I’m always pleasantly surprised when I play around with digital mixed media and scrapbooking supplies. I end up with a wonderful piece of art, and I always feel better as well! Seriously, it’s like a meditation for me or something. I don’t worry about capturing an event, or documenting an exact moment. I have fun with the supplies and then that helps me tell a story. I was drawn to this collection by Red Ivy Design at Sweet Shoppe because of the word “Brave” and I thought that would be a good subject to focus on right now. I love how it all turned out!

Once I had all the design elements in place, I realized that I needed some words to go with this. I immediately thought of the song Brave by Sara Bareilles so I looked up the lyrics and used them on this layout. I used the Orator STD Medium font. Here’s a look at each page individually:

You might notice the unusual size of the pages compared to my other layouts. I decided a few years ago to make my mixed media art journaling creations into 2 page spreads. My plan is to print them all in a 10x8 photo book from Printique (formerly AdoramaPix). I have a few older single page layouts that I want to create companions for to put in this book as well.

If you want to see the layouts I have completed for this photobook, you can click through the slideshow below:

If you love mixed media and art journaling, I have some great resources to share with you. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to work traditionally or digitally, it’s all creative and it’s all fun!

• My Pinterest board for art journaling and mixed media

• What is art journaling by Tangie Baxter. Tangie has been a big influence for me with art journaling and mixed media techniques.

• Mindful Art Studio - what is an art journal?

• Art Journalist - how to start an art journal

• Joyful Art Journaling - recommended supplies

• Vicki Robinson - Digital Scrapbooking + Art Journaling

• Mixed Media for Digital Scrapbookers - Tiffany Tillman-Emanuel. I have not personally taken this class, but I’ve taken other classes from Tiffany and they are always great.

• The LilyPad mixed media supplies - This is probably my biggest source for digital mixed media supplies.

• Top 15 Mixed Media Art Portfolios you must see - from Pixpa.com The best way to get ideas is to look through a variety of examples!

Diving into the design end of mixed media is definitely on my dream bucket list someday. For now, I’m just enjoying the process and having fun tapping into a part of my creativity that I never knew existed before I found art journaling. I hope you will give it a try!