Thekathrynwheel and my 2 cents

I have a confession to make: I have a love affair with Somerset magazines. Among their multitude of inspiring publications, the newcomer- Art Journaling magazine holds a special place in my heart. I was browsing through flickr to find some cool spreads to share with you guys when I stumbled across thekathrynwheel's flickr account- and it turns out she was just published in the latest edition of Art Journaling.

You can find her photostream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thekathrynwheel/
She is primarily a paper artist- art journals, inchies and atcs abound, but every so often the fiber arts sneak in there with banners, stuffed creatures or cushion covers.

One of my favorite techniques that she uses is her calendars-


It appears that each day is an inch square, she's essentially making an inchie to represent each day. How cool is that! You could either write a tiny entry like she did or create an inchie to represent a highlight of your day.

She also often includes descriptions of the materials used in case you what to snag them for yourself


Kathryn's blog: http://www.thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com

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One of the things I love most about the crafting community is how small it really is- there are people you'll interact with on your favorite craft site and then one day they tell you they're first book is being published (Like Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching) or you'll follow someones blog and then recognize them in a book you just bought (I found ihanna in 1000 Journal Pages) or you've read someones book and find out you are in a swap with them (Diana Trout, who wrote Journal Spilling is in ihanna postcard swap!).

The craft world seems wide and vast since we're connected through the internet but when you look around you begin to see that it can be intimate if you make it that way. We get to know one another's styles and quirks- often recognizing who made what just by looking at the elements and colors they used. If anyone is on the fence about starting up an account on the website they've lurked on for months or joining a swap because they are confident in their art- go for it.We all have our shining successes we treasure and flops we'd prefer to forget, but you can only grow as a creative individual if you try. Just go do it and have fun for crying out loud!