So what do you do now?

GREAT question. It might be easier to answer with what I don't do, since I try my hand at pretty much everything and have supplies to do most things. (I'm a bit of a craft supply gatherer)

Just this year I have tried:
Embroidery, clay miniature, to make a ball jointed doll out of clay (so far a miserable failure,) artist trading cards and altered playing cards (ATCs and APCs for short), a bit of mail art and pen paling, friendship books (as of last week), sending and receiving postcards and the awesomeness that is swap bot!

A friendship book (FB) that I made over the weekend

Swap bot is a website where you can sign up to send your crafts to other people and receive something someone else has made. Its a great way to try new crafty ideas and to motivate yourself to be creative! I know my brain sometimes needs a creative jump start, and I find that it really helps! Plus EVERYONE loves getting mail! Unless its bills, those stink. The worst day in the world gets so much better when you have a present waiting for you at home!


So in case you haven't guessed yet, I'm a little all over the place.  My art journals are living proof! I always keep a sketchbook (AKA my "Journal" with a capital J) which is like the master plan of all my crafts, creative musings, and ideas. I tend to fill up a Journal in a year and a half, or at least I used to while I was in college because I used it in art classes. Any who. This is what my current Journal looks like, and some of the silly things that are in it!

This was how I studied for a few history tests. I'm more likely to study if it is pretty!

journaling while I was studying abroad in Paris this past spring!

Ugggly ball jointed doll diagram

Happy 4th!

My best ball jointed doll diagram and  instructions that I ruined with sharpie doodles on the other side. Darn.

I also started smash booking this year! Well kind of. I don't know what else it would be called! I started by making a book (something else to add to the list of tries this year!) out of recycled paper from the school year because it was the last week and I was stuck in the dorms. I didn't plan on it being a junk journal, it just happened as I filled it up with trinkets that I held on to during the year and other pretty things that I like. It still has plenty of empty pages to work on!

I had this great plan earlier in the summer that I would make this book full of uplifting and empowering quotes to make myself feel better about the horrors of job hunting in this economy. So I got an old ad book that someone was getting rid of and started my work! Too bad I didn't really get much farther than the first page! I love the cover that I did, it's painted with scrapbook paper at the edge. But I guess the whole idea of the project was too long term (I'm best at things I can finish in a week or less) and I just wasn't sure how to continue. Here are some pics!

I also keep normal written journals, though I use these much less than any  kind of visual journal. I have two! one is for writing down dreams (some crazy ideas there) and the other is just your average "this is what happened today" journal. There are HUGE gaps between when I write in these probably because when I doodle something in my Journal, I can look back years later and remember exactly what was going on and know how I felt. Words just take more time for me =)

Both were gifts from friends! They know I like green and blue (like my bedspread) the one on the left is for dreams, and the one on the right is everyday.

Is anyone else craft or journal ADD like me? I'd love to know what you do or what you journal about! Or are swaps more your thing?