Projects and postcards

The past few days I had been thinking about signing up for the sketchbook project and today I finally did it! After viewing the different themes that they have available on the website, I came up with an idea for the theme "If you lived here.." which is the one I ended up choosing. Lately I had been thinking about using my own photography in my art journals since I haven't really much before. I thought about driving around my city and taking artsy pictures of anything- buildings, people, scenery, etc. When I saw that theme I immediately thought of this idea and thought it would be really cool to include these in the sketchbook and kind of tell a story about where I live. I can collage, sketch and do other art on the pages around these pictures. I'm excited because it's a way to experiment with photography and put it to good use! I think it's exciting to create a journal for an audience and I think I'll have a lot of fun with the theme.. I am planning on going out and taking pictures soon and getting them developed. I will definitely post about the process here.


So, if you haven't heard about the project, go the website and read about it, it's really great. I almost didn't sign up because I didn't think I'd have the time, but then I just got to thinking, there's no better time than right NOW to do what you want to do. What if I didn't get a chance to do it later on? And I just got some extra graduation money. So $25 is worth it to have this great experience of creating art and sending it out into the world (even though I don't really have a job right now and have about a million dollars worth of student loans to pay back.. but you know.. live your life, right?!). :)

My "job" right now is actually teaching some local art classes in my city -Manchester, NH! My very first class is this Thursday, the 29th and it's called "Postcard Pizazz" - I'm teaching how to make mixed media postcards. The class will focus on creating different layers using paint, paper, stamps, etc like the ones you see here. I just did a practice class for my mom and sister today which helped a lot. I'm nervous but I'm going to try and just have fun with it and hope it goes well. I'm doing a second postcard class on August 12th and then an art journal class on August 20th. The owner even mentioned that I could possibly have an art journal CLUB!! That's like my dream. The classes are at a small craft shop and studio, Talk Paper Scissors. The studio is beautiful, there are pictures on the website and there is an abundance of materials that are are available to use during classes! If you happen to live in the area and would be interested in taking my class, please check out the website, there's a lot more information there. It will be a fun and relaxing environment to get messy and creative !
I got started making my own postcards because of postcrossing.com - an amazing website to check out if you like to send and receive mail! Mail art is so fun and it's great when you receive a message saying someone found your card in their mailbox and you made their day. ^_^ The cards pictured are ones I have made and sent to people around the world.

Oh - later this week I am going to post an art journal interview here that I filled out about myself for Connie's "30 Journals 30 days" at Dirty Footprints Studio - she is extending her project and allowing anyone who does art journaling to fill out the questions and post them on their own blog, and then you can link it on her website. It was really fun to answer them.. check back for that soon!