uniquelyyourscraftjournal

Word Ghosts and creativity

09 Sep 2016 Comments Off on Word Ghosts and creativity

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Art Journal, Word Ghosts Tags: Creativity

“Creativity is intelligence having fun!”

Unknown

Art Journaling

07 Sep 2016 Comments Off on Art Journaling

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Art Journal Tags: art, fall

Dear fellow Journalers,

Red, yellow, bronze, orange – Fall is finally here! Every season of the year has its own unique perks. Spring is a time of new beginnings, new buds, new gardens. Summer is plenty of beach weather and time to visit family and friends. Winter is filled with holidays and hunkering down with hot chocolate and a good book. Fall is the smell of burning leaves and new school adventures.

This is the perfect time of the year to begin an art journal. I’m not an artist but I do appreciate those who draw and combine colors. I decided to make an art journal based on a quote using colors I love.

I love flowers and coloring so I took a page from an adult coloring book, colored the flower and made that my cover. I then typed my quote and after saving it, printed it out. I mounted it on cardstock and then with double-stick tape, taped it to the page. I then used matte Mod Podge ( I have to admit I was nervous about this step!) to preserve the cover. Here are some other ideas for you to try:

Trace your hand onto the page. Express your emotions by coloring each digit.

Use die-cuts or stencils or even older journal pages cut up and collaged.

Paint over your background – make a Mandela

It’s fall – use lots of color and maybe a leaf or two.

Happy art journaing!

~Sallie

Word Ghosts and Ray Bradbury?

02 Sep 2016 Comments Off on Word Ghosts and Ray Bradbury?

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Art Journal, Word Ghosts Tags: ourselves

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”

Ray Bradbury

How do you find the end?

31 Aug 2016 Comments Off on How do you find the end?

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Your Next Novel Tags: Arthur Conan Doyle, Dickens, Richard Paul Evans, The Promise of Stardust

Dear Fellow Journalers,

While your opening sentence grabs the readers’ attention and makes them want to keep reading your story, your ending paragraphs or sentences give the summation of the story and the satisfactory aspects you want the reader to take into their lives.

Just as you struggle with that pesky first sentence, the last sentence depends on the way you’re feeling about your story/novel. Some writers are “fed up” with their novel – they want it to end now! Some writers have grown to love their characters and don’t want the story to end. One interesting aspect is that you may have written the final sentence already. How do you find the end?

Re-read your draft and think about the structure of the story. Where is the sentence that solves the conflict, the climax has been reached, the heroine solves the mystery or realized that she really does love ____. End the story after that sentence.
Think of your story as a series of questions and answers. Your narrator supplies the questions and in some cases the answers. When you’ve supplied all the answers, end the story.

3. End your story on a note of hope for the future of your characters.

4. Your last lines should teach a lesson, leave a memorable image or a satisfying sigh “Oh I just love this book!”

5. Suppose you want to write a sequel, your last lines should make the reader want to buy/borrow your next book. The main character becomes estranged, the love triangle shatters, the roof falls……….

The following are some endings of books I have read:

“Life is not a sprint. It was never meant to be. It is just one step of faith at a time.” A step of Faith by Richard Paul Evans

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far far better rest that I go to than I have known.” A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

” Hope,” I say, “once upon a time there was a girl who loved the stars so much she took a ride on a rocket ship.” The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley

and finally the beginning of the last paragraph of The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle:

“It is a formidable difficulty, and I fear that you ask too much when you expect me to solve it. The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer.”

‘Til next time,

~Sallie