I'm honored to be this week's featured artist for Art to the 5th's the Documented Life Project 2015.

This weeks challenge is using ephemera: old maps, letters, tickets and more and the prompt is Life…with a history and it goes along perfectly with what's happening in my life this week...we're at the Lincoln Family Reunion! For those of you that don't know me in real life, my maiden name is Lincoln and I share an ancestor with Abraham Lincoln.

I created THIS VIDEO of the whole process I used to do these art journal pages:

The main steps I did were...

1. Use spray ink and stencils for the background.

2. Create my own Abraham Lincoln stencil using my ScanNCut & used it on my page.

3. Glued down some meaningful ephemera.

4. Journaling

5. Adding finishing touches with Faber-Castell Gelatos® and water soluble crayons.

If you're curious about my previous guest artist post for Art to the 5th check it out HERE.

You can find more info on Art to the 5th at: The Art to the 5th Academy and on Instagram: #documentedlife

Ranger Ink - Dylusions Creative Journal	Brother Sewing ScanNCut Cutting Machine Draw CM250	Brother ScanNCut Standard Mat 12 x 12 inch	C-Thru Blank Stencil Material pack of 3 (9in x 12in)
DecoArt DASK279 Crafter's Acrylics Home Décor Brights Sample Pack	DecoArt DASK278 Crafter's Acrylics Primary Sample Pack	Designing W/Gelatos Colors Kit-	OHTO Fude 1.5mm Ballpoint Pen, Black (CFR-150FB-Black)
Ranger TCW-TIM-29687 Tim Holtz Adirondack Color Wash Dye Spray, Red Pepper, 2-Ounce	Tim Holtz -Set 1 - Blossom, Flourish, Lace, Wildflower & Valentine -	Reeves Water Soluble Wax Pastels, Set of 48	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layered Stencil, 4.125 by 8.5-Inch, Stars
Jenni Bowlin Studio - Bingo Place Cards - Whimsy	Metal File Tabs by Tim Holtz Idea-ology

InLinkz.com

disclosure: I am a paid consultant for Brother International Corporation and have received a ScanNCut from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely my own and based on my use of the product.

Other sponsors: Deco Arts, Faber Castell...I receive products from both of these companies and the opinions expressed are entirely my own and based on my use of the products.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from this link it won't cost you a penny more but I make a little bit of money to keep this site up and running (not enough for a pony).

Friends are special, and I'm super happy to have met a few of the ladies of Art To The 5th earlier this year and felt an instant connection. It felt like we've known each other for years! 

Well, as you could imagine I was super happy when they asked me to be a guest artist for one of The Documented Life prompts. {Check out my "spotlight" on their site HERE.} I love my documented life art journal (aka: my soul journal) and I'm blessed to be able to share more of it with you today...and yes, I do promise to post more of the completed pages I've done in it soon.  Things have been really crazy here with us moving TWICE so I appreciate your patience.  :)

Now for those of you who are new visitors to my blog here's a bit about me...

I'm married to my best friend...we've been together for about 23 years and married for almost 14 years. We currently have one dog, a very energetic puppy. Our older dog, our old faithful friend who was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago just past away last week...we all miss her incredibly!  

Oh, and I'm thankful to be able to work from home as and artist and blogger!

Ok, so moving right along, the prompt for the week is: cut up something from a magazine and add to your page. I love this prompt, it's been awhile since I've collaged magazine bits! 

Here's how my page turned out...

Often when I start an art journal page I have no idea where it's going to go and this was no exception.  I literally just picked up a magazine, flipped through it and ripped out some pics I liked and then went with my gut...I always figure that if I absolutely hate it I can paint over it and start fresh. Speaking of paint, the interesting thing for me with this prompt is that since I was focused on magazines I ended up never picking up my paint brush to paint...a rarity for me!

I started off this page by chopping up some random magazine advertisements and glued them to my page with Americana Decou-Page...oh wait, I forgot, I cut a funky scalloped border along one edge of my paper first and THEN I added the ad strips.

Next I added some other photos from magazines....

I took a baby wipe to the flower to distress it a bit...

And then added some charcoal to the flower and doodles to the rest of my page...

I really enjoyed mixing things up for me and stepping outside of my box (or is it my rut? LOL!).

Check out the previous art journaling prompts from Art To the 5th HERE.  And join the Facebook Group for The Documented Life Project if you haven't yet, it's so inspiring and chocked full of terrific people.

sponsor: DecoArts

If you've been following along with how I decided to do The Documented Life Project this year...I'm calling it my Soul Journal...you've seen that I intended to use the monthly calendar section as a blessings and gratitude journal.

Here's how January turned out...

And here's how February is going so far...

Now I know that a lot of you are trying to squeeze in art into your busy schedule, this is a great way to do that! It doesn't take long and it really sets the day off right when I sit down and focus on what touched my heart yesterday.  I tend to work on this at the begining of my morning quiet time before the day gets started.  There's just something about sipping on coffee and opening your heart up that focuses me on what's really important for the day.