IMP Design Team Ashley Krueger | These Days Art Journal Page

Hi friends! It is Ashley again and today I wanted to share one of my yearlong creative projects and an example of how I use some of the shop items outside of pockets. During last year’s Light the Path workshop I discovered how much I enjoy making art journal pages and pairing them with free writing. I wanted to continue that practice this year.

For this project, I have a collection of prompts to draw from and a plain 7×8.75 notebook to fill. Before I started creating, I did some free writing in response to the prompt. This gave me a general idea for how I would want to design my page and how much space I would need for writing out my journaling as well.

Then I started on building the spread. Using the “packaging technique”, I added layers of watercolor and acrylic paints. I focused on the left side of the spread first but also added a little bit to the right to connect the pages. Then I added paint splatters. I alternated paint “smooshing” and splatters until I got to a place I liked.

Next, I printed out some of the papers from the Neffy Crafts Co Travelers Notebook papers. I also printed the hexagon paper from the Life Stories Collab Kit. I cut hexagon shapes out of each of the papers and then arranged them on the page. Once the shapes were in place, I added some black stabilo pencil and black paint ink.

Then, I added a quote I felt reflected feelings that came up as part of my journaling. I finished the design on the left side with some hand drawn hexagon shapes as well and a little more paint splatter. To finish the right side, I added the writing prompt title onto a label from the Life Stories Collab Kit. Lastly, I wrote out my journaling from my free writing session.

I had so much fun creating this art journal spread and using the products outside of the pocket. If you would like to see me put this spread together, I do have a process video.

If you would like to follow more of my creative work, I invite you to follow me on Instagram @ashleyamak. If you’re looking for new ways to document your everyday life please check out the IMP Life Stories Class!