Last year at this time, I set a goal for myself, I do that a lot!  But this one was completely different than most of them.  My goal was to complete the Documented Life Project 2015.  DLP is an art journal prompt, one each week for a year.  Art, really? What do I know about art?

Turns out, I know a lot more now than I did a year ago.  I have always been a crafter, I can copy what others do pretty easily, but designing things myself is a whole other story.  Fortunately, the Art to the 5^th ladies and their guest artists provided a ton of inspiration each week. Each week, they gave a prompt, some photos and a theme.  My job was to incorporate these things in to a double page each week.

There were times during the year that I was severely behind, up to 10 weeks, quite often due to our schedule.  But I never gave up.  I would choose a day and tell Rich, “I’m going to art today.”  And break out my supplies.  A little paint here, some colored pencils, stencils, stamps, inks and paper.  It all came together to record my year.  I documented my life.  Each page includes a little bit of a planner, some recording as to where we were, what we were doing, who we were doing it with.  And now that I’ve come to the end of the year, I added some photos to the back.  It truly is a representation of what we did all year long.  My daughter has asked that I pass it down to her when I’m done with it.  It’s kind of like a scrapbook of our year.  I always had good intentions of scrapbooking, but could never pull it off.  It feels good to have this done.

Most of the pages can be found here – CLICK NOW

So here it is, a good representation of the art I created.  I learned a lot this year, but these were the most important lessons:

• Color is my friend
• Anything can inspire you
• Pages don’t have to be perfect
• That if I commit, I can do anything
• Just because I get behind, I can catch up
• That I am thankful for all the communities I belong to

If you are wondering what I’m up to that’s new, check out my new website

All is quiet on the Western front…we’ve been in California mostly since Thanksgiving.  Filling our days with projects, computer work and, in my case, art.  I know, me and art in the same sentence.  My Farmgirl Sisterhood magazine got me headed over to the Art to the Fifth website that included an awesome take on an Art journal called The Documented Life Project.

The Documented Life Project is not much different than a blog, the difference if you journal on paper with cool stuff.   Some paints and paper, pens and brushes.  DLP is run by four fabulous artists who provide a free challenge each week and then their take on the prompt and challenge through videos, written instruction and pictures, lots and lots of pictures.  There also is a FB group where so many of those participating share their Art Journal and their support. It’s a great community to be a part of.  I’m hoping in my travels this year, I might get to meet a few of them.

I can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun doing something alone, but not.  Of course, it helps that we are at my in-laws.  My mother-in-law, Margi, has a craft room that rivals many store locations, anything I might want to use is probably in there, I just have to find it.  Last night I was looking for some stamps she had shown me, I looked in every drawer, every shelf, only to find them on the desk.  Figures, it was the last place I looked.

So far, I’ve done two sets of page and the front/back cover of the journal.  I am not an artist.  I think I’ve mentioned that before. I want to be, but I’m not, I am a crafter.  One thing I have figured out though, is if I like it, it’s good enough.  I’m being brave and sharing my work.  Take a look at the pictures, maybe this is your calling too.  It’s personal, it’s fun, it’s an opportunity to create.  The adventure continues and I’m loving it.