Art Journaling Revival

You may recall, if you've been a follower of the blog for a while, that I used to post a lot about my art journaling and then all went quiet on the journaling front?  I discovered art journaling a few years ago on a trip to America where I met a lovely lady who had the most amazing art journals. I was mesmerised by them, and the process, and before I returned home I bought a copy of Art Journaling magazine and some supplies ready to start journaling when I returned home.  I was addicted and journaled religiously for quite some time and then, all of a sudden, I stopped.

Why did I stop I hear you cry?  Honestly, I'm not really sure.  I never forced myself to art journal as that isn't really the point of doing it.  It is meant to be fun and relaxing and, if you have to force yourself to do it, it is neither.  I also think that I stopped around the same time I began my City and Guilds course, which takes up a lot of my time. So art journaling was swapped for felt and a textiles course.  I was OK with the break, it happened and I accepted it.

However, recently I've been picking up my journals and my art journaling supplies and thinking that I wanted to journal again.  I've been pinning images of art journals on Pinterest and thinking how lovely they are. 

Then, late one evening when I was lying in bed pinning (a frequent occurence when I'm meant to be sleeping - why did they have to invent a Pinterest App?) I came across Journal 52 - a free art journaling workshop for 2014.  Every week, there is a new journaling prompt with ideas of what to do.  You can sign up for email updates when each new prompt is posted, find ideas on the website for starting your own art journal if you're a newbie and there is a Facebook group to share your pages in.  

It has really got me back into art journaling and I love the prompts each week.  I spent hours the other day catching up on weeks 1 - 4 and really enjoyed myself.  

So, here are my pages for the prompts so far:

Week 1 - Up,Up and Away

Week 2 - Somewhere, a Simple Place

Week 3 - You Make Me Smile

Week 4 - Building Character

It's not too late to join in - you can work at your own pace and it's a brilliant way to begin, or resume, your art journaling journey.