Create a Meaningful Paper Craft Collage Journal

1. Welcome Intro: Hello there. Welcome to this course all about mindful crafting and journaling. I am an yesterday snack and artist, illustrator and teacher. You may wonder, what is a craft book? It's just a ring book or just the plain simple notebook that I filled up with collage papers, cutouts, ripped papers for magazines or old books. It includes letters and words, pictures and journal prompts that speak to me in the moment. It's personalized to what I need at the time and what makes me smile. Crafting has become one of my main tools for unwinding, relaxing, distressing, expressing my feelings and emotions, and having just loads of fun as I create something beautiful and meaningful. Also, as a way to chart and record my lessons along the way from noticing and appreciating the simple, ordinary things, imagining and dreaming up my future life. There are no limits to what I can put on these craft pages. And I let inspiration lead as I get crafty, including loads of pretty pictures of the things I love. And then I check in and I asked myself lots and lots of questions. I write about my feelings and emotions. I believe that crafting, making art can be an amazing and powerful tool to help channel my creativity to more joy and delight. No special art skill or prior knowledge is needed for crafting. Some time to play with your creativity, some cutting and gluing, whipping, writing, doodling, journaling, and loads of happy moments. I'm so looking forward to going on this crafting journey together. I'll see you in class. 2. Overview: So what is a craft book? What is a craft page you might ask? It's a place where you can express your emotions, wishes, and dreams, put down on paper what you love, what lights you up with passions, you, some of those life lessons you don't want to forget. Maybe some aha moments, some gratitudes. Just a place to let yourself imagine and dream your special place to be you. And to get more practical, it's a collection of cutouts, letters, pictures, words, quotes, images, photos, symbols, cards, souvenirs, stickers, what have you. There are no limits to what you can put on these craft pages. Anything you may want to include that simply evolve and go in the direction that your heart wants them to. I'll take you through the process of how I create my craft pages, the materials I use, some of the benefits I find in my own life and in others as well. And how you can find inspiration and ideas for what to craft about. Some ways you can check in to make your pages most meaningful and personalized to you. And the best thing of all is that you don't need any special art skill to do that. Just some time and space to get to know yourself better and deeper. Well, having a blast of fun with your creativity. So if you're ready to spend a little time for the self-care ritual, come and join me as we craft our way to more peace, joy, centeredness. All of those things that you wish for that can take us to new places, new horizons, as we open ourselves up to new opportunities and new lessons. So before you get started, something that I like to do is just to ask myself, what do I want to gain from this time, from this course? So add that little question to your journal right now. Give yourself permission to take this time just for you. 3. Some Benefits: Even before delving into the how of how to create your craft book or your craft page. I like to think a little bit about my y. That way it helps to keep me motivated and inspired to keep going. Here are just some of the few benefits that I found for myself since creating and using a craft book, we all need a place to let loose, to feel free, to just be ourselves and a place to play. Art can do that for us. And this craft book has worked like magic for me in this way. So I'll list a few points here, a few benefits. And I'm sure that you can think of more for you personally. A craft book can be a toolkit for when life's challenges hit hard or when we need a little positive cheerleader encouraging us on, it can be a place for us to find our inner peace. A little nudge or reminder of some of our goals and wishes. A gentle reminder that we are worthy of this time were important. A way to incorporate art and mindfulness to our day. Even if we have just a few minutes, whether early in the morning or just before going to bed at night, or maybe you just have some time on the weekend, finding a few minutes a day and sticking to that helps to keep us going and growing. It's an amazing gift to ourselves. Chock full of wisdom and advice. Beautiful pictures that make us smile and remanence over all the wonderful things that make our life grand. To me, it's centering and therapeutic. It's really one of those self-care practices for myself. It's my private space to ask questions and to find the answers and solutions. It's an opportunity for me to learn and grow to become my best self. It's definitely practicing self-love and compassion by giving myself, treating myself to this time. And through this Crafting, I get to set an intention to imagine and dream big. It's like my getaway time, my artist's date or solo rendezvous with my creativity. Even just a few minutes of crafting, I find that it renews my inspiration for whatever else I have to work on in the day. And it challenges me, motivates me to keep going doing the not so fun stuff. If I start out by doing something that I really love, like this crafting, It's a heart expression, time, time to listen and feel and just be accepting of myself. It's kind of like a meditation time as well. I get quiet, I listen, no other distractions around. I'm letting my heart speak, giving myself permission to have a voice, even if it's just in a private way on this paper, on this book, crafting with pictures, with words, anything that I feel like putting on the page, I get to practice problem-solving as I think about the challenges or the decisions I've made, or how I feel about things, or how I can improve them in some way. I'm expressing my emotions in a visual way, which is what I do as an artist. I need to see it visually, imagine it, and then put it on paper somehow. And especially those things that are sometimes hard to put into words or express verbally. I also get to use lots of my senses and motor skills for cutting, ripping, gluing, writing, drawing, doodling. So to sum up the why for me or the biggest benefit I'd probably say for peace and calm, and fun and play. So take some time now to list those benefits for you personally. What would you gain by taking this time for yourself? Do something creative, something that you love using some type of art medium that you choose. I'll see you in the next class. 4. Materials Needed: So in this class, I'm going to miss some of the materials that I use for creating my craft pages. But before I get started, I just wanted to encourage you that even though you may think you don't have everything at home, you feel you have to do a shopping trip before you get started, please watch this video first because I'm here to tell you that you don't have to do that. You can get started right now today. The things that you have at home, you probably already have loads to get started with. Because I find for myself that if I wait for the perfect moment or to have all the perfect material than the time just doesn't come for me. I just need to get started. No excuse. Even if I just have regular paper, one magazine, one old book, that's all you need. If you wanted to get some cheap options, you can find things in secondhand stores, car boots, library sales, flea markets, or maybe some of your friends and neighbors have books that they're getting rid of or magazines, half-filled notebooks, someone else's trash can become your treasurer in this case, and build your little stash of crafts slowly. I think it took me a couple of years to have everything that I have now, but I started with barely anything which shows that you don't need very much at all. Okay, so now I'll show you what I use most often, but I'm not limited to this at all. And I'm always willing to try out and explore new things into my craft books. And actually most of the time I just tried to stick to two or three different things because otherwise it gets a bit overwhelming for me. I have a hard time choosing what to put on my page. That way it really helps to simplify the process for me. There was one tip I could give you. I would just go with two or three things max, because when I get up all my supplies, it's just too much and I can't even decide in this case, I would feel that less is more and you appreciate it more. You appreciate what you have when you have just a few things. And somehow my pages just become even more beautiful when I don't have so many options to use. So here are some of the supplies you will need for the material that I will be using and some ideas of what you can use. First of all, I start with the magazine. Whatever you have on hand, it really doesn't. Magazine. Maybe it depends a little bit on your style page that you would like to go for or create. I like having all these women's magazines because I often like to include pictures of girls, feminine stuff and de corps, even flowers. I'm really not limited to that. I can work with any magazine actually. So you will need your magazines for the pictures and also for the letters. So for some of the texts, for my big text, I use Greek letters like that. Just to keep that in mind. Magazines that have just not interesting pictures but lots of nice clear bold letters, then you can also use them for that. The first thing you may like to think about when you create your craft page or craft book is the size of page or book that you would like to use. I have here a square shaped craft paper book. I like to use also books that have large binding or rings like this. That way, it doesn't matter if I glue in a lot of stuff, envelopes, pockets, even little notebooks inside. For some of my crafting, I've used looks like this. But very often I've actually use just a regular notebook. This is a drawing notebook with, so it has no lines and it's 120 g, which is what I suggest would be the minimum page thickness. That way you don't have to worry too much about the paper bubbling up or if you're including some paint, it again, leaking or bubbling up as well as leaks from markers or ink pens. This is a twelv pager. But really you can use whatever you have. This is another size book. It can also be fun. This way I would use both spreads, sometimes with the ring books, but sometimes with the ring books, I use just one spread because I can only do so much at one go, whereas these are quite flexible and I find to work really nicely. Another thing I like to add to my crafts is some old paper. I'm sure you could find somebody who has an old book that is not used anymore. Or maybe it's already a bit broken and nobody really wants it. So instead of just throwing it out and recycling it, you can recycle it into your craft book or your craft page. I often just rip the page or without a corner. They're very easy to rip. It just looks beautiful and add some textures, some color and variety to my craft page. Next, I look through my cupboards and see if I have any old notebooks, started notebooks that I'm not using anymore and that I could still recycle a few pages from. So in this one, e.g. I. Like the yellow pages, it's a little bit different and adds variety again, a bit of color to my page. Let's cut it out or whip it out again. And I have a few different types. Here's another little note pad. I like the different types of lines. And here another very old book, agenda actually, and I'm again recycling it into my craft. These are square-shaped. So as you notice, each one of these has a different type of color of paper. What I find to be really fun and also very helpful is to get yourself a block of craft paper like this. This one I found very cheaply. It's got the colors black, brown, and white. That way if there's any of these colors that I need into my book, depending on the craft book I'm using. If I'm using white, I won't use the white from here, but I might use the crown or the black. Again, giving lots of contrast to your page. This is not a necessity. You can also just take old leftover wrapping paper if you have color brown or black or even pieces of tape, black tape. Or sometimes I've even gone ahead and use some old paper bags because it gives the same book. You really want to go above and beyond all out with your crafting, you could just get yourself a little block of beautiful papers, patterned papers, some colors that you would like that fits your mood, fits your style, maybe fit your crafting project. I have a couple here, very different, different colors. These also come in handy if I want to add a bit more color to my page. And I'll often find a page that matches the color of something on the photograph that I've taken. This is not real necessity or obligation for your craft paints. This is just in case you want to go a little bit wilder and more colorful than crazy. Last but not least of my materials for crafting is some stickers. Stickers to me are really that final touch, like the icing on the cake. When I need to give it an extra little pizzazz or colored decor that I might not have from magazines. I just got myself a sticker book like this which includes a variety of styles, colors, shapes, patterns. But again, fitting me because I like all things pretty and flowers and nature and some of these colors. And if not, if you don't have stickers, another alternative to that is I've made myself some sort of made-up stickers. I've printed pictures from Internet. I made my own type of stickers, just put them out. That way I can choose my own colors, I can choose the size that I want. So again, this is very practical if you don't have stickers or if you would like something very specific that you can't find in a sticker. You could either paint them yourself and then scan them and print them out, which is what I've done with a few of these, I made my own paintings. Way I can make them my own color and style, ready and handy to use when I need them. For my final touches on my page, I've made some just black and white. So these are some that I drew and then scanned and printed them out. That way I can reuse them if I want to. Or again, if you just want to find them on Internet. Instead of drawing them yourself. Again, these also work like little stickers, just black and white, but you could color them or keep them black and white if your page is already loaded with colors, I like the variety of using boats. Now moving on to the art tools you may need. I like to use one or two little clips like this as it comes really handy when I need to keep my page together and sometimes keeping it from flipping over by itself. If you want to keep your papers together, especially if they get big and bulky, as with some of my large fat craft books. So once I got to the end or something, it was just so bulgy and big on one side and it wouldn't stay open so high. We're just keep it together like that. Of course, you will need some goods scissors. I found that narrow scissors, scissors like this or a lot easier to use than big fat wide scissors because you're going to be cutting really small details, then you will need some glue. I like to use just a regular glue stick, sometimes a wide one, sometimes a thinner one for smaller areas. Once in a while you may need some extra thick and stronger glue, especially when you want to make some pockets are little notebooks. So these would be the three types of glue could use. As far as pens go. I just use a regular ballpoint pen. An ink pen, you could have different sizes, ones if you want, when thicker, when thinner. Depending on the details your greeting. And I have a little thicker marker and a permanent very thick marker, depending on what I like to write or outline highlights. And for my brown and black paper, I find that gel pens are the best. So again, you could have different sizes. I have here zero point, 8.0, 0.5, depending on what you would like to draw or little additions you want to create. My trusty mechanical pencil. I like to use rather than a normal pencil because that way I don't have to sharpen it. The very last details would be just a ruler. To make some lines. A culture if you need to cut some details inside a closed area of a picture or photograph. And anyway, Sir, I think with all that, you're ready to start your crafting. And I'll see you in the next class where we'll talk about just a few ideas of how you could maybe store all this material. 5. Store Your Supplies: Hi again. In this class, I'm going to show you a few ways that I store my crafting supplies just to give you a few ideas if that could be helpful. I've tried many different ways to organize and I found certain things that have worked for some time and then I've changed and I evolve as I go. I find new solutions, new ways that make it even easier to simplify the process for me just to easily find what I need at the time. So here we go, a few ideas. So to store some of my supplies, I like to use a little basket like this, so easy, handy, and practical to just carry wherever I go. And I tried to keep just the bare minimum, which you saw in the previous class. That way, I don't have too much to go through and it doesn't take too much time either. So this is when I like to move around, around my house or maybe go outside and craft in nature. But if I'm at my desk actually I have a little tray like this and I just keep everything on my tray. And that way it makes it just very clear what I have to work with and where everything is very practical in handy to just keep on the side. While I'm working on crafting my page. As far as keeping papers, newspapers. I find these plastic trays very handy. They're about 5 cm tall. There, the size A4 page and e.g. here is where I keep all my letters. It's just so practical in handy to just find and go through. I also use one for all my brown craft papers. That way I know that whatever I need in this color, I find it in this tree all the way from light browns and beiges to dark browns. So again, this is very practical because I can keep it color coordinated and I know exactly where to go for what I need. And I have the same one for all my white and black papers. Since it's very easy to differentiate, whether it's pieces of literature, papers, letter writing papers, or just some cutouts that I could do a little something here or create a little pocket. I don't like to waste any paper. And as I showed you before, I have different sizes of trees. So again, these all come in the same height. Some are smaller, and I can keep my smaller pictures or smaller details. And what I love about these is that they just easily stack onto each other and I put them all in my shelf, in my cupboard, all stacked up. I have a stack for my big containers and trays and another stack for my small ones. So that's how I like to keep most of my materials and cutouts, even stickers. So here's how I've set up my cupboard. I have here my books to cut out all the pretty papers. I put them upside down just so I can have a quick look at them from my cupboard without having to take them all out. Same here with the smaller ones. I want to delve a little deeper into it. I'll just pick it out. Over here on this side, I have my old notebooks that I can rip out from or just pick a little notepad paper from it. So all the way on this side. And down here on this shelf, I have the magazines that I'm working through, so I just keep a few at a time, otherwise it gets too overwhelming. I figured if it doesn't fit here inside this little metal tray, then I have too many at one go and I can't decide what I want to use. Here. I have all my trace as I showed you with my materials. And they just stack up nicely on top of the other. I have my letters, my cut out pictures, my stickers, and other papers. These are the big sizes and down here I have the smaller sizes. One with, again, some sticker books. My little cut out pictures, just other little cutouts. Some cards. Other little Save keeps or souvenirs that I could include one day into my craft pages. So it's a place to keep them all. I have three different sizes of trees. So there's the medium, the small, and the big ones up there. And on this side I have some other folders with some current projects, maybe some other cutout backgrounds, something related to my home. I kinda categorize my my cutouts from magazines. Sometimes I just have drawings that I can also copy from or cut out if I want to find the folder is also to be very practical. If I don't have enough trays for certain things that I might not use as regularly as the others. Where is my lectures and any girl faces or body parts? I keep them in these trays that I just use very often. And the last shelf down here, I have my pencil case that I travel with. So I just put in all my usual art supplies in there when I need to go somewhere or we'd like to go do it outside. And here are some nice wooden boxes I found that I again keep extras that I don't use all the time, but something fun like stamps. I haven't really bought these myself. Somebody gifted them to me and so I keep them. It could be a fun little addition to a page one day. Now if you want to go all out with your supplies and feel free to get yourself some stamps or other goodies. Maybe some washi tapes like here, some little buttons. Once in a while I've used these, but not even too much. Here's a little punch hole puncher to round off my edges. That could be fun as well. Some glitter again that somebody gave me. So I keep these and they'd come in handy maybe for Christmas pages or extra colorful pages. Back here I have the other side of the tree. Anyway, these are just additions if I want to add to my page, but not real necessities. And then we have my little crafts setup. I just have this cupboard behind my desk where I work and I take things out as I need them. It's very practical in handy, and also, I can easily put things back in place afterwards. 6. Make the Time: In this class, I'd like to delve a little bit into the aspect of making the time, finding the time for crafting. Because I feel that there's so many things that get in the way. We're all so busy. And it took me a little while to juggle and make the time, find the time for this creative time now, but I've found my key moments, my special place to get crafty, the best time of day to do it. There's no turning back. Now I've made it a habit. I think if you find something that you really love to do, then you won't have a difficult time finding the time to do it. And I did realize that I needed to say no to other things in order to say yes to this. So it's helpful to maybe ask yourself, what could you trim out of your day let go of in order to say yes to something else. So I listed a few things for myself that I wanted to let go of or stop doing in order to make time even just a few minutes of crafting every day, e.g. low stopped going through social media or Instagram, just keeping up with all my YouTube channels that I follow. Just letting go of that gave me 1015 20 min for crafting and I felt so much more satisfaction afterwards. So ask yourself, what is it that you can trim out, let go of stopped doing, say no to, in order to say yes to something you really want to do. They also realized that to be able to make this time count, it doesn't mean I have to do a whole page all in one go because that can be a little overwhelming and it can actually keep me from starting when I know that I don't have that time. I waited so long for the perfect moment, no distraction time, and it never came. So I decided I'm just going to get started with the few minutes that I do have. And that's how I stuck to it and made it a habit. Even just ten, 15 min a day. I added a little bit to my page every time I had a free moment because when we wait for long chunk of time, it just doesn't come. We're all busy human beings. We have our lives, we have our families, we have our jobs. So we just have to start with what we have, the time that we have. I also found that walking a certain time either before or after something that I'm already in the habit of really helped me. E.g. I. Was very faithful to journal every morning. I decided after every journal prompt, I would take a few minutes for my crafting. And it was so easy to build that habit because I started right after another habit that I already was really good at keeping. So you can try that if you want. Something else you could do is maybe bringing, if you have kids, maybe invite them to come and join you. We do that once in a while on a family weekly evening activity. My kids love to craft. So if I don't have time during the day or in my little morning journaling time than I am so happy to invite my kids along and we can all have fun doing it. Even if you have friends, you can also invite them and have them join you in your crafting project. That way your family times, your social times can also become your crafting times. So if you can just find ten, 15 min a day for crafting, you'll find that within a week you'll have one or two or three pages. Don't limit yourself to a big chunk of time. What helped me get started was I just told myself, I'm just going to break my craft page up into this small piece of the project at a time, e.g. the first day I just collected my materials, everything that I wanted to include on my page. The next day, I cut everything out. The day after I glued it all together, kind of made the design for my page. Another day, I chose all my little journal prompts and texts that I wanted to include in there. Another day I took time to journal to ask questions and to write the answers. And then another day I added all the pretty little last touches of decor with stickers or doodles or more cutouts. Creativity doesn't care how much time we have to work on it. I think it just matters that we do it and use whatever time we do have. One thing to that really works for me is finding that peak moment in my day, when is the best time to do my crafting. And then I try to stick to that every day. That same time helps to make it a routine, make it a practice or a little ritual. I also tried to find a place that I can leave, just like it is to be able to return to the next day. I don't always have to clean up all my art supplies because then it kind of keeps me from getting started the next day. So I know that I can put everything on my desk and cover it with a piece of paper or cardboard to keep it safe. Or I keep everything in a little tray, all my supplies that I've collected, and I can just go back to it the next day. It's not a big, messy, overwhelming space. Those might be just a few helpful points and trying in finding and making the time for your crafting. And I'll see you in the next class as we talk about the purpose. 7. Your Purpose: So in this course we're going to talk very shortly about the purpose. We've already talked about some of the benefits, which includes a lot of the Ys as we go through the process. I think it really depends on what I'm doing it for. What topic with theme, how I'm feeling, my mood, the setting, what I'm going through in the moment. Maybe some of the things that I'm studying or reading, how I'm evolving, even how I'm feeling physically. And as we go through this course, I'll show you how I personalize it for me, my ways of doing it, but I really wanted to be a time. You personalize it for you. What fits best into your life, your situation, your habits, your routines, your preferences, all that is so important and that's what makes it meaningful, purposeful, and mindful. So just as we did take the time to think about those benefits for crafting, for art, for creativity, for making the time and space at your little journal book or a piece of paper and jot down some of these questions for yourself. Why do you want to do this project, this craft page? What made you decide to take this course in the first place? What inspired you about it? What is your purpose, your why? What is your motivation to keep going to persevere, to finish your craft page or a craft book. What are you looking forward to in this project? Is it for relaxation, to unwind it for fun and play? Finding a new hobby or new ritual. For more mindfulness. For time to check-in, ask yourself questions, learn more about yourself. So you can get a few ideas from this course, from the benefits, from some of the things that I've mentioned about why I do it for me and then take some time to listen to your heart. What is your heart telling you about this time? Write it down and keep it right at the beginning of your book. Glue it onto the first page or add a little envelope and stick it right inside. That way it's always ready to refer back to as a gentle reminder why you did this project. So a way to help keep you inspired and motivated. So here's the time you would write yourself a little declaration letter or a permission slip, something like this one that I've made here. 8. Start Small, Start Simple: In this class, I'm just going to delve a little bit into how to start small and simple, because that's the way that we start anything. It's nothing heady or intellectual to me. If it gets too analytical, too complicated, it just kills my joy, kills my creativity. So I let all that go. I just want simplicity and fun. That's the reason for this crafting after all, something else that kills my creativity even before I get started is perfectionism. When I wait for the perfect moment or I'm afraid to get started because I don't have the perfect materials may be the perfect notebook or paper or size or the perfect quiet space. That perfection just keeps me blocked because I'm imagining the most perfect craft book. I'm afraid I won't level up to my expectations, so I don't start it at all. So when I get stuck that way, I find that I just need to create a random page or quote unquote, a tryout page. And I tell myself, okay, this is just an example. This is just a tryout. It's a practice run. It's not the real thing, it's not the end result. And that way I just whatever I want on the paper and in the end ends up being a beautiful page and I end up keeping it or adding it to my craft book. But I just kinda trick myself, tease myself into starting by telling myself, okay, it's not the real deal. I can just have fun and play around. Doesn't have to be perfect. And I just asked myself, what do I love? What lights me up? Is it nature scenes, creative objects, decorative houses, animals, beautiful faces, cute pets, cute kids, delicious food or meal, plants or flowers. And then I go there, I go in that direction. I find a picture that speaks to me. I find one of those. I think about one of those and I just go with it before I tried to think and analyze all the reasons not to do it, which leads me to the next class, which is finding inspiration for your craft page. So I'll see you in the next class. 9. Finding Inspiration: Welcome to this fun class on finding inspiration. I'm going to list here just a few things that I've found that work really well for me in finding inspiration for creating my craft page. Especially those moments when I feel a bit stuck or I don't know what to craft about. First thing I do is I sit with my cup of positivity and I don't forget that little piece of chocolate or something sweet as a special treat to myself. And I sit down, think about and imagine, what do I love? What do I want to craft about? What makes me happy as I enjoy sipping my cup of tea, then that t just makes me think of creativity and positivity. Another thing I might try is to step outside in nature. I go out to my garden, to my backyard, or to a nearby park, or if the weather doesn't permit it. I just opened the window, look outside for a few moments before just a breath of fresh air. Look at the flowers. I pause and listen to the birds, the bees are the whistling of the trees. Just a moment to get calm and to reset, especially to let go of what's blocking me. I might sit on the grass with the flowers and the trees, or I just close my eyes and think about something that I'm happy about, grateful for and still with my cup of tea. Every time I take a sip, I think of something that I'm thankful for. Another way I might get inspired is just to pick up a book and read a favorite quote. And that just seems to me up and I get an inspiration. Or I read a passage journal page, or I look at a past craft page. And that again lights me up, motivates me to do another one. And it just speaks to me. Sometimes I take a moment to pet my cat, just have a little cuddle time with her. She sits on my lap, she peppers and it gives me another little inspiration boost. Sometimes when I don't know what to do, don't know what to craft that I just made out all my art supplies and I just sit there and look at them for a minute until something comes to mind, just taking the time to be still and to listen. Sometimes that's when the ideas come. You're inviting your creativity, you're prepared for it, You're ready. Or I get all my papers. I put them all over the table, all my pictures and patterns and colored papers. And I just wait and wait and wait some more until a certain color or pattern calls out to me. Or I just think about a wish, something that lights me up one of my dreams and hopes for the future. And I might get a cool idea for craft page just by thinking about that. Another one is I like to look through my photos, sometimes on my phone or my computer. Photo could also give me an idea or inspiration of what I want to craft about. Or might bring a smile or laugh, which again brings an inspiration. Sometimes I pick out a magazine and I skim through it and a beautiful picture calls out to me. And I know, Hey, I want to include that in my craft page and that's the first thing I start with, and then everything seems to fall into place after that, basically, I just follow my intuition and let inspiration lead wherever it wants to take me on the craft page, would craft page, what topic with theme, what to include in it. What's subject would color scheme, what pattern, what art medium to use? Listen, listen to your heart. And it will be sure to tell you what it wants. You're giving it the space and the time. There's nothing better than to feel such joy and satisfaction from knowing that you're on the right track. Just get started. That's all I can say. Get Started. And you'll feel inspired. 10. Basic Design: So now that we're inspired, we're ready to design our page. Now that I have the general idea, maybe the topic or the theme, or maybe a certain color pattern or a pretty picture I wanted to include or quote, I have one thing to get started with and now we'll work towards putting it all together and designing that you'll notice it will all fall into place once you get your inspiration and get started. I have I can make it this way. It since I have a spread, I'm going to make it this way and I'm even going to fold it in half. That way. I can just sketch out a rough plan, a rough look of what I would like my peach to be like. So before I do the rough sketch, I might even make myself a list of what I want to include on this page. So my first thing, my main thing is my journal prompt. Since I'm doing this page on a specific theme for a specific project, and this is my main idea, main project, a journal prompt. Then I would like to include some magazine pictures or photographs. I would like to include a writing paper, space to journal. And to answer my prompt. For this one, I might like to include some flowers, flower designs here on this list. I might even add the colors I want to use. So I found one photograph and it has the color pink. So I'm going to make my page have lots of pink to tie long with that photo. And I might also include some blues. So I challenge myself to maybe one or two or three colors. Max. That way it's not too colorful, it stays within reason and it's a challenge. Then of course, taking into consideration also my style of the page and I make sure that all this ties along with it. And of course, ending with some de corps and that's already a done deal because I know that I will include plenty of the course. Anyway, these are the main things that I want to include for this particular project. Other projects I might need to include a title. I might need to include a textbox, a few textboxes, a few other spaces for journaling, maybe other pictures or other details, or maybe a specific object. Now I'm ready to sketch out a rough design. So here would be my spread. I know I have my little photograph pictures that I already got inspired with. Now if you don't have anything to start with, that's okay too. You can also draw out your design. I find that that's a first beginning, start to get an inspiration, but this could also be a part two of your project. As soon as you found a picture or if I'm a magazine or maybe a photograph that you'd like to use. Then I'm going to my main part of this page would be lined paper because it's for journaling. I might make a rip look. I'm just seeing how it looks, That's why it kind of helps. Otherwise, I could also draw straight. I like to add some big flowers to this design. A little one here. And here. I could add maybe my, my journal prompt. So did I include everything? I think so the de corps, I'm not going to bother too much yet because I'll add those anyways. Now for this side of the page, I like to follow the same pattern, but of course I'll have different pictures to work with. So maybe I want a bigger photograph instead of three little ones. It could even be in a pretty fancy picture frame for something different. Again, I'll have my ripped or straight journal paper, writing paper, lined paper, whatever you have and whatever you need. And maybe another picture here. Little blocks of text ear could be a different color. This time I have the flowers that my big flowers on this side. I could put my journal prompt either up here or down here. Anyway, that's some look, I could add, of course, the cores on the side and fill up the rest of my page with other things. If you know my designs, I love to add a little leaves and flowers too. Each of my pages. Then you can see what it would look like if you added a frame to some of your photograph. Anyway, I think I like this look. Then if you don't like it, you can just turn it around and make yourself a different sketch design. The reason I do this is just to have one general idea if I want to follow that, but I'm not limited to that. I stay very flexible with my ideas and inspirations because most of the time they actually just come as I cut out and as I glue, I don't really have to have this plan is more likely to help me remember all the things that I want to include on my page. Anyway, I'll look forward to seeing you in the next class. 11. Main Idea: Hello again. In this class, I'm going to show you how to get started with your topic, the main theme for your page. So I have here my, my sketchbook and I'm continuing with my project, which is journal prompts. So I have my spread that I'm working on. And the first thing for me, the most important thing is finding a picture that I want to use. I either go through a magazine and find a picture there. And I'm looking for something that fits the topic that I'm working on. So that's the, one of the biggest parts for me in starting my page, is finding that first right picture. Because I think once I have that picture, then everything else falls into place nicely because then I have the colors I know I can work with. So I have either magazines. I also have my basket full of pictures that I've collected. And something might spark an inspiration or follow, fits into the theme that I'm working on. So I have such a variety, so it's hard to choose. Sometimes it takes some decision-making which I'm not so good at. So I've got to really be in tune with my heart. What it leads me to do at the moment. Anyway, for this one I already had to work with. So I'm going to continue with that. And I'm also looking at the colors and taking back my little plan, my little basic design. You can see that I think they would look quite nicely here because I drew it out on the paper first. And that's what's nice about using a pencil because you can feel free to erase as you go, as you change your mind or think of a different plan, are just draw another sketch. So now I'm going to find a picture for this side. So I would like something that again, fits with the same color theme. I want to include a little pink. So I think I'm starting to get the idea. As I'm looking at the pictures and colors. Like I chose. Even hear my colors pink and blue. I might even add this one because it's got some blue in there. So I'm just going to see how it fits with my theme. And I'm not sure if I should include all of these or maybe just two of them. So play around. That's what's nice about it. Nothing is set in stone yet. Just let yourself play. This is the child that comes out to me because I might move things around all over four, lots of different ideas and it might help to cut them out at this point so you can make sure it all fits the right size and that way you know what else you have the space for on your page. All right. I think we'll leave it at that for now. We've got our pictures all chosen. That's a big accomplishments. Another point about this class is that this is the time to be very clear on your, the purpose for this page because that helps you to kind of choose the pictures as well. What's your theme, What's your topic? So mine, you might be able to guess very well. It's on self-care and wellness, emotional and physical. So that's why I like to add in photos of happy woman. It's obvious that they're taking care of their set, themselves, their skin. They're also making time to relax, which is what this one means for me or letting go of certain things that no longer serve them at the moment. Also, making time for emotional well-being, maybe some peace and calm meditation, exercise as well out in nature. So depending on your theme topic, again, if it's nature related, then you can add lots of different photographs. And if it's just to add certain words or maybe few quotes, then you can also be free to add many more photographs. This page is mainly for journal prompts for me. So that's why I'm leaving lots of room for other things on my page. And I think choosing my photos is also would kinda brings me the most meaning. And this is what I am most attracted to. I think it's what brings out the most contrasts with my white book and my photographs. To me, it's the most important thing because it's what my eye falls on. First, I see this part is like the base of my page and the rest comes without too much planning, too much effort, just inspiration. Once I get this part going, I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next class. 12. Backgrounds: So now that I have my pictures, I can choose some other background colors if I would like. Going back to my little example, something that I like to include on each page is a little bit of brown paper, old ground paper. I sort of count that as part of my background because it's behind the pictures. I might make it even part of a little frame for one of my pictures or on one side of the page. It's going to whip it. I'm going to do the same for the other side. And I tried out and see how it looks. So background could be either this sort of paper, could also be a darker piece of paper that I include two, heart of my page or my whole page. If I wanted one side of my page all brown, I could also do that. So that's the fun of it. You just try things out. Helps to make my picture stand out to this or even this one. Beyond a brown background. My background doesn't mean I have to cover my page fully. It's just a part of it. It's kinda like the first layer that I glue on my page. And I think it's important to, to help certain pictures are certain parts or details of my page to stand out. And for more contrast, e.g. this one is very light on my white, so I might give it more contrast and put it on a brown or black page like this, or that's when comes in. Some of these pages, patterned notebooks. This has some brown and pink, so that might look nice, or even this page is a nice color. So I think about what would look nice with my theme. I like the polka dots. I think I would go with either this or this because they blend so much together. And then I'll bring in some contrast with either brown or even something in black. I also found here at this picture frames. So I'm going to cut it out and see if it could be part of my background. Don't actually need this middle part. So I'm just cutting out the middle. I think for this page, I'm just going to choose this as my background, but feel free to try out some of these other ideas that we talked about, whether it'd be some brown paper or black, another patterned. So I think part of my background for this page for this project is going to be my letter paper because that's going to take up most of my page. So I'm going to try out the few that I have. I have here a yellow line paper. I could either put it on top or underneath or I can cut it straight. So because I have this ripped, I might even just go with this one straight. I'm sure yet. And I have some other options of papers with lines. I like to include lines to this one since it will be at four journal prompt, I find it easier to write on the line. So for now I'm just going to cut it. I'm not going to get so detailed yet. I'm just choosing my items. So I might go with the square. Look. Again, lots of decision-making here. I do like the ribs looked for my journal papers. And since I need two of them, I'm just going to whip them right in the middle. And then on each side, be flexible as you go. As you'll notice, when I create my pages, I have lots of times where I just changed my mind. And I'm going to go with the ripped, look for both of them. Since it's a spread, even though it's two different questions, maybe two different things that way it just blends nicely together. And yes, I'm going to actually change my mind again. I'm going to keep these for another page because I feel that it's too much straight lines if I do those as well. So instead, I like the contrast of this brown. Why is my page is just a little bit too bland. I like the brown that comes out from the skin and the shoes. And I'm going to use a corner pieces from here. And here I'm going to try another corner piece on the other page. I can either put it on the bottom or on the top. Another idea, I might even use this paper as a background or as a frame for my writing paper. Either way, if one doesn't work for this page, I use it for another page, so it's not wasted. Sometimes I get too many ideas and too many inspirations at once. But I don't mind trying them out because I'll use them for another time. So here I'm bringing the brown here, I don't mind something different on one side. I'm going to even choose the same brown. Alright, I think we finally, I finally have decided about my background and I'm ready to move on to the next part, which is our pockets and flaps. See you there. 13. Pockets and Flaps: Hello again, Welcome to another class of our crafting together. So in this one, I'd like to show you different ideas that I like to use for making pockets and flaps. So if you go through my craft books, you'll probably see lots of different types. This one is just the flap opening to a flower shape. And other times it's little books like a little accordion books like this. Other times I like to use an envelope where I make my own. This is just a cardboard and I drew it as if it were an envelope and I just added some papers in it. So if you don't mind your journal book being very thick like this, then all the more pockets, flaps, envelopes, books, little booklets. To me, it's all the more fun. E.g. this page, I just made a little book open, just one page like that. But for each letter that I cut out, each one with a different paper pattern. So this was loads of fun, but it really depends on the journal that you're making. Other times I've made a little book taking the shape of my picture. I've made a little flaps that can actually you can change the year. So I just put a see-through pockets and taped it here. Again, made this envelope as its own pockets and added little books and then another book inside it. So really the ideas are endless. I made this little sticker into a pocket for this little book. And then to open this, you need to take this one out and open this. And then in here I have another one which I just ripped out of paper to make as another pockets. Here's a little just paper that opens up so I can journal something else. Here's another one underneath. So to me, the more the merrier, but just be ready to have lots of thick, heavy books at the end. That's why for this one, I've already included it on one page and not unto. You can go wild and crazy even make a little wheel with a paper fast Center under here. Again, little notebooks, little flaps that open into little notebooks. What else? Sometimes I forget that I have these little flaps underneath. When I made myself a little balloon with different colors that I liked. Here, I've loaded this little flap here with tons of more pictures. It's all about colors, how they brighten up my days and what I love about each color. Again, an opening to a book inside another flap. And even here comes out as secret one. So these are just a few ideas. Sometimes I use a book with a paper lined paper. Other times it's just a photograph. Another old paper with the photograph. So here are some other secret ones that I just cut into the photograph and underneath I glued up papers so I could journal into it. Nobody would be able to tell except me that it actually opens. Then even behind that I have another little booklet again. Every time I needed to add something, I've just added it to my little paper fastener here. I find that very practical to long as you don't mind a little bump there for the fastener. Alright, so here's one idea for your flaps and pockets. Actually lots of them, lots of ideas. You can even make some cutout ones like this one. Or I like to use little tags, gift tags, and I can slide them in and out of an envelope or made-up pocket. Here I cut a little card and I just glued on the sides and use it again as a pocket. Some other ideas. S1 again, I use the flower petal idea and here's a secret pockets in a way. Here's a little wheel, which could also be a fun little addition. Here I glued these flowers, just said the edge with a piece of masking tape actually to make it really easy for myself. Here I use some of my own photographs or pockets. And again, instead of this one opening, it just slides in and out. This one has quite a few ins and outs pockets. Again, this one opens up into a page. This one has a little leaf sticking out, which actually comes out into a page as well. It gets this little basket picture and I left the top open to include one. Envelopes also come in really handy. Envelopes are really easy to make. You can also find templates. That's when I found a template and I just traced it on this pretty wrapping paper. Sometimes even just a note pad paper like that. And it doesn't look like anything, but it opens it up into more text. So I just like all these hidden pockets for texts, anything I can add to. And that's why I like these books, these smaller books because you don't have to worry too much about adding lots of pockets because it's only a twelv pager. So then I don't have to feel bad about adding lots and lots of pockets and openings. And so this one is a personal growth journal book. So that's another reason I've added an included so many pockets for myself so that all the different aspects of my life. So again here, space to journal, and behind here is another pocket, another envelope. So you see it's the basic ideas of using little rip out to make its pockets and I just glue the edges so that I can easily slip something in. Sometimes I'll hide one behind the photograph that I've cut out. And I'll add the corner to a flower and then you can't even tell that it's a little pocket. Sometimes I'll add in lots of text and not just on my little book, but also behind it. Alright, so I think that covers the main ideas of using pockets and envelopes. And you have fun, you have, I'm creating any and all the ones that you want. You could either, you could also even find some little pre-made pockets like this and have a whole little collection of them, especially some things that you would want to add into your book or journal that are a bit more personal. That's why I don't mind putting them into a pocket or into just a closed area. Shi this one even has a secret one here. I've made this whole strip here to be a pockets. That way I can add anything in this little house comes out as well. Also use your little stickers or objects or photographs to make it hidden pocket. And the last one I want to show you is a fun hidden one could also be something that you use part of a text or part of your title. And you actually make it as a hidden pocket. So I've used my D for definition for one of my pages. I've made a little bag and I've made the bag be a little pocket, its own pockets. Can this one I've made the little booklet with some pockets. I've just added a pretty little tag to my papers. Can hear this one comes out of the word. Here's just an envelope and I've added a pretty color paper to the back of it just for added design. And then I've taken the same paper and added it down here. Here I've cut out part of the picture, just looks like a circle, but I've actually cut part of it out and included a piece of paper in the back. Here, the U, again, the letter comes out like this little accordion books, which is behind the picture. I've just left out a little part without glue here and you can easily slip something in and out. More space. For those personal words to yourself. Just use this photograph has an envelope pocket, and here I've just cut some pictures and the TV actually just slides in and out like that. You don't even have to glue it down if you don't want to hear again, the S comes out. Well, I hope you enjoy those little ideas of pockets and ways to add in some secret nodes and fun journaling prompts. See you in the next class. 14. Letter Cutouts: Now I'm going to show you a few ideas of how I add some lecture titles. So all I do basically is just go back to my magazine and I'll look up some font lettering, of course, for the letters that I need to use. And I'll just cut them out as I find them. For the project that I'm doing, I'm going to spell the word self-care. And even though I see some other lectures that I would need the c, the a, and the E. I'm just going to choose one from this font. That way I can choose another color or another style. I like to add variety different colors, although I find the L here. So maybe instead of using this L, I'll use this one. And then I can just get my a from this one. So I just pick and choose what I find by half a basket where I keep all my extra letters and I can even find some I need from here too, if I don't have my magazine or sometimes it's just more practical to go through my basket of all these already cut out titles. So e.g. I'm just going to take this E here. And already just with my basket I have loads to work with. But for the video, I'm going to stick with using the magazine. So again, you look for different styles. This one I'm not so into because it has picture background and thus I want one of these here, otherwise it won't stand out enough. I make sure that there's nothing on the other side that I really want to keep and use. I'd like this one because it has a black. Again that's going to stand out from the others because it's got a black background. Instead, I'll go through my magazine and cut out the letters that I need as I go. And at the same time I'll take my page along because I want to make sure that it fits the size, even the style. Sometimes this style of font can make all the difference for your page, whether it fits along or whether it clashes. So I make sure to pay attention to that as well. You wouldn't want one that is too big to fit on your page. So of course it depends where I'm going to add my question. Let's see back to my design page, but design sketch. I was going to have it here. Anyway. I'll choose my letters and then I can always move them around afterwards. This for now is just for the size. Here's another E. So I can even switch them around. I like ending with a smaller letter. I might put that one there. Oh, I like that. There's a pink one there. So actually, if there's a word like this that I could use, I'm even going to that out and keep the whole word. This is a French magazine. But since I'm French and I speak French, it's okay. So as I go, if I find words that I would like to use in one of my pages and even if it's not this book, I'll take it and I'll keep it in my collection. We're actually, which is what I found. I found myself a word which I might include here as well. And it's, takes the colors nicely, especially this pink. And I also use a letter sometimes to cover up some other things that I don't want to keep e.g. the texts on this picture. As you can see, there's some texts there. So instead of cutting it out, I can just hide it with some text, moving on and finding more lectures. So in my basket because I have such a wide collection that since a few months of collecting old magazines, I like the fact that there's so much variety, some even really old letters from the sixties. And I like the brown look. I have an a here, but I already have an a next to a black sea, so I won't use that. Wants some that are kind of the same size. If you want. You can also switch, as you saw some of mine, I have here an R. I liked this big R. It's kind of cool. I could use a thin font here. This time. I find it really thin, skinny F will fit. Again, a really old paper one. You cut out what you like, what you want. I think I'm going to use this E here that way brings out the pink on this side of my page as well as on this side, this one I will use somewhere here. And this one here, we'll see how it goes. Alright? We have it. The main thing about choosing your lectures, I would say, is to just use a variety of colors, shapes, fonts, styles if you wanted that or make them all the same. So if you find all your letters in here, it can also look beautiful, fitting them, matching them all the same. So sometimes I've just printed out my titles and that's another option too. If you want, either with a cursive font and you cut it out really close to the letters or you leave it in bold. But most of the time I've used cutouts sometimes all in one color. Here's a real crazy idea. You can cut them out yourself from your own paper. Again, sometimes on a black background, sometimes I've just written them out. So there's really no specific right or wrong way to do it. Sometimes I just use one letter and then Right the rest of it here as well. These ones I've went really bold and huge, as well as this one taking up the whole page and then including some little fun additions leading a bright color to stand out. And this one I didn't find a T that I liked, so I just cut it out from a piece of colored paper. Again, this one comes out as an opening, as a flap is when two. Also I take the colors that fit onto my page. That's another little tip for you. Take those same colors. So I brought, I have orange and greens here. So black and white and browns of course go with all of them. Actually, my whole title here is a little pocket, little book. Besides the last one. That way I know where to place it. Anyway, those are fun little ideas. Maybe. Here I've used some little stamp letters. So that could be fun too, either as one word or as each letter and it's not perfect. It's got the little extra stamp bits there. But to me that's part of the crafting work. Alright, I hope that helps and finding little inspiration and ideas and some tips for your titles. 15. Artsy Additions: Welcome to this class on artsy additions. So I have my page here with the minimum, I have my photographs that I've chosen. I have my journaling paper on this side as well. And this is really the fun part for me. I'm going to find and add in a few little decorations to maybe give some style and some beauty to my page. So for that, I often go through my stickers, see if there's anything that could fit in with my theme for one, with the theme of this girl in a bathing suit. So I found these that are a bit more summary and I also tried something else that I keep in mind when I find my additions to add to my page is something also similar in color. Kind of chose blues and beige skin color, little pink tone. And of course I added some black for contrast, and I like this blue as well for contrast. So I could add any color that I want. Really depends if you want your page to be very colorful or if you want to stick to just a few colors and kind of challenge yourself that way, which is what I'd like to do very often. So I picked out a few pages that had those colors. I just take it and sometimes they're already low cut things or sometimes they're just from my basket of extra cutouts that I've printed out. Here is also something that I cut from a magazine. So I thought that maybe it would fit in with this page. I like having a little bit of greenery on my page as well. So this is a sticker and another cutout leaf I've collected from little bit of what I've had now continue to look. This is also in the same theme for me, and also colored tones. This could be a cute little addition. So next come some decision-making. I also like using either some tape or something like this or even some papers. So I'm going to look through any tapes that I have that could fit the same colors. For this page. I think I'm just going to try out these two. I look at my page and I kinda see what can fit. Of course, I'd like to fit in a lot of things, but realistically what can fit so that I can still have space for some writing. So I kinda play around now that I've chosen my colors and shapes and pictures of all these little artsy additions. I think it just brings out the beauty and the pictures even more. I love adding some green, kind of blend the two pages together as a spread, even though they're two separate pages, I kind of take them as one because you open it up and you see them together by could add a bit of green here, I have some green here. I like this butterfly and it goes along with my theme of free and playful. Some of them I cut out and others I just use stickers. If you have stickers, It's very handy. But if not, then you find something on internet and you print it out yourself. And I find that to be very practical as well, mostly because I can choose the size that I wanted. So if I have a little bit of green here, I could put the butterfly on this side, or this is lots of decision-making and also fun play for me a few little stars. So I start with the bigger objects first, I like this little quote, enjoy every moment. It kind of goes with the theme. And I like this little radio as it, It's got the color tones that I need and also I think fits in the BCCI vibes. So before I glue anything down, but I just place them where I feel they could fit nicely. So I think I'm going to start putting things in place already. Here's a big sticker and I'm just going to cut part of it. I often use little pictures as well to cover something that I don't want. E.g. in this instance, there is an extra something there. So I'm going to cover that up. Maybe I'll add these little stars over here. I put it, I like to give it a 3D look. So I kinda fold the two wings and then just put glue on this part. Well, so many options, I'm not sure where to put it. Just let your intuition lead. When you don't know what to do, then you can see if you have anything else that you want to fill up your page with. You could add a little bit more lined paper for writing. I like to use wrapping paper. Sometimes these come in handy when I just want to cut out a little piece and fill up my page with it. These are nice and bring some contrast. Besides stickers, I also have some colored paper like this with a pattern. If you just want to add a little rip look as if it were a little piece tape. That could also be pretty like if I wanted to add a little piece here, I keep little leftovers from cards or papers and some of these things also come in handy for my extra artsy additions. Just give a little color and pattern to your page. So if you don't have stickers, then save all those little scraps of paper, they'll come in handy one day. I also like using these kinds of papers and they also have patterns here that are easy, practical to cut if you want a little piece. Sometimes I even cut out these flowers and use them singularly to add to my page. Or there's these little cards for birthday, but I find these also very useful and handy. Again, these are nice for cutouts and adding two. I also have this one that has tons of little bit see papers or pictures, all kinds of styles, all kinds of pictures. I never know when they would come in handy. So I keep them into this little box. I know I can always take a look at this. Even a little piece like this sometimes could be the perfect color, perfect addition to my page. Sometimes parts of cards, I don't want to get rid of them, so I cut it out. Anyway, those are a few ideas. This is also when some stamps come in handy. If you have some texts you would like to include. I have these little lectures. I have these letters as well. And then some ink or have these little tags, stamps. These could be cute. I use these quite often, even if I wanted to add just a little title. So I just place it on here. Then I'll put my income. And sometimes I'll just put it on a piece of paper. Because that way, in case I make a mistake or smudges somewhere, I can always start again. So that's just a little trick I found. And then I just cut it out. That way you can even make it a little bit 3D. You don't even have to glue it flat down. You can always add a little depth to it. Here for some artsy addition, I've added a piece of lace behind my picture here of cut out some flowers. I've added a wheel and put a little animals on top just for fun. I've added some stickers here, sticker of a pen showing the letter writing. Even added just a little corner piece taking the same pattern from the envelope. If I look back on some of my pages, you can tell that I've added flowers and leaves, maybe something related to my theme here. Even a little sticker with some words here you can tell I've added my color pattern page, another sticker. So all that kind of ties in with filling up and beautifying my page, those little beautiful additions, stickers. And again, taking those same colors from my photograph, which I've added here as if it were pieces of tape and the leaves taking from the orange and the browns. Sometimes I've added black and white ones that I've drawn and cut out. Here's some extra little pictures that I cut out from a wrapping paper. Even this color paper was from a magazine. It was a background of a magazine. So just so you can see that you can use anything and everything that you have. 16. Final Decor Touches: Now moving on to some final decor touches. So sometimes I like to add in a black line around it and kinda follow the pattern of the paper. So it's a ripped look. Either you can make a straight line right in the center. But this time I'm doing it on the outside. If you have different size pens, you can play around with that. I'm going to add a double line with a thinner pen. I'm going to leave this one blank and maybe outline at this one on this page just for variety. So some are ribbed and I'm just going to play around and basically I'm just outlining my lined paper, whatever it is, wherever it ends, even wherever it rips. Here, I can draw over the sticker wherever my page would end. I could also make an outline on the black around the black. That way you can tell it's giving a little outline to it. And here's fun to do with the white. So I'm going to add another one on the inside and white. That way I'm creating even more depth. Now you can play around and add in your own style, your own art. That's why I call this final touches, because you decide what that is for you. If you know me, I love to add flowers and leaves inside, inside the black, it looks nice to add in some white like that. Then often where I have some stickers or cutouts or magazines of flowers and Ds. I like to continue with that and add my own. Depending on the page, I'll make different types of lease, but I generally go with very similar ones. So as you can see, it just really fills it up. And here's a flower. So I might add a second, something to maybe a leaf or two. I tell myself If there's one leaf than or one flower, then there has to be more. Here. I can add some more as well. So I tried to do the same style of drawing or leaves within the same page spread. And I can also take it further, maybe add some here. Basically, I'm trying to fill up all the little blank spots. But still of course, leaving some room for breathing room. Sometimes I like drawing over the photograph to doesn't bother me. I think that's all I'll do on this page. I still like to leave some spaces clear and blank. But as you can see, at times, I've drawn flowers. More leaves. Stick with the same type of leaves. Here for my final de corps touches, I've added some white leaves than it really stands nicely on the black. Here again, I've added the white on the brown, which also looks beautiful. You can even do different patterns here. I've added some leaves just to go along with the theme of freedom. Black and white ones and little lines going all over the place following the butterfly. Here again, some little dots and leaves, again flying in the air and even some texts. Looks like extra decor touches. Here I've added a little doodles of food to go along with this page. So as you can see, just whatever fits in with your theme and mood. Even sometimes I like to draw extra details that are not on the photograph. You can add to that as well. That'll hearts coming out. Here. I've added some roses and leaves, these ones as well. Here I've even added some colorful ones. We don't always have to stick with just black and white. And I've even added a little polka dots together like that. And these flowers that I just drew and then painted here, I've made a little compass, some little raise, more leaves to add to my cutouts. Here again, I've added even texts with white end outlined. Black, even little sayings and speech bubbles looks cute. Some big ones here, some thick art, different types of art. And these here are even different patterns, something like this could be pretty as well, or some decor like that. So as you can see, you play around with lots of doodling and de corps. That's where you can play and experiment with your little designs and art. I have a variety of leaves here. Here I've kind of added to the picture that I originally had, again, drawing the leaves of the flowers. Flowers here. These, I've made some extra big flowers. I've even used stamps for my final little details. You can do that too. Again, drawing some big flowers to add to these flowers and some on the black. I find that even the gel pen works nicely on the photographs. I just found these on Amazon. And you can also mix the black and the white. If you just learn some very simple leaves, you can add your own beautiful little extra touches like this. There's a few that I'm comfortable with and that I enjoyed drawing and I just do those over and over again. I don't find that you have to have a whole repertoire of fancy leaves and flowers to be able to do these. Just do a few that you're comfortable with, that you do well, that's all there is to it. That's all that you need. Sometimes I like adding one type of leaf in one color and then another type in another color could be pretty sure I'm doing my little leaves and white. 17. Journal Prompts: So in this class we're going to talk about are journaling time, journal prompts where we check in. This is really where the value and most meaning comes from these craft pages. At least this is what I find for me. My whole creative process, my whole crafting. This page leads up to this special moment. It's like the cherry on top of the cake. This is a time to curious to ask questions about yourself, to yourself. So most of the time I think about the questions that I'd like to ask myself. Maybe after reading something or something comes to mind or listening to a podcast or I hear from somebody else, from a friend. And it makes me think about, Hey, how do I see that? What do I think about it? How would I want that? So there's so many questions once I start asking myself questions, sometimes there's no end to it. It's not that I get analytical or intellectual in any way because these are really heartfelt questions. So don't worry about getting all heady when you ask yourself questions. Asking ourselves questions is part of learning, part of growing, and that's what I keep telling myself, reminding myself this is finally being able to express myself and my heart speak. Because I think a lot of my youth as a team, as a young adult, I grew up keeping all my emotions in just thinking that my voice, my feelings weren't important, weren't valued. I think there's a time in life when we realize that we are important. Asking myself questions, getting curious is one of the ways that I treat myself to self-care, self-love and compassion's I'm taking the time to ask myself how I feel about something or what I feel about it. Do I want to do it? And I think there's so many journal prompts that you can find online if you don't know what to ask herself. And I've even created some YouTube videos of some of my journal prompts, some of my craft pages, if you would like to get inspired, are some ideas you can watch them there. And I've listed a journal prompts for you if you'd like to ask yourself those questions on different topics, different themes, just as a starting point and then you can go deeper. You can ask yourself different questions. You might want to word it differently so that it speaks to you personally, to your own situation. And that's what I use. All of those fun flouts and envelopes and little notebooks, little pages, little extra papers that I slip in and out on my craft page. That's where I love to Journal. Sometimes they're hidden and just for me personally, other times they're just peeking out, waiting for me to just open it and find the secret treasure. So some of these questions and journaling prompts, sometimes I typed them up because I know they might be a little bit long-winded and I can fit more when I type it up and print it out. Other times I'll use my handwriting for variety. And I like to use both the way it kind of makes my page look even more artsy. And the great thing about these pages is that there's always room to add to it. If there's an envelope, you can just include another piece of paper if it's a little flap or pocket. Again, I can include another piece of paper or I can switch it out and change it around, which means there's always room to evolve and expand that I do go back to them very often and sometimes I think of new things I want to include or new questions for myself as I go deeper or as I experience new things in my life. And that's the wonderful thing about it. You get to personalize it for you at the time, at the moment, and enjoying every bit of it and making the most of this craft project. Once I'm done my craft page, then the next day I take my little morning journal time to go to that page and answer those questions or include those questions, and then listen to my heart for the answers. That's when you need a time to stop, to be quiet, to be all by yourself without distractions. Sometimes I noticed that the crafting can be a little bit more scattered around. You might have kids in the background or kids in the same room, or you might do a craft page with them, but then you're special time would be this journaling moment. This needs to be yours solo time, you rendezvous, heart expression time just for you. And I think that this journaling part is how you'll get the most out of this crafting project. 18. Notebook Covers: In this class, I'm going to show you how I designed some covers for my books. I like to use wallpapers, so I have a few samples here. Flowery 11 with some tags. They're just beautiful patterns and it's something easy to find and paint shops, wallpaper shops, and I like that. They're very strong and sturdy and they're also very flexible. So you can find these and either paint shops or wallpaper shops. And you will also need some glue. I have textile glue or just regular white glue. Will do. You just want something stronger than a stick glue? Then of course you'll use your trusty scissors. So let's get started. I have my notebook that I want to cover. And I've already sort of cut it to size. I like to have 1 cm or at least half a central media are larger than my book, just in case it goes off a little, sometimes it goes a bit crooked and that way I have some space. And I'm just going to trim off the edge here. As I know, I won't need all that space. Again, just half a centimeter. So I put it on this way. And I placed my book on top. I make sure the size is correct. Again, I open to the first page. Yeah. It makes sure that it's even on both sides and on the top and the bottom. Then I get my glue and I'm going to dab glue all over the sides, the edges of my notebook. I start with one side at a time, and then I work my way in the middle as well because I don't want air bubbles are some spots to be a little bit more bumpy than others. So I make sure to put glue all over and then I'll gently fold the cover on top and just push down the sides. Now here is when you want to make sure that it's straight with this glue because it's liquid. You have some time to just move it into place, which is great. Again, makes sure all my sides are well glued down. Here. There's always a little bit of extra glue that comes out. That's okay. I just wipe it with my finger and then I place it onto the other side of the cover because on the glue there anyways, that makes sure to take it all off so that it doesn't glue onto my pages. Now we're ready to do exactly the same thing on the other side. This side, I'm just making sure that the written edge of the book also has some glue there. And then I just added all over the back. And once again, I folded onto my notebook. Here. I like to tighten it so I use my finger there to push it. At the same time, padding it down into place. This wallpaper is almost like cloth feeling, so it's really nice. You can choose the type that you like. Here again, you take off the extra glue. Sure, the middle part is all very sturdy and strong. Then we're ready to do a little trimming. So I just follow the sides of my book and I like to leave maybe one or 2 mm on the edge that way it's just a little extra edge on my book and you don't see any papers coming out. You can just use regular scissors for this point. And because my corners are a little curved, I'm going to follow that curve as I cut. For now. Make sure my each side is well and there's no more glue sticking out. And also I check to make sure every page comes easily and there's no glue stuck on any of them. Now would be the time to verify that for my title, I print something out or you can just write it on regular paper. I've printed a few options here because I'm covering a few books at a time. I'm just going to pick one for this particular book. And I draw a little rectangle box around it to make sure that I cut it straight. And then I'm just going to cut that out. I like that it's white and will stand out really boldly onto my wallpaper cover. And I use white paper, you can use cardboard, you can use any other color that you want. Oops, I noticed that it's a little bit too large for my liking, so I'm going to trim it to the right size. Again, I like a little bit more edge on each side. So I'm going to trim it some more. Even if I have to cut into the texts like that, I don't mind. Brings out a little 3D look and I'll do that on both sides. There we go. I think I like that size. I'm going to again use my white glue because as you'll notice, if you try, the stick glue won't stick very well onto the wallpaper. You might see some bubbles to start off with, but eventually they'll even out as with these ones. So here's some other samples of other color paper patterns I've used and other books I've already covered. And as you can see, I've even added little extra pieces of de corps, some scraps, some cutouts, some stickers, even little ripped. I'm old notebooks. And this is just to show you the variety that you can do, whatever you would like. Since these are craft books, I added a little bit of Kraft designs to the cover as well and even made a 3D pop out for the butterfly. So these are a few options and I hope that you enjoy and that you will find ways that will work for you. 19. How and When to Use: Hi again. In this class, I'm going to share with you a few ways that I use and refer back to my craft journals just to give you a few ideas, if you would like. So when do I refer back to my journals? Often during my Wyatt morning times, I go outside, I take a cup of coffee or a cup of positivity and I meditate on a page. I just go back to it. I take out all the little flaps, all the little journal prompts and questions and I read them out again. And I just let myself go back to that page, go back to that moment. And it fills me with joy and inspiration. Usually there is a piece of wisdom that I can gain for my day to motivate me forward. Or sometimes just before going to bed, I opened my book. I read over a page because I've left out a few spaces to add to it. Then sometimes I get inspired to add another question or to add another answer, a different answer, or during my mid-day coffee break, That's another time. I like to just sit with a craft page in front of me. So it's not big chunks of time that I need. It might just take 2 min, but at least I'll go back to it and it brings me a little piece of joy all over again. I'm reminded of why I created the page, how I did it, why I included those questions and journal prompts. Listen and reflect on how they might speak to me today. And because we made it beautiful and artsy, it just invites me, it calls out to me, along with all those little secret pockets. Sometimes I forget that I have included a little piece of paper hidden behind something. Sometimes I'll just open the book in order and put a bookmark so that the next time I can just go to the next page and it just seems to lead me to the right page for the day and what my heart can use at that moment. Another way I like to use it as when I read a really good quote or when I get an inspiration, I go to one of those pages on the topic of that quote, and I'll quote inside it because I want to remember it at a future date. There again, don't be afraid to add to it. That's the wonder of these books. There's always another pocket and other paper that you can add to it. And when I want a quiet little moment, I don't have an audio book with me or a meditation with me. I use my books as meditative. It will bring you so much meaning because it's all from you. I get inspired, I get calmed and peace when I listened to other people's guided meditations. For me personally, I would think back, I was like, Whoa, I wrote that and I'm all shocked and amazed because really that's your heart speaking to you. That's where you find the most wisdom, the biggest treasure. It's like a piece of magic when you can be touched and inspired and enlightened with it. So do go back to those pages. You'll not only remind yourself how beautiful they are, you'll thank yourself for taking the time to do it, the experience that brought you, but also the gift of giving yourself this wisdom over and over again. 20. Final Thoughts: Here we are with our final class. Just some final thoughts here, just a few questions and I love to ask myself when I go back to these craft pages, How did it feel making it? How does it make me feel? Going back to it later as I look over it again, how have I changed or evolved since creating this page? Do I think differently about that subject now, what have I learned or discovered about myself since I created that page? So just to sum it up in three small steps by process. And going back to these pages, I notice, I notice, where do I see? What do I love about it? How do the colors speak to me? I wonder, are there any other questions that you can think of now at this time, looking over that page, if I see some of the pages and I'm like, Oh, I could delve even deeper into that topic. I could ask myself another question that would trigger even more questions. Get curious, leave yourself open. I find that when I leave myself open, there are even more joys and more opportunities in each page. Each page becomes a new opportunity for more possibilities. And three, It reminds me of dot, dot, dot. So you get to fill that out. Maybe you can go back to the time you created it, the reason you created it, or some recent experience that confirms that for you or solidifies that for you. So once again, I notice, I wonder it reminds me of, and that's it for our crafting course. Life is, which is better when you crafted. Thank you for joining me and I hope that you had as much fun, joy and fulfillment and satisfaction in this course as I did in sharing it with you, all my passions and creations for these craft pages. See you maybe in one of my other courses.