Hello, hoppers! Megan Hoeppner here. Fun fact: Hoeppner (pronounced Hep-ner) actually means “maker of hops.” Though, I doubt this means blog hops. Still, this maker is certainly happy to hop with you today in celebration of the 2018 Hero Arts catalog release. Let’s use new Hero Arts products to create a few spreads in a bullet/creative journal.
Spread 1: Home Goals
Each year, I like to make some sort of home spread in my bullet journal. It helps me track our projects and feel some sense of accomplishment at seeing what we've done. With a project as big as an entire house, it can sometimes feel like I'm standing still. :-/ I'm glad I have this page to see what work this is to do and also what work gets done.
I folded a page in my journal in half to create the pocket, and I used the new House Nesting Dies from Hero to dress the pocket up a bit. The bitty front door even opens. Isn't that cute!?
Hero Arts Supplies Used: Nesting House Infinity Dies; Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen; DIY Calendar Mini Kit
I will use the pocket to contain home-expense receipts and other related items. I hope this helps me stick to a budget. #goals
Spread #2: Wishes
I may be a grown woman, but I still pause to toss a coin in a water fountain from time to time. So I couldn't resist the new Wishing Well stamp set. I combined it with the awesome new Liquid Watercolor paint to create this wishing page--a space to capture my current hopes and dreams.
Shhhh... Since wishes aren't meant to be shared, I made this a flip-up page so I have a space undercover to jot my thoughts.
Spread #3: Reading List
I have so many books I want to read this year. Enough with my dang phone already. I want to take it back to good old paper pages and the comfort of a book. So you bet the new Bookcase stamp jumped right off the catalog page when I saw it.
Inspired by books, I created this page to flip open like a book and added some lined paper inside for me to track the books I'm reading.
Spread #4: Mood Tracker Mandala
I’ve been struggling with the winter blues lately. I can’t shake the funk and thought it might be wise to track my moods. Maybe I’ll even identify triggers that are making me sad. Even though I’m only on my first week of using a Mood Mandala, I’m already learning quite a bit about myself and what lifts me up, as well as what brings me down.
Make a Mood Mandala
I played with the new 6x6 Floral Mandala Background Cling Stamp and the yummy new Liquid Watercolor.
Bullet journal pages can be thin. For more structure, cut 4x8 panels from watercolor paper or cardstock and use them as your page base.
Stamp the background image on mixed media or watercolor paper.
Mark where you’re going to cut using a pen. This background pattern, while awesome, can be tricky to follow without markings of some sort.
With your lines marked, cut the stamped image out.
Repeat these steps until you have several stamped mandala pieces. Fold the mandalas in the center, stack the folded pieces, and stitch them together in the center. Now you can pack more than one mood tracker on a page, which is an awesome way to conserve space in your bullet journal!
For the background paper, think of the moods you’re likely to experience, and jot those down using the fab new Hero Arts Liquid Watercolor Paint.
Think long and hard about the moods you might want to include, going with the ones you experience the most on any given day. For example, I wish I had included “tired.” I know I'm feeling that one a lot.
If you aren't comfortable painting directly on your page, practice a bit first on scrap paper to get a feel for how the paint flows. (It flows beautifully, BTW!)
Once the two pages of your bullet journal spread are complete, stitch them to the journal pages and let the tracking begin!
Using a Mood Tracker
The idea is simple. Whether you use a petal of the mandala for each day or use an entire mandala per day, breaking the petals up into hours, you'll paint the space in the colors that reflect your moods throughout the time defined. I went with a petal per day. It's easy to see where things were going on and what was triggering my mood. Take a look at the center of my mandala. This is where my days start, and they're all blue. If you look at the background page, blue = sad. I know it's silly to start the day on a sad note, but I can't help it. It's when my sweetheart heads off to work, and I'm always bummed to see him go. :( I love this visual representation of how I'm feeling. I hope it will help me kick these darned winter blues and recognize my triggers. Perhaps I can think of a happy habit first thing in the AM that will counter the blue feeling of seeing Cory go.
Hop On & A Giveaway!
Time to move it, groove it. This Maker o' Hops sure appreciates your visit today. To celebrate the 2018 release, Hero Arts is giving away $50 shopping sprees to three lucky commenters. Winners will randomly be selected from the comments across all of the blogs in the hop, so make sure you leave a comment at each hop stop for the most chances to win! Please leave your comments by 11:59PM PT on February 22, 2018! Have fun checking out the rest of the hopping Hero happiness!
Cheers!
Megan
HERO ARTS BLOG HOP
* Hero Arts Blog
* Jennifer McGuire Ink
* Kristina Werner
* Jessica Frost-Ballas
* Yana Smakula
* Cathy Zielske
* May Sukyong Park
* Nichol Spohr
* Michelle Short
* Wanda Guess
* Amy Tsuruta
* Lydia Fiedler
* Heather Ruwer
* Laurie Willison
* Clare Prezzia
* Iliana Myska
* Emily Midgett
* Janette Kausen
* Jenn Shurkus
* Sean Fetterman
* Simon Hurley
* Joan Bardee
* Megan Hoeppner (You are here!)
* Lisa Stein
* Ilina Crouse
* Amy Kolling
* Rubeena Lanigro
* Kelly Latevola
* LIbby Hickson
* Lucy Abrams