Creating An Art Journal

**DISCLAIMER: For a class assignment, we were to create a journal using print-outs from different sources and analyzing the type on those print-outs. I found most, if not all, of these images on Pinterest, but I do not have individual links for these images. I created this post to show a class assignment. If you are the owner of the original images I used in my journal, please contact me so I can properly link to your page. Thanks for reading!**

I pretty much said in the disclaimer that this was a project for school –  for my typography class. I didn't just want to use a plain journal, so I dressed it up a bit.

I bought the original journal at A.C. Moore and made a book cover out of kraft paper. The original cover was bright green. The color didn't bother me. I just wanted a neutral color.

For the inside pages, I found some free digital scrapbook paper and printed that out on oversize tabloid paper. I cut it to size and glued the scrapbook paper on each page. As I kept doing this, the journal was becoming overstuffed. I realized I wasn't going to need every page in the journal, so I took some of the pages out. If you aren't able to print out over sized paper, you can buy some larger scrapbook paper at a craft store.

My professor suggested that each week have a theme. One week I chose hand lettered envelopes. Another week I picked out candle packaging. I used a BIC Mark It pen to write on the pages. It didn't bleed or smear on the scrapbook paper.

I really enjoyed making this journal. Do you guys have any journal tips or tricks?

Weekly Wishes 03.16.2015

Guys I'm on spring break!!! Yay!!! I'm not going anywhere warm and sunny, but at least I have a whole week off of classes to get things done. My senior show is next week and I need this week to finish getting things ready. But I am going on a day trip with my boyfriend and going to some flea markets and antique shops. I can't wait!

Last week's weekly wishes:
• Make a plan for spring break: Done! I figured out which days I need to go to back to school to finish, what I can get done at home, my day trip with my boyfriend. It's going to be a busy spring break and I'm totally looking forward to it.

This week's weekly wishes:
• Go to a yoga class: Going to yoga hasn't been a priority for me lately, but I'm hoping to make it to one class this week. I need some yoga back in my life!
• Scrapbook: I have so much that I want to scrapbook and what better time than now. I dug out an old journal in the beginning of the year and started scrapbooking in that.
• Plan out future blogposts: I like to have some idea of what I'm going to blog about in the next few weeks. I need to make a more up-to-date schedule on what I want to post and when. How do you plan out your posts? Would love some input on how to keep up with a blogging schedule.
• Update Etsy branding: I've been working on rebranding my Etsy shop and I can't wait to debut it! This week I will just be updating the shop's branding, but I do have some cards that I need to put up. I'm hoping after my senior show I will be able to dedicate more time to the shop.

What are your goals for the week?

Weekly Wishes is a linkup post created by The Nectar Collective.

Chicken Noodle Soup (Sick Day + Recipe)

I had this wonderful four day weekend and I spent it all on the couch sick. So it wasn't quite that wonderful in the end. On the upside, I finished watching Ghost Whisperer and started watching Once on Netflix. I now understand binge-watching on Netflix. I also got the opportunity to make homemade chicken noodle soup. (Sidenote: Do you guys remember that song chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side?).

My boyfriend was sick earlier in the week before I got sick and I told him I'd make him homemade chicken noodle soup. And he really liked it! He doesn't need to eat gluten free so for his soup I didn't use gluten free products, but for mine I did.

The recipe I used was this one from Picture Perfect Meals. I never really follow recipes to a tee, but I usually have one to guide me along the way. For instance, this recipe called for onions, but I'm not a big onion person so I didn't use any. For my soup, I didn't want chicken in it, so I added a little more of the vegetables and noodles to make up for it and I used a different kind of noodles as well.

Let me know if you try out this recipe and if you make any alterations of your own! Seriously it's so good!

Weekly Wishes 03.09.2015

I had a short week thanks to a snow day on Thursday and classes being canceled on Friday, but I spent all of that time sick. If you follow me on Instagram (which of course you do!), I did get to make some homemade soup, which I'll post later in the week. It wasn't all a lost though. I watched a lot of Netflix and got so much work done (yay for productive days!).

Now for last week's weekly wishes:
• Finish up my book covers for my Senior Show: Done! I'll have to print them out to see if there are any little adjustments that need to be made, but these are done.
• Decorate my planner: Also done! After working on school stuff all day Thursday, I spent part of the night decorating my planner.

This week's weekly wishes:
• Make a plan for spring break: Next week is my last spring break! I'm graduating in May. I'm trying to get as much work done at school this week so I don't have to come back too much on my week off to get ready for my show the following week. My boyfriend and I want to stop by some flea markets. St. Patrick's Day and my sister's birthday is that week as well.

What are your goals for the week?

Weekly Wishes is a linkup post created by The Nectar Collective.

Weekly Wishes 03.02.15

Hello March! I am so ready for Spring and for it to stop snowing and feeling like it's twenty below zero. I'm optimistic about the weather getting better. March is going to be a busy month – I can feel it, but I'm so ready for it!

My goals from last week:
• Put up new cards on my Etsy shop: Nope. But that doesn't mean I haven't been working on my shop. I've been re-branding it and ordered some new packaging. So I'm holding off on putting up the new cards for now.
• Get stuff ready for my "smashbook": Done! I spent part of Friday afternoon looking up printables for my smashbook and I found a bunch. Some of what I printed is from my Pinterest board.

This week's goals:
• Finish up my book covers for my Senior Show: Are you tired of hearing about my show yet, haha? It's going to be consuming most of my life this month, so don't be surprised if that's mostly what I talk about. I'm creating three book covers for my show and I really like how they're coming out so far. Yay!
• Decorate my planner: At the beginning of every month I decorate the monthly view of my planner. I absolutely love doing this and am constantly look at how other people decorate their planners.

What are your goals for the week?

February Wrap Up

I think I mentioned this in my Weekly Wishes post, but I can't believe this month is already over. I decided towards the end of each month, I want to put up a blog post summing up the month: what's going on, maybe some Instagram posts (because it's like my favorite app in the world), links I found interesting, etc.

What's Going On 

February was a great month! I had a wonderful Valentine's Day and so far have been enjoying my last semester of college. My Senior Show is in March, so I've been working like crazy to get everything done since I have to send projects off to the printer soon. I developed some personal branding, which I'm so excited about. And I re-branded Salut Greetings! Ahhh!  I'm planning on launching the new branding soon and also putting up some new cards in March.

Instagram

I joined Stacia's #shakeitupdaily photo challenge this month. It was so much fun! I'm planning on printing those photos out to put in my scrapbook.

Top Left: Snow on Valentine's Day / Top Right: My kitten Charlie
Bottom Left: A sunny day in winter / Bottom Right: Part of my senior project

 Links 

– I'm so looking forward to doing this once spring comes and the snow melts: DIY Pressed Flower Prints
– I found this so incredibly helpful and have used these resources a few times since reading this post: 30 Free Stock Photo Resources For Your Blog Posts
– I've been reading Kory's blog for a while and love this post about what she learned from her 3 years of blogging.
– Hand lettering is becoming my new favorite thing in the world. This post really helped narrow down what tools you may need to do some hand lettering yourself.
– Elsie from A Beautiful Mess blogged about her trip to Charleston, one of the places I'd like to visit one day.

How was was your February? What do you have going on for the month of March?

Weekly Wishes 02.23.2015

Hi everybody! Ready for the last week of February. I totally am! Weather wise, this month has been blah – so much snow. I'm ready for some warm weather. It was beautiful out today though. Hopefully that means spring is coming sooner rather than later. Speaking of the end of the month, that also means Stacia's photo challenge is almost over too! If you haven't joined in, you should. It's been a lot of fun!

My goals from last week:
• Make time to read: I remember reading once total this week. Once is better than nothing I suppose. I made it a personal goal to finish Wild by the end of the month. It might take me a little longer.
• Paint my nails: Done! I painted them this color by Essie.

This week's goals:
• Put up new cards on my Etsy shop: I made a bunch of cards the other week, but haven't been able to put them up on the shop. I'm thinking of putting up a box set of thank you notes. I also made a bunch of birthday cards – actually I made maybe five or so of the same kind of birthday card, so I was thinking of selling those as a box set as well. What do you think? Would you buy a box set of birthday cards?
• Get stuff ready for my "smashbook": I have a bunch of old notebooks lying around that I decided to make into my own smashbook/scrapbook. I've fallen a little behind with this, but my spring break is in a few weeks and I'd like to work on it then. This week I want to print out all my pictures and embellishments that I want to include so once spring break starts I'm ready to go!

What are your weekly goals?