This past year, over 100 women participated in my e-course, Soar-Discover Your Wings and Fly. It was an amazing journey and I'm so grateful for each and every person that participated. For the past few months, I've been working and planning the new Soar, Soar Higher, and I'm finally ready to open it up for registration. This new adventure begins January 1, 2013! If you enjoyed participating in Soar, you'll love Soar Higher! This e-course will run for 12 months (52 weeks). Materials will be provided monthly around the first of the month. Bonus materials for special occasions, holidays, birthdays, etc., will be available for purchase at a 50% discount off retail price. Each month you will receive: Visual journal art kit - this will include all materials provided in PDF and JPGs and/or PNGs, which will allow you to customize your own art kits if you so desire! The art kits will include at least 20 different layouts and enough materials to last you an entire month...use all the materials provided or just those that you want! Journal background pages Monthly and weekly calendars, journaling cards, templates for making envelopes and fun inclusions! Clip art Inspirational quotes Journal prompts that will encourage and challenge you Suggestions for goal-making Fun lists for you to fill out! Fun facts "Get to" lists (instead of "to do" lists)! Perpetual calendars to keep track of important dates, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. The materials will allow you to use your visual journal as a day planner as well as providing a unique way of capturing your daily life! Bonus projects (banners, pennants, and other fun projects!) Also provided will be instructions and video tutorials from my computer screen to yours, demonstrating how you can use digital product as is (PDF) or edit in MS Word, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop! This is hybrid visual journaling at it's best! You won't want to miss this fun and engaging workshop! Some of the video tutorials will include: How to use PNGs, JPGs, and other clip art in Microsoft Word if you don't use or don't have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements How to use some of the "tools" in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop How to create your own digital stamps (and brushes) using my images or you can use your own (including photographs) How to create your own digital styles How to digitally paint backgrounds that will coordinate with your monthly art kits How to add a border to make clip art or digitally stamped images look like stickers How to use the art kit to create hybrid visual journal (combination of printing out digital images and adding your own personal touches) How to customize the covers of your journal This e-course is for all skill levels! No experience with art journaling (or anything else!) is necessary! If you can read and write, you can do this! Think of this as a combination art journal, diary, day planner, project life and smash/stash book! Supplies: the only supplies "required" are a composition notebook and pen, but you can use any type of journal you desire. You will need a printer or access to a printing service to print out the monthly kits. You will also need a scissors and/or paper trimmer and adhesive (double-sided tape and/or glue stick). Other fun things to use are washi tape, inks, markers, color pencils, stamps, acrylic paint, chalks, etc. Try to utilize the supplies you already own. If you have any questions, please ask (email me at anitavanhal@gmail.com. I'll be demonstrating some techniques with various supplies such as those listed. There are several different payment plans available. Soar Higher is $60 for the entire year ($5 per month). This includes the monthly art kits and all tutorials and videos plus bonus projects. ***If you choose one of the payment plans, you will receive invoice(s) from PayPal each month until total installments have been paid. Please understand that once you enroll there are NO cancellations and NO refunds. Soar Higher 2013 will be held in a private class group on my Ning site, Just Be Yourself Soar Higher 2013 Number of payments 1 Start payments Due*Amount At checkout $60.00 USD Total $60.00 USD Soar Higher 2013 Number of payments 2 Start payments Due*Amount At checkout $30.00 USD Every 1 month (x 1) $30.00 USD Total $60.00 USD Soar Higher 2013 Number of payments 3 Start payments Due*Amount At checkout $20.00 USD Every 1 month (x 2) $20.00 USD Total $60.00 USD Soar Higher 2013 Number of payments 4 Start payments Due*Amount At checkout $15.00 USD Every 1 month (x 3) $15.00 USD Total $60.00 USD * We calculate payments from the date of checkout. Sign up for Continue reading

Today I wanted to share a piece one of my design team members, Carolyn Phillips, created this past summer. Carolyn created this digital page using the art journal collection I created for Independence Day. I think it's highly creative because she lives in Great Britain and well...you know the story...anyway, I LOVE this piece! She used a vintage image of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and one of my favorite Bible verses in her creation. You can see her entire blog post here. Carolyn is definitely a mixed media artist as she is so talented and works in so many different mediums! I admire her courage in just diving in and trying something new; she does beautiful fiber art including felting, and recently has been doing a lot of encaustic work which is just lovely! The art journal collection she used can be purchased here in my Etsy shop. All my pieces are printer-friendly, which means they're all designed for 8.5 x 11 inch paper. My digital art journals can be used as is, or as backgrounds for your own creations! As always, thank you SO much for stopping by! Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

I have the most amazing design team ever...and I have some visual loveliness to show you today! Bernice Hopper is hosting an "Attitude of Gratitude" challenge this month, and she created a handmade journal using one of my printable art journals...it's way too amazing to do it justice on my blog, but follow this link to her blog, Newly Creative, and read all about it...she provides step-by-step photos. I'm not kidding...you need to check this out. Page after page of sheer loveliness... These pages are part of an abstract printable art journal available in my Etsy shop here: This is the set that Bernice used: Also, this week is the grand opening of my Etsy shop...I've been wanting to do this since I reopened my shop the first of June but I told myself I will not do it until I have built my inventory...I've added a lot of printable art journals, ATCs, and Stash Builders. Stash Builders are sets of 20 or 24 sheets from my signature color schemes...brights, shades, and tints, that can be used as backgrounds for your visual journaling, ATCs, greeting cards, scrapbooking, etc. All the pages are 8.5 x 11 inches, so you can print them out using your own home printer. And, most of my product is commercial use as long as you make something with the pages...no digital product or collage sheets. The Grand Opening promotion is 40% off with the coupon code go40s. The code must be entered before submitting the order. There is a minimum $10 purchase (with coupon the final total will be $6). My Etsy shop is here: As always, thank you SO much for stopping by! Hugs and toodles! Continue reading

My dear friend and fellow artist who also happens to be on my design team, is hosting an Attitude of Gratitude Journal Challenge for the month of November. To demonstrate my gratitude for all she's done for me, I designed some digital art journal pages for her to giveaway on her blog, Newly Creative. She will be posting the link to the download on her blog tomorrow. You can find out more about her Attitude of Gratitude Journal Challenge here: Bernice creates the most delicious, awesome art journals and other art projects...I'm constantly blown away by her efforts, and this time she did not disappoint! She re-sized the digital pages and printed them out as cards. There are two sets...one set of six floral designs with gratitude quotes, which she is giving away on her blog tomorrow, and a set of six digitally "painted" pages that will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop, Praierie Papier Cottage. Check out Bernice's blog post for more details on how she used these digital designs here. If you've been afraid to try out digital printables in your own arts and crafts projects, don't be! Check out Bernice's blog tomorrow and download the free Gratitude pages... As always, thank you so much for stopping by! Hugs and toodles! Continue reading

Journey Across the Northern Hemisphere! Welcome to the Journey blog hop around the UK, Canada and the United States. We are a group of ladies who met through an online business course and other creative courses. We have chosen Journey as the theme for this blog hop. It’s a word that can be interpreted spiritually, physically, literally and creatively and we hope you will enjoy your journey as you hop around our blogs. The Creative Journey Welcome to my portion of the "Journey" blog hop! I want to share with you some tips for living a creative life. Now before you start thinking you're not an artist or that maybe you're not even creative, I beg to differ! I firmly believe that even as our heavenly Father created everything from nothing, and He created us in His image, so we were created with a desire, maybe even a need, to be creative ourselves! That doesn't mean you need to be a fine artist...maybe you have a love for baking or cooking. Maybe you love to make soup to share with the sick and shut-ins. Maybe you love sewing. Whatever it is, or whatever you'd love to learn to do, there is a way! Even if you're short on time and short on funds! I've done it with small children, and though it wasn't easy, I made it work. You can too! I'm blessed to be able to do what I love. And, I try very hard not to take it for granted. I've been creative for most of my life. Years ago I owned a creative business and did very well at it, but became extremely burned out from wholesaling. I quit doing anything creative for about 15 years, and it was only in 2006 that I dived back in...I developed a chronic headache almost eight years ago, and needed a diversion from the constant pain. I started rubber stamping, and that led to altered art and collage, and that led to designing dolls again, and that led to an interest in learning all kinds of new skills including teaching online workshops...I also began taking online workshops and two years ago I enrolled in art school and majored in graphic design. My love for creating digitally led me to begin designing printable art journal pages, and two months ago I opened my Etsy shop... One blog post is hardly enough space to tell you everything I know, but I can give you some pointers. even if you don't know how to do something, there is a way to learn...and there is a way to acquire the supplies and the skills necessary without spending a lot of money... ...thrift stores are a great place to look for supplies whether it be baking pans or craft supplies. Garage sales are another good source. Etsy and eBay can both yield some good buys plus you have the added bonus of developing some good friendships and supporting small business on Etsy. There are also some great online stores, many of them small family-owned businesses as well. Sign up for newsletters...that's a great way to find out about sales. Big box stores like Hobby Lobby and Joann's also have online stores, so sign up for those newsletters as well...they quite often have 40% off coupons that can be used online, as well as having specials like free shipping from time to time. Use them for larger purchases. I buy muslin by the bolt with 50% off coupons from Joann's. It's an investment for sure, but I get it at a good price, and it's so versatile! Learning a new skill or learning more about a skill doesn't have to cost a lot of money! There are a lot of great magazines out there, and it's possible that your local library might carry them. The same with books...or take advantage of places like Amazon...quite often you're able to view the inside of a book before purchasing...at the very least this gives you the table of contents so you can see what you're getting in advance. Also, look in the less obvious sources...art and history books, books about costumes...they're all good sources. If you can't afford to take an online class don't despair! Do a search and/or check out You Tube. I was able to teach myself how to knit two years ago by watching You Tube videos...there are also a lot of artists and craftspeople who post videos and tutorials on their blogs...there are a lot of communities for like-minded people...Ning groups, Facebook...groups for mixed media art, doll-making, baking, cooking, knitting, embroidery, quilting...it's a treasure trove out there! Take advantage of it! Pinterest and Etsy are great sources of inspiration, and I don't mean the obvious...I love the treasuries that are created on Etsy...the same with Pinterest...if you're interested in collage, don't search "just" for collage...search by style or color...whimsical, vintage, retro...and there is a lot to learn about color theory if you're unsure with what colors go well together, you can learn about color theory just by searching too! Movies are a great source of inspiration for me...from a particular style, the visual beauty, the soundtrack...costumes...learn to see beyond the obvious! A creative journey doesn't just happen, especially if you want to make an income from it...have a plan (what do I need, what do I need to learn?)...make some goals...short-term and long-term...keep moving ahead and try not to get discouraged...what you lack in skill now is more than made up by being persistent and consistent! Some skills take practice...a lot of practice! Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Don't give up! You may or may not have noticed my tag line...I've used the same one since I began blogging several years ago...dream...create...inspire...dream BIG...maybe your plans will change...sometimes life happens...but it doesn't cost anything to dream big! Create from the heart...do what you love...that doesn't mean copying someone else...make note of what you love and make it your own! Maybe you don't think you have any good ideas now, but the more you work with your chosen discipline, the more creative and skilled you will become...the more ideas you will have! And, most of all, don't forget who helped you reach your dreams...desire to inspire someone else...I make it a practice to mentor...to help someone else reach their dreams...their potential...I can honestly say that a good portion of what I've earned as a creative has helped someone else out...I'm not selfish with what I know or what I have...I love helping someone else out...I believe that what goes around comes around...and the more I give, the more I get back in so many other ways...as I am blessed, so I desire to be a blessing to someone else... As my special gift to you, I'm giving away a PDF of the pages I created for my presentation...without the writing of course...also please leave a comment for a special giveaway (the winner will be selected randomly from those that leave a comment; to be announced Monday at 12:00 noon CDT) and feel free to download and use these printable journal pages! Download Creative_journey_papers The rest of the journey continues here... Here’s your itinerary: Susan Nana Campana Bernice Hopper Carolyn Marjolaine Paula Who knows what you may find as you travel across the northern hemisphere today! As always, thank you SO much for stopping by! I appreciate it more than you'll ever know! Hugs and toodles! Continue reading

It's time for the 2012 Creative Color Challenge! In addition to using the following color palette, the challenge also included the optional use of letters. As you can see, Louise has a very cool picture of mail boxes, so I included the use of the alphabet as well as a quote about correspondence. And here is my submission. The color combo was a bit difficult for me because I "normally" don't care for orange, but since Tangerine Orange is one of the Pantone colors of the year, I have to admit that it's growing on me! Of course, a dress and pinafore had to make it into my design! I have this "thing" about doll dresses...this piece was created in Photoshop. The dress and pinafore feature letters of the alphabet, and although you can barely see, the letter "v" is part of the background...so I included my initials in the design. Layers of color with newspaper clippings are also part of the background. A couple tips while creating in Photoshop...you have the ability to turn layers on and off...once I begin to accumulate a large number of layers with my color scheme and different brushes, I begin to turn layers on and off and move some of the layers forward or backward as I create my composition. That gives me the ability to sense whether I need more of one color or not...I also like creating with lots of layers of white...it's just my "thing." As always thank you SO much for stopping by! And be sure to stop by Lousie Gale's blog and check out the other submissions! Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

I'm very excited to introduce you to another of my design team members, Marjolaine. She is a stay at home mom of four children. She loves art, especially mixed-media and enjoys playing with paper, ink, stencils and all kinds of paint. She says, "It is my hope that all my projects would show my love for Jesus most of all!" She certainly demonstrated that in the project she chose to do as part of the design team! She chose her favorite Bible verses that have to do with freedom in Christ, and turned them into gorgeous Bible verse cards. I could go on and on and tell you what she did, but she does it way better than I do! She has more photos on her blog and explains how she completed her project. Stop by her blog post here at Twelve Stones Scrapbooking. Also, be sure to leave a comment! She'll be choosing a random winner who will get the same Praierie Papier Cottage collection that she used. The pages are shown below. You do not have to be a digital artist to use these as they're available in PDF and JPEG formats, so the PDFs are ready to be printed out! Please note that you do not receive the physical papers as they are downloads and printable. This collection features a patriotic theme and consists of 12 pages plus a free sheet of labels, and is available in my Etsy shop here: Praierie Papier Cottage As always, thank you so much for stopping by! Be sure to check out Marjolaine's blog for the chance to win! Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

I am getting so far behind on things that I want to do...maybe I set expectations that are too lofty...maybe I set goals that are difficult if not impossible to meet...but one thing I do know...I LOVE living the creative life and feel so blessed that I get to do something I love! And, another thing I know is that I have one of the most talented design teams ever! Sandra is an amazing digital artist...I'm sure she would be the first to say she has much to learn, but really, Photoshop is such an geat design tool that we can work and work and work to learn all we can from it, and STILL have much to learn...and I KNOW that Sandra enjoys learning this amazing program as much as I do... Please visit Sandra's blog, Dynamo, here: For this design she used Journal Joy Collection #13 which features vintage fashions and a palette of six colors in two different shades. This collection consists of 12 sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch printable papers plus a bonus sheet of labels. They are availble for sale and downloading in my Etsy shop...just click on my "mini Etsy" at the top of my right sidebar. Also, be sure to bookmark Sandra's blog...each week she is doing a giveaway...whatever collection she features on her blog, a random winner will get for free just by leaving her a comment! All my collections are available as JPEGs and PDFs, so they're ready to be printed out by you! You do not have to be a digital artist to enjoy using my Joy Journals...the PDFs allow you to print out all the designs very easily. Thank you Sandra! Your journal page is just beautiful! Again, please bookmark or subscribe to Sandra's blog so you can see her weekly designs and have the chance to win just by leaving her a comment! What about you? Do you find yourself with too much to do in too little time? What steps do you take to ensure you get everything done you need to and as much done as you want to? As always, thank you so much for stopping by! Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

Well, it's the sixth and final week of the Summer of Color 2012 challenges. Once again, this has been one of my very favorite blog challenges and I'm sorry to see the fun end so quickly. This week the challenge was watermelon ice, one of Baskin-Robbin's flavors. This is the photo and again I created my color palette in Photoshop. I love pink and red together, so this was great fun for me. I used watercolor brushes in Photoshop to create many, many different layers, and used a drop shadow for each and this week didn't flatten everything out like I did last week and failed to notice (...sigh...) until after I had posted my blog entry. I like how it turned out...I still have so much to learn, but I'm having so much fun creating digitally. I love how I can turn layers off and on and redo anything I'm not happy with...an important tip though...save work in progress because you never know when you might want to go back in and change something! Thank you Kristin (Twinkle, Twinkle) for another memorable summer challenge! I can't wait for next year...well...I hope you'll be doing this again next year! And, as always, thanks to all of you who have stopped and left such lovely comments! What was YOUR favorite flavor? Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

This is the fifth week of the Summer of Color Ice Cream challenge. This week's challenge was Wild 'n Reckless sherbet from Baskin-Robbins. This is the color inspiration and my color palette. Once again I used the color picker tool in Photoshop to pick the colors. This week I limited myself to a palette of six...two for the cone and only four for the ice cream. I've been trying to do my cones a bit different every week, and this week I was struggling to come up with a way to show the three flavors of ice cream all swirly without using a previous technique. After thinking it through, and trying to plan exactly how I wanted the ice cream to appear, I tried something I've never tried before, and that was to use only watercolor brushes and "splat" them on the canvas. I must've had more than 20 layers altogether, using just the four ice cream colors. Still not satisfied with the texture, I added drop shadows to some, and then all the layers...perfection! It sure turned out wild! Thank you for stopping by! Be sure to check out the other submissions by clicking on the Summer of Color 2012 badge in the right sidebar! Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a magneficient 4th of July celebration! Today I'm featuring another beautiful creation by Praeirie Papier Cottage design team member, Sandra Collins. She used page 22 from Journal Joy #7: This features one of her beautiful daughters! I love how Sandra embellishes her pages. Sandra is a talented digital artist and photograher; be sure to check out her blog, Dynamo for more of her gorgeous art! This past week she shared her gorgeous Canada Day fireworks pictures! Sandra also hosts a blog giveaway each Saturday. The winner will receive whatever collection she features on her blog; and the collection is available in both PDF and JPEG formats! Be sure to leave a comment on her PPC post each week! This is the collection she'll be giving away tomorrow, July 7th. This set features 36 shabby journal pages plus this bonus set of labels: You can check out more of my collections in my Etsy shop: JustBYourself Each collection is lovingly distressed and shabby, and each page has a distressed white frame or border. They are designed to be printed on white printer paper or white cardstock. As always, thank you so much for stopping by! Hugs and Toodles! Continue reading

Happy 4th of July! For those of us in the United States, the 4th of July is an annual celebration of our independence. But, it wasn't "just" independence our forefathers wanted; it was freedom as well. And, 236 years later we still enjoy the freedoms for which our forefathers fought and died, literally giving all they had for something they passionately believed in. Because I have lived here my entire life, it is far to easy to take those freedoms for granted. Even the smallest of freedoms...we do have freedom of speech, freedom to gather peacfully to protest, freedom to practice our faith. But we also enjoy the freedoms to choose. We can choose who we marry. We can choose to go to trade school, college, or university without the government deciding what our profession will be. In North Dakota we have the freedom to home school our children. We can choose a private school instead of a public school. We can choose who we vote for in an election without fear of arrest. We choose who serves as president of our country; we choose who respresents our states in Washington DC in the House and Senate. But there are many more "smaller" freedoms we enjoy and hold dear. We can choose our mobile phone provider, our healthcare providers, where we shop...maybe those things don't seem like much, but every choice we make is another freedom we enjoy. And, freedom isn't free...it has a price... We have three sons, and all three have served in the military. One of our sons is still in the military, and although he is not a combat soldier, he serves to remind me of all those moms and dads and wives and children who have someone serving and have to spend time away from their families, oftentimes in life-threatening situations, so that I might enjoy the blessings that those freedoms bring me. So, for all those who continue to place your lives on the line for me...I want you to know that I don't take YOUR service and sacrifices lightly...you help me to enjoy one of the most comfortable styles of living in the world, and give me the blessing of being able to sleep in a comfortable bed every night. Thank you! Journal Joy Printable Art Journal Pages * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As a sidenote, to help celebrate the 4th of July I have placed every item in my Etsy shop at 50% off. I have been busy designing printable journal pages that are available in PDF and JPEG formats. They can be simply printed out and used for journaling. They are sized at 8.5 x 11 inches. The coupon, 4JLY12, is valid through the holiday and will expire at midnight. Just click on the sidebar on the righthand side of my blog to get you to my shop or click the link below: Praierie Papier Cottage Be sure to enter the coupon while checking out...the discount cannot be given after your order has been completed! As always, thank you SO much for stopping by! I appreciate it! Hugs and Toodles and wishing your a safe and Happy 4th of July! Continue reading