Our Shop!

Just a tiny, little, mini grand-opening of our new Zazzle Art Source VT Shop (here)!

Now you can buy prints of some of our favorite journal pages OR pocket journals (below) with one of our journal designs or paintings on the cover.

I'm really excited to be able to offer these and expand our journaling world a bit!

Also, if you want a different size of any of the prints or a larger journal, just let me know via email (artsourcevt@gmail.com), Facebook, Twitter, or IG!

PLUS stay tuned to our IG feed tomorrow (@artsourcevt OR #journaljamvt) to follow our Journal Jam table activities at the BVT Moms Blog Swap & Shop Event!

Free Art Books!

So, though I've had a Kindle forever, I just learned about Kindle Unlimited, and I'm hooked! I've basically promised my husband anything to keep this monthly service, as you can "check out" 10 free books at a time from the Kindle Unlimited library. The first 30 days are free (then $9.99/mo after).

In doing so, you have access to MANY great, free books! But, my favorites are, of course, the doodle and drawing ones! I then can reference them on my PC Kindle program, my real Kindle, or the Kindle app on my phone! I can carry them with me anywhere! Some of these books were on my Christmas wishlist, and they're great for reference! I think I'll keep the Whimsical Lettering book forever! So much inspiration in that book!

If you're NOT into signing up for Kindle Unlimited, most of these books will be an inexpensive addition to your digital library anyway!

Art Journaling
The Art of Whimsical Lettering
Art Journal Freedom
No Excuses Art Journaling
Raw Art Journaling
Inner Hero Creative Art Journal
Artist's Journal Workshop
Journal Spilling
The Journal Junkies Workshop
Art Journal Prompts & Points to Ponder
Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts
Dreaming from the Journal Page 

Doodling
Doodles of Life
Doodles Unleashed
Doodling in French
Doodleology
Draw What We Love 

Drawing
Drawing for the Absolute Beginner
Drawing Nature for the Absolute Beginner
Drawing Portraits for the Absolute Beginner
Drawing for Beginners
Making Faces
Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces
How to Draw Cool Stuff
Sketchbook Confidential
Creative Thursday: Everyday Inspiration 

Zentangle
Zen Doodle: Tons of Tangles
Zentangle Art for Beginners
How to Draw Zendoodle Art
The Zentangle Untangled Workbook
Zentangle for Beginners: Ultimate Guide
Learn Zentangle FAST
Zentangle Basics
Zentangle for Beginners: Relaxing with Zentangle 

Mixed Media
Artist Trading Card Workshop
The Mixed Media Artist: Tips, Tricks
Mixed Media Self Portraits
Mixed Media Revolution
Acrylic Techniques in Mixed Media
Creating Art at the Speed of Life: 30 Days of Exploration
Art at the Speed of Life: Motivation and Inspiration 

Other searches to try:
acrylics, collage, stamping, design, creative, crafts, paper crafts, painting, kids art, journaling, etc.!

Tis the Season

It is awfully busy over here this time of year, as we're going for homemade gifts this holiday season! However, no one has claimed this one yet (perhaps because it's a little Halloweeny), so I can share it with you!

I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with my favorite zentangle patterns, stamps, and watercolors!

The funnest part about this piece? I had NO IDEA that the purple colored-pencil Ellie picked out at our local art store is actually a watercolor pencil! ...or, at least I think it is. When I painted over it with water, it dissolved into a beautiful, bright, purple pool! Surprise! 

Another not-so-welcome surprise? My favorite black Staedler pen ink does the same thing! It gave this piece a bit more of a wishy-washy watery look than I wanted, but ah well! Now I know that my black pen should only be used on top of the (dried) watercolors! Live and learn. Still having fun over here, and that's what matters!

Stay tuned for some more featured local artists this week!

Live from the Craft Bin!

I found a new sketchbook when I cleaned out my craft shelves this weekend!! I still have along way to go on the path to home organization, as usual, but it felt good to get my craft desk moved out into the living room!

After all, there are wood floors in there... much easier to wash off washable paint that spills on the floor...

I started my new sketchbook with this little doodle! After I added some randomly splashed blobs of watercolor, I used an old chandelier stamp and doodled the rest! It was fun, relaxing, and just what I needed on a Sunday night, before Monday chaos!

 

Free Drawing Template - Owl

I'm creating a series of free drawing templates to use for tangling, tracing, coloring, whatever! They're grayed-out images that you can trace over and change however you wish!

Download The Template PDF Here

*Print setting should be set to "Actual Size" to cut out and fit into your journal.

These templates are 100% free, and you can cut off the KASVT logo to use the image in your artwork, for personal or commercial use -- no need to credit us!

I only ask that, if you redistribute the digital file itself, that you do not crop the logo -- just so others can find their way back to the site to check out other free templates, to be posted in the near future! Happy Drawing!

Sketch Supplies

Here are some of our favorite sketching supplies!

DIY Acrylic Spraypaints

OMG yoo guyz!! ..... So, even though it's mid-Halloween-candy-art week, I had to share this! I found this idea while browsing the web and the wonderful world of art journaling!

DIY acrylic spray-paints! I grabbed a couple of old spray bottles -- the ones that our optometrist gives away with glasses cleaner in them (or an old perfume bottle would work). And:

1. Rinse them out.
2. Spray the sprayer a few times using only water, to rinse it.
3. Fill the bottle with about 1 part acrylic paint to 5 parts water.
   Or experiment with the ratio. Too much paint may gunk up the sprayer.
4. Add warm water, and shake to mix!
5. Spray away. Warning, it is messy!*
6. Add stamps, like I did with the "G" below, or doodles/tangles.

*This can easily be adapted to a toddler art project, with supervision. I'd just recommend using age-appropriate non-toxic paints, of course. You also may want to do this activity outside or with a lot of newspaper on your art table. The spray gets everywhere.

You can spray stencils, cut out your own shapes to put on the page, etc.! Today, I also picked up some supplies at The Art Store. I talked to the woman working there, and she recommended 2 new pens: a white gel pen (Uniball Signo) and a black artist pen (Staedtler Triplus Fineliner) for doodling/tangling on top of watercolors/watered-down acrylics. Both are working fabulously so far, though the Staedtler takes a little while to dry. I recommend propping up your finished pages in front of a fan while working on other pages. I love my Micron pens and will continue to use them for basic doodling, but the Staedtler is the first pen I've found that lets me draw over dried watercolor without picking up any of the pigment.

Learn to Draw with Post-Its

I've been feeling so discouraged lately about not being able to draw more of what I want to draw. I feel like I'm not great at drawing people, eyes, more realistic objects, boats, you-name-it! I always end up going back to my comfort zone -- doodles and tangles -- which are GREAT! But, how fun would it be to implement some more detailed illustrations?

And it's silly, because we can draw anything we want to! I came up with a little system for drawing practice using Post-Its! I keep a pad on my desk or in my purse, with a pen or pencil close by, and I practice, practice, practice! When my work computer goes down, I practice. While waiting for a doctor's appointment, I practice! When I complete one I like, I stick it in my journal or notebook. Others get trashed or dedicated to a "Gotta Work On It" page in my notebook.

It's not always a matter of just practicing, I like to have visual guides too. Pinterest is my go-to for drawing tutorials. It's okay to copy any of this artwork for practicing and journaling purposes! Check out:

Our Pinterest Board for some great drawing tutorials I've collected! Also, try these other Pinterest Searches:

Drawing Tutorials
How to Draw Eyes
Lettering
Drawing Boats
Drawing Trees
Drawing Flowers
Drawing Animals
Drawing Cartoons

And so on! All it takes is a little practice! If you want to share your work with us in Our Gallery, tag your Instagram photos #kasvtgallery!

The Art of Clean Up

My co-worker and artsy friend, Rachel, just introduced me to this fantastic book! It's called The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy, and you can find it on Amazon (here).

Also, I've been in touch with 2 businesses that currently have October Art Classes. I know specifically that The Art Store, in Stowe is doing a neat class that brings parents and kids together to create art collaboratively! Check out our Local Events & Classes Page for more.

Altered Books

Ellie's Art Table!

As part of our art journal experience, I've been exploring the idea of altered books. Pinterest has some great ideas for altering books -- I saved some of my favorites on the KASVT Pinterest Board (here). I really love the smashbook-style of this one from Teresa Collins' Design Team blog (more here).

My two-year-old has been doing a great job keeping up with her painting and journaling, but I'm a little behind. I've started altering a new book, pics soon, but my little one is proudly and quickly covering her journal with all kinds of sketches of "spiders" and "mountains," and sticking on leaves that she's found outside.

I basically handed her a book, and she ran with it! I love the idea of filling mine with watercolors and zentangles. Any old books or magazines will work , and suddenly the thought of having an endless supply of (recycled) sketchbooks to paint and zentangle in is making me incredibly happy! There really is paper everywhere! Check your recycle bin!
 

Teresa Collins' Design Team Blog

Art Journal Paint Supplies

I've been really happy with both of these paint brands -- Basics and Premiere -- very much because they're so reasonably priced. The Premiere paint was on sale at A.C. Moore, and a few colors got me started with acrylics. I'm thrilled with the results, and happy to find out that it's much easier to tangle on top of acrylics than watercolors. I also finally picked up two new Sharpie pens last week which made my heart happy. I was barely getting by with the others, which I had worn out almost completely!

I used a ruler to draw a grid and am making the Amalea Zentangle pattern (tutorial here).

Elle did some acrylic painting with me, too, in her journal!

Kids' Art Journals

Okay, so, would anyone be opposed to me dedicating the next month+ to art journaling? All in favor? Let's just do it. Haha!

Art journals are our go-to on any day that I don't have a "real" craft planned, so... most days since I've gone back to full-time at my day job!

But, Elle loves it! She knows that, in the afternoon, she can grab her book and do whatever she wants with it. Last week, I went through the recycleables and found some foam packing material, and she pulled it apart and glued it all over her journal pages. Then she painted them. I was having a little anxiety, because the journal doesn't even close now, but that's how it should be, right!?

Anyway, Pinterest has some fantastic ideas for Kids' Art Journaling! Prompts, tutorials, etc.!

Here is what I found in my net surfing:

• One - Pinterest search for Kids' Art Journals
• Two - How to make your own journals (ABeautifulMess.com, pic below)
• Three - How to alter old board-books for journaling! (CreativeWithKids.com)
• Four - Kids' Art Journal Prompts
• Five - Learn about Smash Books & How to Make Your Own!
• Six - Check out our own Toddler Smash Book! (YourMomIsStrange.com)
• Seven - Consider picking up a Wreck This Journal book, with prompts for creative destruction!
• Eight - Learn about the art of doodling/zentangling! (InnerChildFun.com)
• Nine - How about some print-making ideas to spruce up those pages? (TinyRottenPeanuts.com)
• Ten - Explore some around-the-house painting tools! (LessonsLearntJournal.com)

Photo from ABeautifulMess.com!

South End Art Hop Recap - Recycle Moe

Being the art-journal/notebook/paper-supply fanatic that I am, I was overly excited to run into Moe at the South End Art Hop!! She has a studio at the Space gallery in South Burlington!

Her company (Recycle Moe) recycles (up-cycles) old books, magazines, boardgames, etc. to make all kinds of vintage, lovely things, like notebooks (my favorite, of course), mini notebooks, light-switch covers, magnets, etc.! Check out the gallery on her site!

Also, click here to see all the local shops where you can find her work, OR shop online -- she has an Etsy shop (here)!

Art Journal Inspiration

Check out this amazing artist, Mary Wangerin (her blog here), and follow her on Facebook (here)! I'll definitely be visiting her site for art-journal inspiration!

Photo via the The Turquoise Paintbrush

Pen and Paint Supplies

One of my favorite blogs is Pen and Paint! I love Lindsay's doodle designs and inspirational-quote prints! I've always wondered what supplies she uses, and today she is sharing!

Check it out!! Pen and Paint: My Favorite Supplies

http://penandpaintblog.com