these are a few of my favorite things | art journal edition

I'm a person who likes to try new things. If you don't try something new, how can you ever evolve and find your niche? I especially love trying new mediums, tools and brands in my art journal. If you haven't already been acquainted, you must dart over to Blitsy (after reading this post, of course) and check out everything they have to offer. 90% of these things came from there. Blitsy is to rural crafters what Hobby Lobby and Michaels are to city-livers. Trust me.

These are a few of my current favorite products to use in my art journal, which is currently the large Dylusions Creative Journal.  They're what I'm constantly reaching for to make my artistic creations come alive. 

I became acquainted with the Dylusions Ink Sprays while wandering the aisles of Hobby Lobby. I watched a quick video of them in action, and I've been hooked ever since. They are amazing! They are reactive with water, so even if they're dry, you can spray or drip water, use a paper towel on top of that, and you'll see an amazing color change.

My favorite technique with the ink sprays is a technique called "ghosting." See here the amazing technique: 

Here are a couple of my favorite Dylusions stencils for the ghosting technique. These are also fun to use with ink pads. And while I'd love to use every one of Dyan's Dylusions stencils, my budget calls for a more wallet-friendly version. Enter, Heidi Swapp's Pattern Stencil Minis. These stencils are awesome for ghosting! 

You can actually see some of the ink sprays with water later applied over the top to create a marble-look in the above photograph. I simply sprayed green and blue inks, let them semi-dry and then sprayed some more water on top. I love how quick-drying the inks are so I don't have to wait for my backgrounds to dry when I'm using them.

I also adore using these amazing Tombow Dual Brush Pens. They have a brush-like tip and a tip that's more like a traditional marker. They have a very translucent look, so you can layer the color and build up the intensity. These are perfect for the amazing brush-calligraphy lettering you might see scattered all over Instagram. 

I've actually had this set of 24 Pelikan watercolors for almost 7 months. I bought them earlier this summer when I enrolled in an online watercolor class--they were the suggested watercolors to use during the duration of the class. I'd never spent quite that much on watercolors before, but they were/are worth every penny.  They are incredibly saturated colors and i like that the set stacks up holds a couple brushes and an opaque white.
Somewhat more recently, I purchased a Pentel water brush. HOW DID I EVER LIVE WITHOUT ONE?! Amaaaazing. The water brush allows me to practice lettering and is significantly easier to control than traditional brushes. And my wildest dreams came true while watercoloring in the car, all thanks to the brush pen. 

Here are a few creations using the water brush and the Pelikan watercolors. 

So there you have it! My favorite art journal tools and supplies! I've really done a good job being dedicated to art journaling lately. I usually work on it over my lunch hour, and the funniest thing that has happened to me while working on it is a few of my students came in early after lunch and said, "Do you actually enjoy doing that?"

"Yeah, why?"
"So you just do it for fun?"
"Yep."
"Can we see some of your stuff? Turn to a random page!"

Even if I'm not encouraging my students to keep their own art journals "just for fun," I like that I'm opening their eyes to how you can incorporate art into the everyday.

Peace and love, readers!