Sketch in my altered book/art journal:
Sketch in my art journal (Copyright Hanna Andersson)

I know you girls really don’t have time for this… But I’ve made a list of the best magazines I know about journaling and art journals. Please let me know if you know of one I don’t know about?

  • Astarte megazine – I just found this zine via Aisling.net, my favorite online expert on art journaling (♥). I don’t think I’ve seen this zine before and it looks very beautiful and filled with fun reading! I love that! And the first issue is downloadable for free! Yippi!
  • Page by page – Kira’s beautiful zine about art journaling, now with a issue 2 out. A must have zine for anyone who wants inspiration, great reading and tutorials in the same place. GO Kira!
  • Play – beautiful magazines (4 issues) that I bought this summer and still love and enjoy. I’m thinking about splurging on her new art books and back issues of Art and Life because I never sent that order to Amazon I was talking about. I think I need those. Yes I do, but can I afford them?
  • Erraticus Zine – Melissas zine in small format is cute and filled with colourful mixed media fun.
  • Portals Zine – is still going strong since I got the first issue.
  • Edit: I forget about this zine, but of course and oldie but goddie: Artitude Zine! I haven’t read this one in person but it looks yummy and their galleries are huge and worth a look if you want mixed media inspiration!

Not a zine but a very cool magazine is Paper Cloth Scissors, more about some inspiration I found there next… (next post? next year?)

Oh, why did I even start this list. I do this all the time: I was just going to tell you about that first one zine I found and now… gah, and hour later and I’ve been clicking around. And I haven’t blogged about what I was going to write about. And I have 12 windows open!

Owl pen
(my new owl pen – Hanna ♥ owls)

But…
I just joined the group Postcards of Cats, something to look at if you do like kitties! So much cuteness oh my gosh!
Drawing half done
And, I decided to try to do Aisling’s 7/30/365 Challenge that I found out about on her blog which I recently added to my daily reading (when I deleted quite a couple of blogs that are still beautiful but very “the same” so now I don’t have to read as many feed and oooh how freeing that feels). Oh, well. The cards can be what ever size that you prefer and in any medium, just something little to create daily. Aisling will do ATC’s, I’m thinking a bit larger. The number say that you can start with the intention of doing it for a week (7 days), if that feels good you go on for a month (30 days I and if you like it you do it for the whole year; one card each day for 365 days.

Something to look forward to next year

So, how about an art challenge for next year? I think that is really what I might need, something to look forward too (also needed: a job, a place to live, big projects that makes me money, a trip, a creative course, a plan… hehe). So taking the making a card each day challenge is a good start. Now, who is with me? Common-now!

Gretchen Rubin on Having something too look forward to:

Anticipation is a key stage; by having something to look forward to, no matter what your circumstances, you bring happiness into your life well before the event actually takes place. In fact, sometimes the happiness in anticipation is greater than the happiness actually experienced in the moment—that’s known as “rosy prospection.”

Everyone should be able to pull out a calendar and see at least a few fun things scheduled in the future weeks.

If your life is a parade of obligations, dreaded tasks, horrible encounters, and mandatory appearances, take a minute to figure out something that YOU would find fun, and make time for it. And don’t forget—just because something is fun for someone else doesn’t make it fun for you.

I’ve eaten dinner and lussebullar and done art journaling today, so I’m okay now though I still feel it was a crappy year (sorry, it’s bleak but it’s the truth).

Oh, did I tell you about the awesome podcast Aisling has? Nice voice, great topics, very inspirational and what a name: Views from Santa Flamingo – Express your self with art!

Yummy!