18 Artists dates to inspire and make you happier

I mentioned in my earlier posts by taking care of yourself you can feel more peace. Here are some of my ways that have helped me become a more secure and happier person:

My pal Julia Cameron over at the Artists way and I call them Artists dates. to give you a brief explanation of artists dates: You and your inner artist's brainchild go out on a date weekly. Alone if possible, if not then take your kids along with you or sometimes you can take your Dear Husband with. It's a tool to help you to become an amazing mother, artist, spouse, friend, you name it, it will transform you!

Some of my favorite artist's dates I have shown lots of resistance too like I am too old for this or that's not for me right now... those have been my favorite ones:

Wave pool, just being in the sun energized me to make a series of paintings with just blue hues

Making cupcakes for NO REASON! (that was awesome I gave the cupcakes away to my daughter's 2nd grader's teachers, they LOVED THEM!) and here is another one that I posted about

Dancing with our disco lights at home to retro Disney soundtracks!

Watching an inspiring movie about other artist's I really like Walt Before Mickey. It was the best!

Look through magazines and cutting out whatever made me go OOH, I like that and making a poster of that and putting it on a poster board and then hanging it up for you to see all the time for a week!

Here are some of my dates with myself.

Going for a sunrise walk on a trail (one of my favorite)

Listening to a classical album and driving in the country

Planting tulips in the fall for a beautiful surprise in the spring

Taking a cooking class, and cooking the new recipes. Craftsy has a bunch of them, they always have one sale

Thrift store shopping (give yourself a 5$ or so limit.)

Making something that isn't in a fine art form  like at Creativebug like paper flowers
Fall in love with creativity at Creativebug I also love Lisa Congdon, she is pretty awesome!

FriendsDay, a whole day or afternoon where you and your BFF can just talk! those are my favorite!

I also have a running list of things I would like to do if I had a sitter (grandma) on hand on the weekends or in the evening.

Temple/Church worship (with husband is nice too)
visit a local farmers market (can't wait till spring)
visit the rose garden by the art center in the summer
Canning something (jelly and pizza sauce are my favorite, I do this with kids too, but it's fun by yourself.)
Sightsee and take pictures

A trip to the dollar store with a $5 budget to spend on just you... I like stickers and a helium balloon! Then I visit the scrapbooking store that is in town and get my eye candy fix.

A great example of how Artists dates can change your life came from a scheduled artists date about a year ago:

My love for paper flowers came from an artist date, I thought what if, I used my cameo to use up some of this horrible paper someone gave me and made it look like a flower? It worked and now I love them and hope that someday it can become a way to make some fun money.

My experience with artists dates have made me see the goodness in the world again and gave me proof that God really does want us to be happy!


I love them so much that I am in the works of posting An Artists date with kids post to come soon!

Quick Washi Tape Christmas Cards

Need that last minute Christmas card done like now? look no farther than your Silhoute software (free program even if you don't own a Silhouette) a color printer with card stock ready to go, and washi tape

I used a free Merry Christmas file from the Silhouette Design store, printed it on to card-stock as a the base for my card. I already had the Christmas Trees cut out from a previous card I did. (used the negative part, left the positive part for this project.)  Once the sentiment is printed and the base card is cut to size add your favorite Christmas type washi tape to it as a background, and then add your embellishment (white tree) onto the washi tape back ground you created, and you whipped up a card in like 5 min. Super awesome right? I suppose you could stamp a sentiment too, but I realized why stamp sentiments?

For a non software/printer card, you can still make a cute card, in even less time.. you just need some washi tape, a printed sentiment (usually from a sticker or from a paper pack to help with layers.) 

The key to this is to plan where you want the washi tape at, do you plan on using the whole card base and use washi tape as more of a pattern that is part of the card, or just a couple lines of tape at the bottom?

 I actually sat down on a Saturday afternoon and just played with some washi tape, with out an image/sentiment in mind and just played with the washi tape, but if you are a planner, you could have your printed sentiments out and decide how it would work out. I just love the freedom of playing with your paper crafting supplies,  and seeing what comes from just playing around. 

Keep like colors together, and use the golden design rules when it comes to using washi tape. For example: Use the rules of thirds, a small, medium and large pattern goes well. 

So there you have it some easy last minute card ideas, I suppose these would also work for tags too, if you wanted too. 

I really think that if you were to go out and buy 3 rolls of washi tape, and use your printer for a sentiment, buy some specialty paper that you can cut the sentiments out. I estimate you could get about 50 cards for about $10, which is really not bad!  

Embossing Powdered Die Cut

So I love shiny things, and I love making elegant shiny embellishments to put onto cards! so when I saw this technique over at Craftsy from Wild cards 21 techniques with your card making materials, I knew I had do this one!

Really all you do is find a good die cut that will work with layering embossing powder on until\l it gets really shiny, or glossy from the embossing powder. I use Versa Mark ink and layer the powder on it till it's "done" about three coats of powder per die cut. (Shapes are from the Silhouette Design store)

I used the Heart to add embossing power to it, you can find it at the Silhouette Design store

I used the Thank You sentiment that I cut out with my Silhouette

Here is the other part to the Heart die cut, it came with the star you can find it here

I love this one, the flower cluster really made the card! the background I sprayed with glimmer Mist. You can find the flower die cut at the Silhouette Design Store

Did you have a favorite? I really had fun making these, and if you want an elegant way to make some cards pop, this is a way to do it!  I had all the supplies on hand, I didn't have to spend any money, so I "saved" some money right? and that's how it's done!