Many people have either kept a diary when they were younger or knew someone who did. The focus of this art journal prompt is to relive those memories, create some secretive entries, and explore thoughts associated with keeping a diary.
For this mixed media art journal prompt, you will need the following materials:
- Art journal
- Waxed paper
- Acrylic or watercolor paint (favorite colors)
- Paint or sponge brushes
- Small containers of water
- Construction paper (favorite colors)
- Straight edge ruler
- Glitter and milk gel pens (favorite colors)
- Black ultra-fine sharpie
- Stickers depicting books, locks, and keys.
- Print outs (on address labels) of the definition of diary and journal
- Walnut distress ink
- Decoupage medium or heavy-duty glue stick
- Scissors or paper cutter
Follow these simple instructions to complete this mixed media art journal prompt:
- Open your art journal to the first blank page spread and place a piece of waxed paper beneath each page in the page spread to protect the rest of the pages in your art journal.
- Blob and swish watercolor or acrylic paint so both pages of the page spread are covered completely. Create color patterns, make random swirls, and so on. Do not worry about how messy or how dark the colors are. Allow to dry completely. Speed up drying time through use of a heat gun or hair dryer.
- While the page spread dries, take out three to five different colors of construction paper. Cut rectangles that art 6 inches x 3 inches. Fold each rectangle in half. Rub distress ink along the edges of the cover.
- Affix the rectangles to the page spread in random areas (try not to keep them all straight) once the page spread has dried. Using the glitter gel and milk gel pens, write out your thoughts and memories about diaries on the inside of each rectangle. Fill up as much of the paper’s surface as possible.
- Peel the definitions that were printed out off, deckle the edges, add distress ink, and affix them to an area of the page spread that has no rectangles affixed. Embellish with one lock sticker each.
- Embellish the rectangles, both inside and out in interesting layers with the page, with the rest of the stickers.
- Using the black ultra-fine sharpie, write out additional thoughts about keeping a diary on the rest of the page spread and on the covers of the rectangles. Write additional words using interesting text that say KEEP OUT, PRIVATE, and so on.
That is all there is to this mixed media art journal prompt. Repeat this journal prompt as often as needed to completely convey thoughts, ideas, and memories associated with keeping a diary. Expand this art journal further by creating mini-construction paper books and creating miniature diaries from them. Another option is to create ribbon ties to bring through the cover to tie the mini-books closed. Explore your imagination and have fun with this prompt!
