Keeping it small and simple

I've been making scrap mini-journals, inspired by this series of posts by Lisa Sonora Beam. We had a box of collage ephemera left over from a recent creativity workshop, and it's been a thrill to juxtapose these ragtag materials in booklet form.

My mini-journals use paper (and paper-like) scraps about 7.5" x 4.5", stacked, folded, and stapled. (They could be larger or smaller, depending on what you have on hand. It might be fun to make tiny ones.) They can be used as-is for journal writing or other notebook functions, but they also have the potential to be further altered and embellished.

In other small-and-simple news, I joined an ATC swap sponsored by the Materials and Media subgroup of the Art Therapy Alliance at LinkedIn. ATCs (artist trading cards) are very small, approximately 2.5" x 3.5", and I wasn't sure I would enjoy creating images on such a tiny canvas. As it turns out, I love it. I like the challenge of making an image simple enough to be expressive in such a small space, but without compromising on the subtle layers and textures that are my favorite part of the art process. I'll be sharing my finished ATCs soon. Meanwhile, you can take a peek at the ATCs already submitted for this swap, courtesy of organizer Melanie Glassey and sponsor Art Therapy Without Borders.


If you try your hand at ATCs or scrap mini-journals, I'd love to see or hear about them in the comments!