Review Day: Art Journal Prompts

It's Review Day!

Title: Art Journal Prompts & Points to Ponder: A Workbook for Beginners Exploring Book Arts
Author: Jennifer Greenleaf
Rating: 3.5 stars

I am not an artist, talented at drawing, savvy with a paintbrush in hand.... The only types of artsy stuff I *claim* to be good at are origami (basic stuff...we're talking kids could do a better job kind of stuff), some paper crafting/fun random anyone-can-do-it type of crafting AND cake carving.  With that said, I decided I would try out JM Greenleaf's Art Journal (non-fiction) prompt workbook.  Her workbook promises to help you do different things depending on the prompt and the type of crafty-project.  It sounded like so much fun (plus we love to doodle) that I roped my co-workers, Sidney and Darlene, into participating.  We had a BLAST!  Here are the results! (I purposely made it so you can not enlarge the photos.)

Project 1: Scribbles

My Scribble Page

Sidney's Scribble Pagr

This is what our projects looked like when we were finished!  And I must say..this is probably our best looking project.  Most likely because it was designed for children... heh.  This project was the most fun out of the three we did.  We had to scribble inside the box using as many colors as possible.  Every adults dream - to act like a little kid! :)

Project 2: Stress Relief

This (monstrosity) is what my final project looks like.  Sorry for the terrible photo quality! You get the idea...kinda.  I didn't really like this project very much.  It just...didn't look right.  Keeping in mind I had to improvise.. a lot.  I did this project three different times trying to make myself happy with it.  It's designed to get rid of stress, but in reality it made me stress... (sigh). BUT that's because I didn't have the right materials

Project 3: Stenciling/Layering (for kids)

My Stenciling Page

This project was designed to show the different layers that can be achieved with color and stencils.  We didn't have that many stencils, so we used paper cutouts and swirly shaped paper-clips.  We didn't have enough time to fill up the entire paper (like the instructions said to) BUT we did get enough layering done to get the point across.  This project was really fun to see how all the colors could work together and how you can change the way an object looks by using it as a stencil.

Sidney's Stenciling Page

I'm giving this workbook 3.5 stars because: a) the projects required a lot more knowledge of crafts than a beginner might have b) if you use the exact materials in the book, it's more than the average items found around the house and c) the projects are a TON of fun, but can be a little confusing so be sure to read through the entire project first.  I loved the projects we did.  We had a great time working on them and it really allowed the three of us to bond and work together on something un-work related.  Jeniifer also has workbooks similar to this that can be purchased on Amazon for only costs $.99.  For that price, it's such a bargain and you definitely get more than you pay for!

(Darlene didn't have as much time to doodle so her picture isn't as filled up with craziness, but it's still awesome).

Happy Review Day!