New FREE Art Journaling Class!!

There is a new art journaling class starting on the 18th of October called "Art, Heart and Healing"! It is being offered at this wonderful online community (and see me there, I am a member also!)-

Willowing.ning

Also, don't forget that Strathmore is offering 3 different art journaling classes, also FREE on their website! The link is not there anymore, but you can try contacting them through their email, and you might still get lucky. Such goodies just waiting for us to take advantage of! Even if you have been journaling for a while now, don't pass these up, as you just might learn something new!

Also, last but not least-Do you need a CREATIVITY COACH to help you bring out your best? Well, I have found the best FREE one on the internet, (in my humble opinion)! His name is Dan Goodwin, and you can find him here-

http://coachcreativespace.ning.com/

Dan is awesome! He will personally greet you when you sign up, and the community of people that are members are the most supportive, encouraging, talented group of people I have ever had the pleasure to be involved with! I have made several online friends since becoming a member a few months ago! Come join us, and tell Dan that "Laura sent you"!

Must go for now, just wanted to share these great deals with you!


Have a wonderful and creative day and weekend!

Friendship Books or FB's

I have a new obsession...Friendship Books or otherwise known as "fb's"! If you haven't discovered these, they are a small book, made out of basically whatever you have on hand, with a few pages of blank paper stapled in, your address and info on the inside front cover, and then you mail them off to someone for them to put their info on the next page, then mail to someone else. Got it??  This way, you can either end up with Pen pals, or at least see all of the interesting places your book went before it was mailed back to you! Anyone who wants to send their fb to me can send it to :
Laura Thykeson
2924 Oak Court
Granbury, Texas  76048
This one is one I made with a front decorative panel made from watercolor paper and paint, of daisies.

I made this book 4 x 6", out of bright orange cardstock and glued the painted panel on, then put a weight on it to make it dry flat. I also stapled about 5 or 6 pages inside for people to put their info. I also put my address label, email addy and blog address, so they could be sure to contact me somehow. Some people would be funny about putting so much info out there in the world, but You can find ANYONE these days if you really want to, anyway, so what is the difference? Anyway, I don't like to dwell on bad things anyway...

If you decide to make up some of these little books, you can also find people to mail them to by doing searches on Google, etc., for people that want to be in on the "fb" swapping that goes on! There is a whole group of people who do this, and the "fb's" can get really decorated beautifully! Then they are called "deco's"! So, make some out of old mail, recycled file folders, recycle some food boxed, etc! You can do all kinds of things with the paper items that you throw in the trash every day, and keep them out of the landfills! Enjoy this idea and let me know your ideas in the "comments section".

Soon, I hope to be able to do a review of the Strathmore Visual Journal with the watercolor paper! If I can get my hands on one, I will be sure to let you know, and give it an honest review so you will know whether to try it for journaling, etc. or not. Stay tuned for that one!

Success in Watercolours! Step by Step...

Slowly but surely, I am learning the very fine art of watercolours! I have always worked in oils and acrylics in the past, and watercolours has posed a real challenge for me. The medium requires much more patience, and the building up of colors, plus it is a bit backwards, working with light colors first and then applying the darks, when I have always worked just the opposite, putting down the darks, and going back and working in the highlights!

Anyway, I am loving using my new water pen or aqua brush, whichever you want to call it-it is so handy and really works well on small areas like atc's and even front decoration panels for friendship books! I cut a piece of watercolour paper just a little smaller than the front of the friendship book, paint it with daisies, or some other design, add a bit of swirls with a marker or permanent ink pen, then glue the panel to the front of my friendship book! Turns out really great looking, and I don't have to worry about working directly on the friendship book and messing it up.

 Here is an example of what I have done with the atc's and the friendship books above! I like using a really vivid contrasting color, no "shrinking violets" for me!

I really hope that you have signed up for the Strathmore Journaling Class that will start soon. It is free, and we can always benefit from something free, no matter how long we have been art journaling! Here is the link, one more time: 

http://www.strathmoreartist.com/vjworkshop2011.html

Well, I suppose I have kept you from your artistic fun long enough, if you don't already know how to paint with watercolours, give them a try...to start out, just get a case of the watercolours for kids at your local discount store, and you can learn color control cheaply-that way you can see if you enjoy working with the medium before you sink a lot of money into a new set of artist quality watercolors! 16 WaterColour Paints Set With Brush Included for more control, try a set of watercolour pencils:Quick and Clever Watercolour PencilsDerwent Watercolour Collection Pencil Sets24 Watercolour Pencils Karat Aquarell from Staedtler and for easy backgrounds in your art journal, try watercolour crayons, just scribble on your page with the colors you want, rub softly with a damp paper towel and waalaa-you have a great background ready to work with!Caran DAche Neocolor II Watersoluble Crayon Set of 10Faber-Castell Watercolor Crayons with Brush 15-pk.Staedtler Karat Aquarelle Watercolor Crayons, 12-Color Set These give you a great selection to choose from, and none are very expensive, so get you a set and start playing. Remember-"There are no mistakes, only happy accidents"!  Later!