more recently, now that I have finished university, I have taken a more jewellery-making path since I have free time. When I`m at university, I specialize in painting and collage.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
I guess it is looking at my art, I mean, I always think that something I create is amazing for like...a few hours, then it comes to looking at it again and get depressed, thinking that it`s not good enough. Especially when I look at somebody else`s work and compare it to how crap my own is in comparison. Confidence is probably my greatest challenge, as is many other artists that I have come across in the past. I tell myself that it`s fine and that it`s a learning curve, when I finally received my first purchase, my confidence was boosted, I thought, wow, somebody actually appreciates my work enough to want to take it home with them. All I can say to you artists is to never give up, know that somebody out there loves your work.

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?
Oh yes, lots of times! The typical answer to that would be to look at other artists` work, or to sit and cry. Unfortunately one of my answers would be to sit and cry. I`m forever fighting the artist`s block but in order to conquer the beast, there are lots of things that I do as an artist. Firstly I look back at my previous work, what can I do to improve this? Or I go for a little walk with my dog, usually helps me to clear my head and think of some inspiration. There`s also nothing like the rhythm of one of your favourite tunes! My inspiration is heavy metal, since it gets me pumped, angry and wanting to just throw my brush at a blank canvas. My greatest inspiration, as cheesy as this sounds, is artists on youtube, this was how I was drawn to Jennibellie and many, many other artists online providing tutorials on how to do something, or showing me their works.

What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist?
To make my late grandfather proud of me. When I was a young girl, I was very close to him. When I used to visit him, the first thing we would do together would be to get out the paintbrushes and water-colours, and paint away to our heart`s content. Oh how I wish I`d kept those paintings as a source of inspiration for now! Unfortunately my grandfather died two years ago and I must say it was the most heart-breaking experience of my life. I changed as an artist from that day, my paintings became more abstract and expressionistic. I also want to be able to get my artwork up in a gallery, having thousands of people seeing my artwork would just be a massive leap in my confidence. Although I have had a piece of my work in a gallery once, I would love for it to be in one of the big galleries, like Tate. That is my goal in life.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?
I am currently developing a facebook page showing my jewellery work (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Munster-Creations/250296721724649), but I don`t actually have many photos of my paintings, again, that is the fault of my lack of confidence enough to express myself. That`s about it.

Thank you Rebecca =) from what I interpreted from reading the interview, you are someone who is very much growing, developing and shaping yourself as an artist. This is, of course, something that never stops for any artist, but I think Rebecca's interview is actually one of the bravest (and that's saying something because every single TAT interview has been so!) I have read yet...because it is completely RAW. This, I guess, is reason I didn't want to give my opinion of what I thought earlier because I wanted to hear the thoughts of others without my subliminally influencing how it was read in any way but from reading this interview I feel like I truly see Rebecca, and I think that is not only very rare, but very valued. Thank you so much for sharing your feelings and your lovely work Rebecca.

Would you like to be a featured artist? Please click the TAT lady on the right for the info.

A Pup and a Tut

Sorry guys I couldn't resist the rhyming title lol it's because I've made two new videos, one's jus a silly one showing my dog Sweepie's particular methods of recycling (see I train my dog well, he repurposes too) and another is a tutorial as to how to make these easy recycled plastic wallets with closures:

I made these envelopes for my homemade All-in-One Journal and Travel Kit:

ever since I have shown my kit I've been asked every other day how they're done lol so there's now a tutorial's up, they're super easy and quick to do.

Thanks for looking, much love Jennibellie xx

Crafty Solutions for Using Waste Paint, Inks & Sprays

Hi guys, a couple of days ago I posted a video showing how to recycle all the product that gets wasted during crafting.

 I think nearly all crafters will do this automatically in their own way - we're not called 'creative', or 'crafty' for nothing after all lol 

Here's how I capture mine, and then what I do with it. Hope you enjoy: