Thankful Thursday: starting tomorrow

Followers
Welcome to all those who are following the blog and have joined the group on Facebook.  I am quite overwhelmed by all the new people who are planning to join in and thankful for those who are regulars to my art challenge blogs and want to continue.

I would recommend that even if you only do it for November that you follow the blog through a reader, (I use Feedly,) an RSS feed or whatever way you choose to follow blogs.

You might also want to follow NewlyCreative through November too where I will be posting my journal.

Blog linky
If you would like to put a blog linky (I'm sure it has a proper name) on your blog, please download this image by right clicking on it:

Please link it to http://anattitudeofgratitudejournal.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks

Technique Challenges
Each few days there are techniques to use on your page.  If this doesn't stretch you enough or you don't have the products to be able to try the technique then you can download a list of other techniques.  I have designed it so that you can cut the page into strips, once you've printed it out, and you can put the strips into a container and pull one out each day.

There is a pdf to download with links to the videos.  It is available on each blog post but you only need to download it once for each few days of a technique.

Of course you don't have to stick to just one technique on a page.  The technique topics are Ranger Distress products, texture, resist, stamping, stencils and water-based media.

Quotes and Bible Verses
Each day there is a quote or a Bible verse for you to use on your page if you wish.   If you want to be able to print them out in one go rather than each day then you can download them here:    Quotes     Bible Verses

Supplies
I suggest you use the inks, sprays, paints, stamps and papers you already own to make the journal truly yours.  When you look at my pages on NewlyCreative they are there solely for inspiration, not for you to copy.  I use a lot of Dylusions and other Ranger products but you don't have to.  Use what you have.  Some of the techniques may not work in the same way with different products but it doesn't matter. It means your journal will be unique to you.

Rules

Remember the rule: this is your journal and you do it the way you want to.  There are no other rules!


Oh, sorry there IS another rule!

 Have fun!
 

I am so looking forward to seeing what you do over the next 30 days.  Please don't forget to link your blog post or photo of your work using the Linky on each blog post here.

Have fun.  And thank you for taking part.

Thankful Thursday

Quick Question
Have you joined the Flickr group yet?  Or the Facebook group?


Pinterest
I've also set up a board on Pinterest.  If you have a Pinterest account already and wish to add pictures to the board let me know by email and I will add you.  If you'd like an invitation to Pinterest please email me.  But be warned!  It is almost more addictive than Facebook, although you can often rationalise the time spent on Pinterest rather more than Facebook!!!


Anyway, on to Journals

As I said last week, you can use the daily blog posts to just give you an idea and then to write down 3 - 5 things you are grateful for that day.  It can be an ordinary exercise book or a more special notebook.

Creative Journals
If you like papercrafting you could make scrapbook layouts for each day.  If you do that I suggest you don't go bigger than 8x8" unless you've got lots of time.

You could make a minibook if you prefer.   Here are instructions for an A4 book that I made.

I found this smash book style mini book by Monika Wright

Or there's a photographic journal by Michelle Wooderson

If art journaling is your thing, you could use a ready made sketchbook or make your own.
Here's one being done in a Moleskine-type journal. 

Click on the link to find out about different ways of making your own art journal.


Alternatively ....
... don't use a paper version at all.  Why not use your computer, phone or tablet?

There are Apps available.  There's a small charge for this one but there are free ones available.

Or you could blog your response every day.


And of course there's the option to read this blog and do nothing at all or find your own way of doing it.

Thankful Thursday: how?

So how will this work?

Each day for the whole month of November there will be a blog post with links and prompts.

Each post will include:

A Theme
Rather than just leaving you to think up 3 or 5 things that you're grateful for on that day I have chosen a daily theme.

A Quote
There will be a quote either related to gratitude or more likely related to the day's theme.  Some will be serious and some will be a bit off-beat.

A Bible Verse
Although the Thanksgiving holiday is now a secular holiday, it grew out of a tradition of thanking God for the harvest.  As a Christian myself I want my Gratitude Journal to be about thanking God and so I have included a Bible verse each day.  However just ignore it if it doesn't mean anything to you.

Inspiration
Where possible I have found videos, blogs or websites to provide inspiration for the day's theme.  Some might be a bit silly.

A Journaling Prompt
There will be questions for you to think about on the day's theme.  You can answer them or just use them to get you thinking.

Technique Challenge
Every few days there will be some technique challenges to include in your journal.  This will be particularly for those keeping creative journals.  Keep reading even if that's not what you want to do.

Where possible I have found videos to demonstrate the techniques or I will have added photos of examples.  There is a pdf to download with links to the videos.  It is available on each blog post but you only need to download it once for each few days of a technique.

Facebook Group
There is a group on Facebook (which was set up in 2012) where you can share your work or ask questions.  If you joined the group last year then you are already in!

Linky
At the end of each post there will be an opportunity to link your day's page to the blog to share with other readers.  This can be a link to your blog, or if you haven't got a blog please use the Flickr group.

I have set up the Flickr group and if you already have a Flickr account please ask to join.  If you don't have a Flickr account it is easy to join and it is free.

The group has been set up for the photos to be public but any discussions to be for members only.

PDF
There will be a PDF each day to download (and print) with all the day's information and links so that you don't have to be continually looking at the blog.  It will include the quote and Bible verse in larger print for you to cut up and stick on your page if you wish.


Next week I'll talk about the different ways in which you might make your Gratitude Journal.  It can be as simple as getting a small notebook and writing down things that come to mind as you read the blog.  It need be no more than that.  Or you can get involved in the techniques and challenges.

Remember the only rule is: this is your journal and you do it the way you want to. Other than that there are no rules.

This has been a long post and I'm sorry there were no photos to break it up a bit.  Thanks for sticking with it to the end.

Bernice

Thankful Thursday: why?

First of all, thank you for joining me today for my first Thankful Thursday blog post of 2013.  Today I want to tell you why I've set up the blog and why it's a good idea to develop an attitude of gratitude.

Not that I have totally conquered the attitude thing but I hope we can learn how to do it together.

So why the blog?
It started out that I wanted to set up a challenge blog for some art journaling friends that I've met in a group on Facebook.  And then through various books I was reading I knew that I needed to develop a more wholehearted life.  To take a more positive outlook.  To be more thankful.  Which is where the idea of a gratitude journal comes in.

Of course in the UK we don't celebrate Thanksgiving like our friends in the States do.  Their celebrations are based on the harvest - which we usually celebrate in September.

Once I started planning the blog posts the whole thing grew into something much larger than my original thoughts.  SO if you're not an art journaler, don't worry.  There will be something for the scrapbooker, the feltmaker, the quilter or for the person who does not consider him/herself to be creative in any way. (Which by the way is NOT true!)

The blog went live in 2012 and is still available if you wish to use those prompts.  I was thinking of doing some totally different this November eg an advent calendar but decided to do a whole new gratitude journal for 2013 instead.


Why keep a Gratitude Journal?
You can Google gratitude journal (as I did) and you will come up with thousands of websites.  However they all seem to be in agreement that living a thankful lifestyle enables you to be more mindful of the moment, more creative, healthier and happier.

Here's a great article about gratitude.

And here's a scrapbook page I did some time ago.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you will come back next Thursday to find out more about how this prompt/challenge blog will work.

Bernice

Coming Soon

Welcome to a new blog for 2013 providing challenges and prompts to build up a Gratitude Journal.

There will be occasional prompts from now until 31st October to help you get started.

There will be 30 days of prompts and quotes during the whole month of November.

I hope you will join me in this project. 

Welcome back if you joined in last year.  If you didn't, then nip over to the blog to see what happened throughout November 2012.