I’m writing an eBook of techniques that can be used in art journals.  If you have any techniques you’d like me to publish in my book, please send them to me.  They don’t have to be specifically journaling techniques, but they do need to be able to be created on paper and on a page that will at least somewhat close.  If I include your technique I’ll add your name and a link to your website.  Feel free to include photos if you have them available.  I really need them within a week, but if you need more time let me know and I”m sure we can work something out.

Affirmations are phrases that help us think in a positive way. They are used to help us change a behavior, adopt a new attitude or bring new things into our lives. By seeing the affirmation (the ideal we want) we focus on it and that helps us manifest what we want to see.

Making affirmation cards is fun and easy. You can use ATC blanks or if you want smaller ones that you carry with you, you can use the perforated business cards sheets for printers.

Any medium can be used to create the cards. You can use collage or paint. I like using colored pencils. To create a design you could doodle with markers, the metallic ones are so cool!! Because I’m too lazy to scan anything, I made the ones shown here in Photoshop. You could make digital ones, too, and print them out.

To find the affirmations you want to write on your cards, think about what you want in your life. Do you want more money for the work you do? You might write something like “I am good at my work and the pay I receive meets all my needs and wants”.

In the Creative Clown shop there is an e-book that has 75 affirmations for artists. If you need some inspiration, you might check that out here.

The cool thing about affirmations is that they can be anything you want them to be. The only guideline is that they be stated in the present tense and in a positive way. Our mind doesn’t know about time. If we create the affirmation to say “Someday I will have a new car”., the mind just holds the thought of it happening some day. If we write “I have a beautiful, black BMW”. the mind believes it’s true, and helps you believe it more strongly. That, in turn, helps you have more faith in your dream, thus manifesting it.

Another way to create affirmations, is to make an affirmation book from a child’s board book. A size 4 x 4 in is small enough to carry with you. Sand the slick pages first and gesso them. Create the designs with paint or collage or whatever appeals to you. Write the affirmation with pens or markers. Or use alphabet rubber stamps or you can cut letters out of magazines.

Most importantly, have FUN making your affirmations!

I decided that today I would draw my stripey feet. I used Dewent watercolor pencils. I colored it in and then went over most of it with a wet brush. You can see the bottom few rows that I didn’t go over. I like that it takes away the white areas in the color and makes it smoother, but I don’t like that you can’t (or at least I can’t) control the shading. The color is on the paper and when I use the wet brush it moves the color around but I can’t seem to control where it goes.

Anyone have any suggestions for me on using watercolor pencils?

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