Sparkle With Love: Online Journal Class

I am so excited to announce my NEWEST online art journal class, "Sparkle With Love."

I have had numerous emails from people asking me to host another class and with life finally slowing down, I am ready!!

Here is the scoop:

     Join us for a 30 Day journal challenge jam packed with creative prompts, techniques,    giveaways, chats, and of course an amazing community of online friends :)

This class will start October 1 and continue on until the 30th. 

There will be a new prompt/challenge each day.  I'm so excited!!

Once you purchase your class spot, the class login information will be emailed to you within 72 hours. This class will be hosted on a private blog.

Would you like a peek into some of my past journals??  Click here

Here are some sweet testimonials you can read from past classmates :)

"I look forward to each prompt like Christmas morning!"
I love you Janel !!
xoxox cuppy

"I was eager to check the class page each morning, wondering what today's prompt would bring.  They all made me think throughout the day.  I loved coming home and getting all those thoughts onto paper. Thanks Janel."

"This was a great class, and I'm so glad I decided to take it.  And I love knowing that I got to do something I enjoy and got to help bring Amelia home at the same time."

"The best way to get to know your inner artist, I have learned so much about myself in this class!"

 "Ive never done an online class before but after taking yours, I will do more in the future.  I loved it! No pressure to get it done by a certain time, that it'll be judged etc - just a class to express yourself and challenge your creativity."

"This was a great experience and I loved how interactive it was with both classmates and students. The journal topics were fresh and insightful (along with inspirational) I feel like I learned a lot and I can't wait for you to do another similar class Janel!!!"

 "janel is an art teacher by profession with an artistic soul and heart. she is encouraging and inspiring without being critical. taking one of her classes is an affordable way to do something positive for someone else and yourself. there is no wrong way to express your art. simply by beginning you may start to think or see things in a new way, and or push yourself further artistically. meeting and interacting with new friends you many never have known before the class is also a fun bonus"

 "I found it very therapeutic to journal each day, it challenged my creativity and it was nice being able to share and look at what other students had done through the flickr group. My classmates were so encouraging and the prompts were relevant and helpful to personal growth. Thank-you! xo"

"I really enjoyed Janel's Journal Class. Not only was this a fun class for me and for others, but it was for a good cause. I am happy I was able to play a small part into getting Amelia home to Janel and Adam. I got a little behind in the class, but I feel as if the class is just extended for me :) I made new friends in the chats and got to reconnect with old ones." 

I really hope that you will join me in journaling my way through my favorite season :) 

Again, I love these classes and I cherish all of the friendships that I have made through them.

Will I see you there?

I hope so.

I will only be taking a limited number of classmates for this class so grab your spot  before they are gone!!

Yay!!!

xo

janel

"Sparkle With Love"

$25.00

3rd Annual: 30 Day Journal Challenge

The 30 Day Journal Challenge is BACK

 and seriously

I am sooooo excited!!!!

It looks like many of you want to do the 30 day journal challenge along with me and that makes me soooo happy!!

This challenge will begin June 1 and take us all the way to the end of the month.

30 Days of prompts and journaling :)

Here is the skinny on how this will work:

* I will post the prompt and my journal page each morning (before 10:00 am cst)

* I will be posting all of these here, on my blog for everyone to see :)

* My pages are going to strictly be pen and paper but I want you to feel creatively free to add in whatever you want :)

* Run with Scissors has a Flickr group where we can all share our pages right here. Join it now!  There are soooo many inspiring pages from challenges past that you can check out!

* I also would love for you to post your pages on your blog as well with a link in the comments so that we can check them out as soon as they are posted!!

* Some people asked about supplies and prefrences. Here are my personal picks:

My very favorite pen, that I have used in my journals, since college, are the Papermate flair felt tip pens. These pens come in a varitey of colors:

You can use them all, or you can choose your signature color :) I am pretty boring I guess because my signature color is always black.

And for journals, I seriously have no preference.  I have tried out so many different types of journals this year and I have realized that I pretty much love them all :)

I'm a fan of thicker pages so I tend to  buy watercolor journals lately .

I'm stoked!

Here is a little snippet of my pages from the past to give you a taste of what you are in for this summer :)

Eeek! 

I am really excited about this little adventure that we will be taking together!!

The first prompt will be going live June 1:) Be there or be square.

Love you.

xo

janel

Leave me a comment if you are in!!!  

  Spread the word, get your supplies, and be ready :)

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

the present.

Last year, my friend Katie posted her Christmas gift to her husband.

  I was so inspired!!  I knew that this was something that I wanted to do for Adam.

I immediately hopped on etsy and ordered a HUGE handmade journal.

The concept was this, I would write love letters to Adam all year from January 1, 2011 all the way until Christmas 2011.  I literally carried the book around with me EVERYWHERE.  Which is crazy because after I gave it to Adam, he said he had never seen it before.

I guess I was sneakier than I thought :)

I tried to document as much as possible.  I taped in ticket stubs, movie stubs, tons of photos, cards, postcards, and  I even made a couple of mixed CD's throughout the year and a couple of DVD's too.  

Here is a little sampling...

I tried to make sure that I wrote at least once a week but a lot of times I wrote even more than that.  It was addicting :)

Adam says it's the best present he has ever gotten.  He loves handmade gifts and I can tell that it really meant a lot to him. He read the whole thing, cover to cover, in a couple of hours.  It was awesome.

2011 was a wonderful year full of milestones for us, especially with our adoption.  I loved documenting it, I loved being sneaky.  

I will admit at the beginning I wasn't sure that I would stick with it, but I did, and I loved it.

 I think this was a great project to get me amped up for Project Life this year too!  Another year of documenting things the way that works for me :)

What is the best gift you gave this Christmas?

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

book binding GIVEAWAY

Last week my dad taught me how to do "professional" book binding :)  He's making all of his own journals these days and I love it!!The coolest part is that he learned from reading a book that was published in the 1800's.  They are still using the same tools and techniques today!

There were a ton of photos from the process so I made a super quick (un-edited) video of everything that we did.

Our finished product is the most beautiful leather bound journal. It's the perfect size to throw in your bag and take with you, and it's so incredibly professional (if I do say so myself).  My dad had the idea to give our first journal together away as a giveaway on Run With Scissors, and although Im sad to see it go, I am excited to offer it to you all :)

So, here is the deal...

All you have to do is:

*  leave a comment on this post telling me one awesome thing about your dad (or any other significant male in your life).  

This giveaway will end Wednesday November 16.

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

i will FALL for you journal

Well, I don't know about where you live, but today is cool and rainy here.

I can definitely feel "Fall" approaching the St. Louis area.

As I mentioned before, this past weekend I worked on my journal for my upcoming "I will FALL for you" online art journal class.

I feel in love with Kendall College's View Book, when they were being passed out at our yearly Art Teacher convention and decided that it was an art journal waiting to happen.

I deconstructed the catalogue and re-constructed it into my journal for the class.

Here are a few sneak peeks of my journal:

* The new cover

**and some inside embellished pages that I put together:

For those of you who signed up for the class already, you can head over to the private class blog and check out more pages :)

If you haven't grabbed your spot yet, you should!  There aren't very many spots left and I like to keep the class sizes personal.

There are less than two weeks left until October 1!! 

I'm getting excited :)

You can go and grab your spot HERE!!

See you in class.

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :)

more journal peeks...

Hello friends :)  This morning I am up super early for our school annual volunteer breakfast.  I was in charge of creating the center pieces this year so I needed to get all of the tables set before everyone gets here!  I had a second grade class help with the centerpieces and I think that they turned out pretty cute :)

They are filled with Hershey's hugs and kisses.

Getting to school early also allowed me to scan in some more of my recent journal pages. Some of these are from Ink Blots but most are just random everyday pages that I have been doing :) 

Enjoy!

(I realized that I shared this one the other day without it being finished so I just wanted to show it again, completed.)

(I saw these custom stamps on Becky's blog and had to have one myself.  Plus I had to have a Catalina stamp too :D They are from the amazingly talented Kozue.)

Alright, I am off to mingle with parents, volunteers, students, and donuts!

Have a great Tuesday!!

xo

janel

more blots...

Here are some more peeks inside...

xo janel

more blots...

Again, I can't say enough about this class :) I am so inspired and the pages of my journal are filling up like crazy.

Here is another peek inside my journal for you...

Also, I am gearing up for my FREE 30-Day journal challenge right here on my blog :)

I did one last June and had a blast so I am really excited to be offering it again. 

More details will be here soon so keep checking back :)

xo

janel

more blots...

Here are some more of my pages from Ink Blots!!

I am seriously loving this class so much.

It's so much fun to wake up each morning with a new creative challenge :)

Enjoy!

xo

janel