Oscraps

Art Journaling is a free – form type of artistry that can really help get feelings out. There are so many kits that are geared towards feelings that it’s pretty easy to find one. When I was first starting out on my AJ journey, I felt I couldn’t really let out my emotions because it was just too personal! At the time I was on a creative team for Created by Jill, and Jill told me that she wanted me to take one of her kits and just go with it. When it came time for journaling, find a way to hide it so that I knew what it said, but no one else could see it. I was dealing with a lot of feelings at the time that were just too personal and raw to share. This is my first emotional AJ page, done with Created by Jill’s designs.

I have so many pictures that I have found of our family. My mom was the family historian, and she had books and books of photos. This is one of them of her. It’s her graduation day and it just took my breath away. Jill’s kit couldn’t have been any more perfect to scrap this photo – both for the theme of the kit, and the colors. It matched perfectly with the photo, and I certainly do miss my Mama. I also want to encourage you to scrap the “messy” stuff. I’ve never felt more proud of my work, and never had such catharsis as I have in using Jill’s kits to work through the emotional baggage of losing my Mom suddenly.

If you look at the page, you’ll see writing all down the left side of the page. What I did is I found a very hard to read font and made the size small. Then I blended the words into the background and turned down the opacity so that you couldn’t read it. I felt some relief from the pain I was holding inside to get some of it OUT!!

There are many examples out there of emotional AJ pages, but I didn’t want to expose anyone else’s deep feelings without their permission, so I won’t link any of them here.

I also have this one that is obviously full of stress, anger, and pain. You won’t even be able to find my journaling here, but it’s there!! I worked really hard to make it textural and hidden. It was actually part of my healing to get it all down and then obliterate it!!! This and the page above are not linked because they are not from oScraps.

Here’s one using Crafty Button Designs and Rachel Jefferies over at oScraps. I didn’t try to hide much of my journaling here, but using the word art included in these kits helped me get out my feelings locked inside of me!

I used a bunch of kits:

Crafty Button Designs | Rachel Jefferies The Struggle is Real: Self Esteem collab
Crafty Button Designs | Old Soul
Crafty Button Designs | Rise Up
Crafty Button Designs | Darkest before the Dawn

Rachel Jefferies | Right Now
Rachel Jefferies | This is Me
Rachel Jefferies | Trust in This
Rachel Jefferies | All in my Head
Rachel Jefferies | Give Yourself Permission
Rachel Jefferies | We Are Shifting

This final one was a very cathartic page to make. When I was younger, a family friend used to tease me and make fun of me, and even though my Mom saw the abuse, she excused it away by saying he did it because he liked me, and he was just joking. I found out later why Mom let it slide, but by the time I learned, I was grown and he was gone from my life. It still hurts, and it haunted me not because of him, but because my Mom didn’t defend me from him. Last Thursday a man came into our Date Night bar and was sitting behind me. He had the same voice structure and accent that he had, and it sent me back to my childhood and wondering what I did to deserve such treatment. So…I scrapped it!

All these kits are available at oScraps:

Crafty Button Design | Black Water
Crafty Button Design | Stressed Out
Connection Keeping | Mom’s Mental Health
Rachel Jefferies | Disconnected Collage Papers
Vicki Robinson Design | Yesterday

I din’t bother hiding any journaling this time, but I am pretty happy with the end result! I got to express my feelings I felt as a child, and moved that much closer to healing that wound.

And please know, I”m not doing this page as an homage to me – I wanted to show how one could use art journaling as a therapy of sorts, but I didn’t want to invade anyone else’s private thoughts and post them where they did not know they were.

Don’t forget to join us at the Art Journaling Challenges! This week the prompt is:

For this week’s challenge,I am focusing on the concept of “ACERTAIN.” As we navigate through the twists and turns of life, we often encounter moments of clarity where we gain insight into our true selves. These moments of certainty serve as guideposts, helping us navigate the complexities of our own identities.

Take some time to reflect on the truths you’ve discovered about yourself. What values, beliefs, and characteristics define who you are? Consider the experiences, relationships, and moments of introspection that have shaped your understanding of yourself.

Here is the example layout:

CREDITS:

• Put a Little Love in It Addon 01 Transfers by Vicki Robinson
• Put a Little Love in It Addon 02 Borders by Vicki Robinson
• Put a Little Love in It Collection by Vicki Robinson
• Artful Memories Travel Journal Papers by Vicki Robinson

I hope you join us, and if you have some emotions to get out – try AJ!!