So, with the popularity of our “Documenting Your Life” post, I decided to curate a lovely list of journaling classes and workshops that you can participate in to document your summer. I love journaling my summer. For one, it’s convenient because you’re out of school and have more time to do things. For those of you who work, summer just brings a whole different feel. The weather’s nice and people just seem a lot different, a bit more happy, and you tend to spend more time outside because it’s nice. You don’t have to participate in any of these classes this summer—to be honest, you can do them any time during the year—but since summer is around the corner, I thought it might be a fun thing to share.
Classes:
In The Sun by Natalie Malik. This is a series of art journaling classes held in 2011 and 2012 by Natty from Genuine Major. These classes are free to follow on the respective blogs that are up, and you can even download the PDFs of each journal prompt, to do the class offline and at your own pace!
Summer of Love by Kara Haupt. I loved this class when I took it last summer. Unlike In The Sun, Kara’s class is not free. It’s $22 to download a PDF version of the live class that ran last year, but totally worth it. It’s full of art journaling and photography prompts. You even make your own journal from an old hardcover book. But keep an eye out on her website. She might run the class live again this summer!
Play That Song by Kara Haupt. Safe to say that I’m definitely a fan of Kara’s art journaling classes. I own a total of three of them (one of them I won in a giveaway), and even though I originally wasn’t going to include this one on the list, I am for one reason: it’s a great class for some one who wants to begin art journaling. Music is universal and this class is all about using the music you like and listen to, to create great art journal pages. But like Summer of Love, this class is not free. It’s $12.50, but once you buy it, you gain access to the private blog and own the class forever as long as you remember the login password.
30 Days of Lists by Kam and Amy. This is a simple journaling class. It’s essentially making lists. You get a new list prompt each day for a total of 30 days. And even though you are just making lists, a lot of people get super creative with how they document their lists. The workshop is usually $5-10 when they run it live, but you can get the past classes for $5 each. Their first run, March 2011 is actually up for free here. You don’t really have to do these lists during the months they were originally done. Just take out 30 days—any 30 days—and give it a go!
Dreamtastic Creative Journals by Andrea Schroeder. I actually stumbled across this fun little page of self-meditating art journaling prompts from a past Google search. You can access all the prompts right on that page and she even includes wonderful videos to follow along. 30 lovely prompts and videos for 30 days to help you learn about yourself and your dreams, you can do this all at your own pace and it’s all for free!
52 Weeks of Art Journaling by Rachel Denbow and A Beautiful Mess. I have not taken this class yet, but I did take its predecessor, Art Journal All Year, which is no longer available. I really enjoyed it and find myself going back to it whenever I need some inspiration or want to try a technique that I hadn’t tried yet. They’re both the same class, except this new one, 52 Weeks of Art Journaling has some new journaling prompts and techniques. As with Summer of Love, this class isn’t free. It’s actually one of the more pricey ones on this list, at $34. Yet, once you purchase the class, you have access to it forever.
Class and Workshops from Two Peas in a Bucket. If you’re more interested in scrapbooking, scrapbook site Two Peas has an excellent archive of current and past classes and workshops that you can explore. There are a TON of free classes that you can follow, some paid workshops and tons of videos that are free to watch and follow. Honestly, you could spend hours sifting through all of the content here, gaining so much inspiration and learning a technique or two.
Resources:
Art Journal Everyday from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. This is basically a free art journaling resource. There are plenty of tips and tricks on how to start and keep a daily art journal. Great if you want to start a journal but want to do your own thing without taking a class.
Keeping your Visual Journal This is just a page on why some people keep visual journals. It’s a great resource if you’re struggling with starting or just wondering why you should start a journal.
