Welcome to another Art Journal Express – a free video tutorial series where I show you how I created one of my art journal pages from start to finish. Each and every Art Journal Express video tutorial is in “fast forward” mode and then narrated so that you can see each and every step and hear my thoughts behind my process without having to sit through a loooong video.

When I got up this morning I was feeling so tired and drained and a little grumpy.  My stomach felt like it was cleaved to my backbone because I had been fasting since 6:30 pm last night and I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat until I had gone for my blood work this morning at 8:10 am.

After getting the kids off to school and going for my blood work all I could think about when I got back home was coffee and breakfast and bed.  I so desperately wanted to climb back into bed and just sleep the day away.  Todd has been in Thunder Bay on business all week, I’ve been running around like crazy and because we just released the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Cards 2014 class yesterday over on Paper Crafter’s Library I have been working waaaay more hours than usual this week.

As I grabbed the rest of my coffee and sat down on my bed I pulled out my iPad mini and started browsing some of my favourite card making and art journaling blogs.  Seeing all the beautiful cards and artwork made me forget about being tired and the next thing I knew I was down in my studio planning on making some cards.

My first order of business was cleaning up my desks because I had supplies scattered everywhere.  As I was cleaning, I saw my paintbrushes sitting in the brush tub from the last time I had art journaled.  Next thing I knew I was filling up my brush tub with fresh water and pulling out some supplies.

In the same way that I always warm up and stretch before I work out, I decided to “warm up and stretch” my creative muscles by doing some art journaling.

So, here we are with my Shine art journal page.

The sentiment behind this page is something that has been on my mind a lot pretty much since this past January when I had my “crash and burn“. The first few initial months I pretty much spent focusing on changing my diet, exercising more, taking more time for rest and play and spending time with my family.

As I started feeling better I found my thoughts turning more and more towards the way in which I was living my life – the impact I was making in the wider world, and what I wanted that impact to be.

Although many days I still feel pulled in so many directions, I have been feeling that “still small voice” speaking into my spirit telling me that I am called to share myself – my time, my gifts, my talents, my experiences, my heartbreaks, my successes, my failures – because you never know whose life will be touched and maybe even changed or transformed by what you share.

A scripture that keeps coming to mind over and over again, is this one:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

And that scripture is what inspired today’s page.

When I sat down to create the page instead of being pulled towards my acrylic paints like I usually am, I decided to dig into my stash of scrapbooking and card making supplies.   My washi tape has been staring at me for weeks, wanting to be used. So I decided to take a scrappy approach to my page and challenge myself to dig into my stash.

Now most of what I used is product that I don’t even know if it’s available any more as it was released at least a year ago.  But really, there are so many similar products on the market that you could easily find things to give you a similar look and feel.

Here’s the video tutorial:

As with all my other art journal pages I have been working  in my Dylusions journal.  The Dylusions journals are my absolute favourite – they have lots of sturdy pages which hold up really well to all sorts of inks and mediums and embellishments.  I always use the right side for journaling and the left side to list the supplies and make notes on what I did in case I want to use the techniques on other mixed media pieces.

I hope you enjoyed today’s video tutorial. If you haven’t already, please be sure to subscribe to the  You Tube Channel I’ve created specifically for the Art of Simple blog HERE so that you don’t miss a single issue of Art Journal Express.

Also, I will be re-starting  posting to my Andrea Walford Designs Facebook Page. I encourage you to “like” my page, as I’ll be sharing exclusive content that you won’t find here – including pictures of some of my other art work (art journal pages, etc), tips and techniques I find around the web, and the occasional Facebook only video tutorial.  That Facebook Page won’t just be art journaling and mixed media – I will be posting some card creations as well.

Happy creating!  Off to make some cards!