#21daysofgratitudepractice2018

From November 1st we are going to start practising gratitude. Each day there will be a suggested action that you can take. You could make a Gratitude Journal or you can include some art on the way if you wish. I originally set up a separate blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude in 2014 which included suggestions for art journaling. I have removed the suggested art techniques this time round but if you want to use them then click on the link to the original blog.

Please read this blog post Practising Gratitude to see why I set up suggested actions rather than just having an attitude of gratitude.

So how will this work?
Each day for 21 days in November there will be a blog post with links and prompts. To ensure you get each post sign up for emails by putting your email address in the subscription box. Or follow along in whichever way you normally follow blogs.

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. Each theme is a verb so it involves an action of some kind.

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
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 Gratitude Link
This will be a link to a blog or a website about gratitude.

A 'To thin about' 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.

An Action
Each day there will be a suggested action for us to take to practise gratitude.

Facebook Group
There is a group on Facebook (which was set up in 2012) where you can share your work or ask questions. Or if you are a member of EveryDay Journals and Living Your Word of the Year please share any pages you do or thoughts you have there.

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.


For information about how you might make your Gratitude Journal click on the link below to see my previous post. 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.

Make Your Own Art Journal

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.

If you are sharing your gratitude practice on social media please use this hashtag: #21daysofgratitudepractice2018

I do hope you will join me on November 1st.
Bernice

Gratitude

Today in the United States it is Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers.

Over the past few years I have run Gratitude art challenges.  The first one was in November 2012: An Attitude of Gratitude.

 

The second in 2013 was also An Attitude of Gratitude challenge.

However by 2014 I realised it was no good just having the attitude you needed to take action.  And because I wanted to promote the idea that we should be thankful all the year round I posted the challenge in May: The Art of Practising Gratitude.

Each of these challenge blogs is still available and you can work through them at your own rate.  They have prompts, technique challenges and quotes and bible verses to use on your pages.

Have you ever made a gratitude journal?  Leave a comment or better still, you can link your blog page, Instagram photo or flickr photo using the Linky below.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude: A completed project

Thank you so much for following along with The Art of Practising Gratitude.  The challenge blog will remain live so if you haven't finished, haven't started or would like to join in now you can.  The Facebook group will still keep going as well.

Here is my completed gratitude list.

You may remember that missed out a couple of pages in the altered book.  I also had some pages left at the end so I have put some colour and patter on to the pages so that I can write on them at a later date.

The left out pages.

The pages at the end of the book.

And a view of all my pages.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 21: Give thanks

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today we could choose our favourite technique from the last 20 days so I chose to use the paper napkin technique.

The next pages in my book  had lots of found words

so I turned to the next page

where I glued down the umbrella paper napkin.

I added my journaling in amongst the umbrellas.

Come back tomorrow to see my complete journal.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 20: Walk

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge was to use whichever watercolour technique I hadn't used on day one.  This meant using the salt technique.

I made sure I had lots of water and colour on the paper.

I used sea salt.

After I had scraped off the salt.

The prepared pages in my book.

I used the feet stamp and Distress Ink to stamp footprints.  And stamped the word with black Archival ink.

I cut up the painted salted paper into strips and cut them into 'signposts' and stuck them down.  I stuck down the Bible verse.

I wrote my journaling between the 'signposts'.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 19: Love

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge was to use Liquid Pearl through a stencil.  I decided to use a tag that I had 'printed' with the shaving foam technique.

Here are my prepared pages.

I put the Liquid Pearl on the stencil and then scraped it through.

I used the same stencil and Distress Inks to add colour to the left hand page.  I stamped the word and added the Bible verse.

I stuck the tag into the book and wrote my journaling.  I thought the pages needed something extra so I stamped the hearts.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 18: Laugh

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge was to use paper napkins.  I love this technique and I have quite a collection.  I sorted out a few that fitted my colour scheme.

This was the next set of pages in my altered book but I decided that it didn't really fit with today's theme.

So on to the next pages.

I took the top layer of the napkin and tore it into two pieces.  I used matte medium on the page and put the tissue down and then gently put another coat of the matte medium.

I stamped the words and stuck down the Bible verses.  I started to list the things that make me laugh in amongst the butterflies.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 17: Welcome mornings

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge is to stamp through a stencil.  Here are my prepared pages looking a little bland.

I used 2 Tim Holtz stencils to put colour onto the page.

I put the stencil back over and taped it down and stamped with a music stamp.

I wanted it to be the dawn chorus!

I stamped the words and added the Bible verse.  I wrote my journaling between the rays.

And here is my gratitude list.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 16: Show appreciation

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge was to use another of Carolyn Dube's videos as inspiration.  I used washi tape to tape some newspaper to cover up the left hand page and some toren out pages to cover the edges of the stencil and then sprayed Dylusions ink.

I pressed the stencil onto pages in another journal to save wasting the ink.

I also pressed what was left onto the other page.  I wiped the middle with a wet wipe.  Yet again I had a problem with the absorbency of the paper so it didn't work quite as well as in the video.

I stamped the large butterfly.  The turquoise ink had soaked into the page so instead of following Carolyn's instructions I used a damp brush and two colours of Distress Ink and coloured the wing tips.

The left hand page looked a bit colourless so I used the same stencil and Distress Ink.  I stamped the words and added both the Bible verses.

I journaled around the edge.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 15: Give generously

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge was based on video by Carolyn Dube.  I used the Distress Inks to replicate the shapes she had on her journal page.

I used some of the torn out pages to mask the areas I wanted to ink

I really liked the end result.

Then using 3 different stencils I put pattern onto the pages still using Distress Ink.

I stamped the words and stuck down the Bible verse.

I haven't journaled on the page while I am making my work public..  I am aware of these verses:
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  Matthew 6:3-4

I might add some journaling at a later date or find some way to do hidden journaling on it.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Practising Gratitude day 14: Jump for Joy

For 21 days in May I am running an art challenge blog called The Art of Practising Gratitude.  Today's post is here.  On my blog I will be showing what I did in response to the blog post.

Today's challenge was to use watercolours with a stencil.  Here are my prepared pages.

I decided I would use this Prima stencil with the Distress Inks.

I tried painting some of the butterflies with a wet brush but the surface of the paper was too absorbent so it didn't really work.  I added the Bible verse and stamped the words.

I added some lines to liven up the letters and wrote my journaling.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice