ABC | Get To Know Haley!

I found this cute "tag" on Instagram that @daretobujo had done in their bullet journal, and thought it would be a perfect get-to-know-Haley opportunity! I think I'm only supposed to use one or two words for each, eek! Here goes!

A - Artist
B - Bookworm
C - Creative
D - Disney Lover
E - Energetic
F - Fangirl
G - Generous
H - Hilarious
I - Imaginative
J - Jealous
K - Kit-Kats <3
L - Likeable
M - Musician
N - Nail Art
O - Online
P - Pasta Expert
Q - Quiet
R - Rainbow lover
S - Student (for now!)
T - Taken 3.3.14 <3
U - USA
V - Versatile
W - Wanderlust Junkie
X - XX (female)
Y - YouTuber
Z - Zazzy (BBT reference)

Phew! That took a while. Only had to google adjectives for G, V, and L, though! Success!

My Finger-Knitting Story

Finger-knitting and I go back quite a while now! I first learned this awesome craft in 7th grade in my FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) class. They discontinued the cooking class, so my class was stuck with learning how to sew and make random things we'd never use again. BUT! My friend and I found a passion for making these finger-knitted scarves! I still make them to this day (pretty sure she doesn't anymore, as we've stopped talking) and I've done these for fun, for some extra cash, for gifts, and, most of the time, for charity!

The biggest thing that I've done with these is usually during the colder holiday months when I give them to charities! For a couple years I was only giving these to my mom's friend (who's like another mom/aunt to me) who went on trips with her students (she's a Microbiologist and a professor at a college around where I live) to Nicaragua. They would take these down there, along with some flannel tie blankets my mom and I made, and the people they would help/check up on every year would take them and use them! It was fun for a few years, but after those few years I felt kind of selfish because I was upset that I never heard back if my scarves really made a difference or not. Like, yeah, word of mouth wise I did from my mom's friend, but I never SAW them use it. No photos, nothing. I still sent them every year, but there was that nagging voice in the back of my head wondering if they even received them or not.

Until one year, when all that good karma, over the 6+ years I sent these scarves away, came back. I was sent a power point, made by the students who went on the trip, to thank me for my 6 years of giving to the people down in Nicaragua. I was a junior in high school whenever I received this, and you BET I was in tears when I flipped through those slides. I finally got to see how they were using the scarves I had sent them. Now, keep in mind, these people were in a rain forest/tropic area. So they didn't exactly use them as scarves, per say. But the women/nurses tied their hair up with them, little girls made their dolls wear them, the kids themselves wore them, even boys wore them as headbands and pretended they were pirates. Even the flannel blankets my mom and I made were used as burp rags, sweat rags, blankets for dolls and babies, etc. Those same people sent me a homemade paper magnet. There were photos in the power point showing me how they made it and everything. The kids that received my scarves made this magnet for me. And it's been in my bathroom hanging on the mirror ever since. It's a constant reminder that I've done good things and I've brought happiness to someone else's life and helped in some way or another, and it's also a reminder that, even if you don't see it right away, the ones you give to really do appreciate what you've done for them. I've been making them every year, during the holidays, ever since.

Scarf before it's been stretched out

Another charity thing I try and do every year is give to the less fortunate locally. One year, my grandma's dentist office had a "mitten tree" that people could bring mittens, scarves, hats, gloves, etc. and hang it on the tree to be given to the homeless/less fortunate. I had a vertical laundry hamper heaping with my scarves, so I donated ALL of them to that mitten tree. There were so many that they circled the tree TWICE with all of my scarves (you couldn't even see the tree, really. It was awesome). These scarves have gone everywhere and helped so many people, it's almost impossible for me not to give them away around the holidays.

Scarf stretched out during the process

Finished finger-knitted scarf

This year, I've made it a challenge for myself to make at LEAST one scarf per day in December. This way I can give these as gifts (as money is sort of tight this year for present-giving), I can send them to charities, or I can just hand them out whenever to whoever would like one. When I was younger I would sell these at garage sales, but now I don't think I could charge for them unless 100% of the money were to go to some sort of charity. I hope someday, when I have an online store, I can sell these scarves and have all the profits go to a different charity every year, month, whatever it may be. Giving back to others has always been a big thing for me, and I hope that someday I can make these scarves a big deal and give a lot of money (or scarves!) to a charity who needs it. Right now, it's only a holidays thing, though.

My goal is to give to charity somehow every year, and this year December is the month I'll be giving! I hope by reading this you'll feel the urge to give to a charity, or just do a random act of kindness, whatever suits you! I know sometimes it can feel that your giving isn't doing a lot, but it took 6 years for me to realize how much it actually makes an impact in someone else's life, and with enough people giving and being kind to one another, we can really make a difference in the world! <3

Bullet Journaling | Graduating from Ruled to Dot Grid

Hello there! I'm excited to let you all know I've started migrating into my Leuchtturm1917 A5 Dot Grid bullet journal! Right now I have a Ruled A5 Moleskine journal and I'm SO excited to get into working with the dot grid instead of measuring everything out. But I also have some thoughts on the matter that I'm sort of conflicted on, not that I'm complaining about my BuJo habits becoming easier with the dot grid, just some thought overall on the matter (:

First off, for me it's still surreal that I'm able to have one of these awesome dot grid journals that everyone in the bullet journaling community seems to have! I don't know why it's so hard for my own head to wrap around that I have one. I actually ended up spending more money on it that I should have, considering on the actual Leuchtturm website they're all $19.50 no matter the color, but ignorant past me was told amazon was the cheapest all the time so I assumed the $33 orange Leuchtturm was special or something haha. Luckily I only got it for $27 but that's still a lot more than I should have paid. Oh well. I don't know...for some reason it's hard for me to believe I have the same journal that all the "pros" are using. In the art world it's hard to get the best of the best supplies because of the prices, and I guess for me this Leuchtturm is the "best of the best" and it's so crazy for my brain to compute that I have what the pros are using.

I'm in LOVE with my orange Leuchtturm and I started penciling in January today! But, if you've been paying attention to my bullet journal Instagram (@haleyjournals), more importantly my story posts, you would have seen my late night, finals week, sleep deprived, "rant" about how going from a RULED Moleskine to a DOTTED Leuchtturm was going to be like learning bullet journaling all over again. And that's really the only way I can think of describing it. It all makes sense in my brain, but it's sort of hard to get the words out to explain how I feel.

In the beginning, when I started bullet journaling, I tried making the most artsy layouts and colored them all in. But that was also in the summer when I had a ton of time. As the semester started I almost completely dropped off, and my style went purely minimalistic. Now, I'm able to manage the artsy-to-minimal ratio and make it efficient, yet fancy and colorful, at the same time. BUT, everyone I've ever watched/followed in the BuJo community has had a Leuchtturm and a lot of the people who use these dot-grid journals usually have boxed in sections. I've just adapted to using a ruled journal, so my style has too. I could still use this style in my Leuchtturm, there just wouldn't be horizontal lines across my page and I would have the option to do something vertically more easily than I have in the past. It feels like I'm starting over again because I want to try out all these different options, but at the same time I've learned that having something that works for me, and is my own comfortable style, is more important than trying to have layouts that look like everyone else's.

So I think by now you can see my conflict: Try out all the new things I can accomplish with the dot grid vs Keep my style and know it'll work for me.

Obviously I can try out new things every month just to see if it'll work for me, but at the same time I don't want to waste pages, you know? I'm currently trying out my good friend Caitlin's (@sunshine.and.stationery on Instagram) style of a calendar/monthly goals page to see if I can get a calendar to work for me again for my next (and last!!) semester of college.

I think it's one of those things where I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase with my new Leuchtturm and I don't want to mess it up in any way. I remember being the same way with my Moleskine when I first got it. And now that I know they're only $20 instead of $30+ I can always get another one without having to worry about if I'm going to be breaking my bank or not (as much anyway, haha). It's just things like these that seem to make me feel like I'm crazy because I'm pretty sure no one else feels like this with their Leuchtturm, haha!

I'm still trying to figure out how to "personalize" my orange Leuchtturm. On my gray Moleskine I have my chubby robin sticker, and I've checked back to the same artist who sold me that sticker, and they have other chubby birds I can now choose from. But at the same time I want something different for my new journal and the new year. I stood out a little on Instagram because I had my little bird, and most know me by it, while a lot of people either had personal covers made or the popular mandala decals on the spines of their journals. I just want to be different and stand out but, again, I'm in the honeymoon phase and my cover looks so nice and new I don't want to put something on it yet! I've been lurking around RedBubble for stickers and I'm sure there will be a sticker I just HAVE to put on there sometime, but I'm waiting for now. Maybe for the first month or so of 2017 I'll have it plain and see how I feel. That way I can have that "new journal" feeling for a while longer (:

Well, there's my little discussion/rant about how I feel about moving into my Leuchtturm. Even after typing out my thoughts I'm a bit conflicted still on what I want to do. But I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'm leaning toward just doing what works for me and trying different variations of that, but who knows what will happen! Happy Journaling! <3

Figge College Invitational | My Artwork in a Museum!

Happy December, you guys! I'm still in denial December is here already! I have so much work to do with homemade gifts and artwork, phew!

Anyways, I can't believe I didn't post this sooner! Earlier in the semester I was chosen as being one of seven students from my college to be showcased in the Figge Art Museum college invitational. It was my second year in the college invitational, two in the same year technically since the last reception was in February (they had it early this time around), and I was really hoping to win a prize this year with my series I had worked so hard on. Unfortunately, I didn't get anything. But I'm still very proud of my Twisty Trees and I intend on furthering the series even more once I have some extra time and ideas for it! I was also going to vlog this and have it on my YouTube channel for you all to see, but you'll understand why I didn't when you read further on.

If you've been following me for a while, you know I've had this series going since I was a senior in high school, and I feel like it has nowhere to go but up! Every time I make a piece for my series, I learn something from it, and it gives me a reason to try new color schemes, techniques, maybe a new media or texture I can utilize, there are so many possibilities and scenarios I can put these trees I've created in that it's almost overwhelming! I can truly see my progress and improvement through these pieces that it makes me ready to do more!

And I wouldn't have been able to further my talents without the help of my professor, David Murray! I was the first one to take his Portfolio Development class and I would honestly take it again if I could! He taught me so much about how a series works and what the best ones look like, and he always encouraged me to do more and strive for the best outcome of a piece, to help it reach its, and my, full potential. (But don't tell him I said all of this nice stuff, I'll never hear the end of it! ;)

The College Invitational had an awesome turnout, even more people than last year! It was so claustrophobic (and I usually don't get bothered by that kind of stuff) that it was hard to even see most of the artwork. The only time I saw my artwork was when these pictures were taken with me in front of it, other than that I tried my best to check out the other works, but I didn't even really get the chance to look at them closely like I wanted to. I was going to vlog, but with all the people talking to me, meeting up with old friends from past semesters, and just trying to maneuver around in there, it was impossible to even look at my phone let alone vlog any of it.

Overall, it was a very nice reception and all the people who placed totally deserved it! One of the seven students who were chosen from my college to be shown got honorable mention even! So even though I didn't get awarded anything, I'm glad the people who did place got what they did. Also, I had the BEST support group ever through this whole series and they're the ones who have come to all of my art shows: My mom, dad, and Austin! I couldn't ask for a better support group to always have my back. <3

I also have a bunch of friends that have my back too, and I know I can always come to them for critiques, fun conversations, and art talks! It was so nice to see everyone there, even some came in from out of town!!

I never really told anyone this, but I sort of set a very large ultimatum for this show. I've been in several shows and I've never placed. I got an honorable mention in the student show last year and I've been awarded 2nd place in the art department's magazine they put out every 2 years or so. But I've never won in an ACTUAL art show. And the closer graduation gets, the more I'm starting to doubt myself. I had put this massive ultimatum over my head, that if I didn't place in this show, art just wasn't my thing and I should move on and try and find something else for a career.

After all the prizes were announced, and I had come out empty handed, I actually didn't feel as crushed as I thought I would. Maybe I had talked myself into knowing I wouldn't get anything from this show that made me expect it, maybe I had grown up a little since my last show. I still don't really know why I was so calm about the fact that this series I had worked on, though it's just a small chunk of it, for so long hadn't won anything. My guess, now that it's been almost a month since the event, is that I'm finally accepting that art shows are all just the judge's opinions and not a reflection of my talent. There were plenty of art pieces there I personally would have had as first, second, third, and so on. But they were in the same boat as I was. I like to think I'm growing up a little bit when I can handle a loss like that, but even just being chosen to be in a museum is pretty impressive.

Am I still disappointed I didn't get anything from the show? You bet. Am I still going to quit art? Not in the way I originally planned to. I'm not "quitting" art, per say. I'm more accepting the fact that there's nothing, job wise, around here for what I want to do besides doing side jobs, commissions, etc. I do plan on opening an Etsy more toward graduation so I can hopefully have a side/fun income along with a new scary adult full time job. I still have a lot of research to do about that, but I'm excited for it because I feel I could actually be good at that kind of thing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if you feel like "quitting" a passion, or something you just enjoy doing, try looking at it from a different angle or figure out truly WHY you're wanting to stop doing something you enjoy. I figured out I'm bummed that I can't go somewhere and do MY art all day and get paid for it, but there's nothing I can do about that right now. So I'll make due with what I have, and what I CAN do at this time.

So hopefully there was something in this that inspired you to keep going, because I'm glad I decided to, and you should too. <3

Plan With Me | DECEMBER

Hello again! Today I'm sharing my December Plan With Me video! I'm SO proud of how my December came out, and my video actually ended up being slightly longer than I intended, but it has all good content, I think!

Plan With Me | DECEMBER

December is a major transition month for me. I'm adding and experimenting with a lot of things, so that way when I get to my Leuchtturm 1917 A5 Dot Grid Journal, I'll be totally prepared and know my style. December is the last month in my Moleskine ruled journal (A5 as well) and it's pretty sentimental to me. I found a calling I didn't know I had, and I've tried countless things to try and find my own style. Would I like it to be the really artsy and color style? Heck yes! Is it how I pictured? Heck no! And that's okay! The beauty of bullet journaling is that it's tailored to the user and for me little pops of color and fairly minimalistic is, surprisingly, what works best for me!

@haleyjournals

My first experiment was doing a monthly review and planning page for the first time, and I LOVED it! I always just went by the seat of my pants every month and experimented with every weekly and daily because I didn't know what worked for me, for sure, and I was trying out a lot of different things. But, after October I figured out what kinds of dailies worked for me, so I sort of planned around that for December. I am still trying to use weekly dashboards, but now that I've moved my habit tracker to a full page spread, it's not really useful besides it leaves a space for washi tape!

Washi tape is one of many things I'm incorporating into my December pages to bring a little interest and color into my planner. Being an artist and having a bullet journal is kind of a battle between being artsy and being practical/useful, but I'll talk more about that in my BuJo flipthrough post coming in January ;)

I was sort of sad with some of my spreads because they were all black and white and it just wasn't "me." So I've been slowly finding ways to incorporate color into my spreads more and more! Washi tape is a HUGE intro in December, as you guys saw in my washi video and blog post, and I'm keeping the blues/grays/silver/white/black theme for this month. I'm also introducing more doodles and hand lettering into my spreads. I usually have little doodles for the weather and hand lettering for certain days, headers, and I can't wait to do a Christmas/December lettering challenge! I LOVED the #lettertheoffice challenge by @thelittlestbujo on Instagram, it was SO much fun and it really got me into lettering. Sadly, I can't use my copics in my journal because they bleed way too much. So I'll have to settle with using my Microns, stabilos, and colored pencils. We'll see what happens!

So far I'm very pleased with how December came out in my bullet journal, and I explain a lot more in my video about how I planned it out, why I did certain things, etc. So please watch the video if you haven't already! (: Thanks for watching and reading!

New Schedule!

Hello again! I've finally figured out a good schedule that I think will work out for me and still give you guys the variety of content you want!

I'm really going to try and get into the habit of uploading to YouTube on Mondays again. Every Monday upload means a blog post! But, sometimes a series will pop up in my videos (travel vlogs, tutorials, etc.) and I won't want to post about every part, I'd rather do one BIG post about all the parts. So, sadly, that means all of you who only follow my blog would have to wait until the next few weeks for me to post anything.

Well no longer!

I've decided on a schedule that works for me, in my head anyway, and I can't wait to start uploading AND blogging regularly with this schedule. I can only hope I can find enough things to talk about that you all will enjoy! Again, it'll mostly be art-related stuff, but I plan on changing it up every now and then. Whether that would be a book review or a random discussion, maybe a tutorial? Who knows! The blog is my oyster! (Is that how that saying goes?) I also plan on never having the same topic for blog posts every week (I'll explain that a little later) so hopefully it'll keep things fresh!

SO my new uploading and blogging schedule will be:

MONDAY

YouTube Upload + Blog Post

THURSDAY

Blog Post + Occasional Extra Video

So let me explain a little bit. Monday is my usual day, and I've done it for almost a year now (crazy!!) and it works for me. So I'll obviously be keeping that, since I think once I get into a groove I'll be able to keep it, even during next semester. I'll be taking all art classes, except Children's Literature English class, next semester, so I think I'll have some time to make videos, even if they're bullet journaling ones. Thursdays were the best candidate for the second blog post day because if I have a smaller/extra video to upload to my YouTube, I usually blog about it on that day! So I figured, why not have a set day to do more blog posts?

The deal with Thursdays is it helps me keep things fresh and it will help me bring variety and more things to my blog rather than JUST posting about my YouTube videos. Now, I DO put extra content in these posts than I share in my YouTube videos (or else what would be the point of the blog posts) but I want more than just extra behind-the-scenes content.

So my plan is, if I upload an ART video on Monday and make a blog post about it, Thursday's blog post will be about something OTHER THAN ART. For example, bullet journaling, books, healing crystals, tutorial, discussion, anything really. I'll try to keep it art-related or creative-related, but I'm hoping with this new schedule set up I'll be able to share more than just my videos and make my blog a little more interesting, overall improving what I'm putting out for you all! I have a lot of interests and stories, so I feel this will make it a little more personal and give more of a variety for more than just artsy people who read my blog.

If that still didn't make sense, here's an example of what my schedule may look like:

• Monday - December Plan With Me (bullet journaling)
• Thursday - Healing Crystals Journey (hobby)
• Monday - YouTube video, no blog post (series)
• Thursday - Liquitex Basics Product Review (art / product review)
• and so on...

This way, even if I don't post anything on Monday because of a video series or I miss a week, you all are still getting a blog post every week, even if I miss a day! Hopefully you will enjoy this extra content, I can't wait to start sharing my interests and passions with you all a little bit more (:

Washi Tape | Haul + Collection

Hi again everyone! I'm happy to announce that I'm going to try REALLY hard in the next few weeks to get back into the habit of creating videos and blog posts regularly! Now, I probably won't be super regular for the last few weeks of the semester, because...you know...FINALS. All that fun stuff. I do have at least 3 or 4 videos edited / planned for uploading and filming that are sort of time sensitive, so they have to be done fairly soon!

WASHI TAPE | Collection + Haul

This week's video, kicking off my hopefully regular schedule, is all about my washi tape haul which is now my whole collection! After seeing beautiful bullet journal spreads using different washi tapes, I just HAD to take the plunge and try it out! This set from Michael's was the best bang for my buck, and the smaller trio set I got with it was 50% off because all washi products were buy one get one 50% off! So I got 48 rolls of washi tape for just over $30. Not. That. Bad. AT ALL!

I was originally looking for washi on Etsy, and although some prices were really good per roll, the shipping was outrageous! For one roll it was $2.50 and it would go up $0.50 everytime I added an additional roll. After doing the math, I would have only been able to get half as many rolls as I did with this haul. I don't think anyone realizes exactly how much planning went into this order. I searched everywhere and did so much math...I shiver just thinking about it, haha!

Overall, I'm really very happy with my big haul of washi tape. I have to say, my craving for washi has definitely been filled! I think I'll be good for a while! <3

A Surreal Experience - Meeting Jordan!

A few weeks ago I finally got the chance to meet one of my best friends, Jordan, face-to-face! We met on deviantART a looong time ago, and became friends very fast. We have our own series on each other's YouTube channels opening each other's Pen Pal packages, even. But we never got to meet each other in person until years later.

Within those years, we argued a lot. I mean, all friends argue right? After a while we sort of drifted apart and did our own thing for almost 2 years. And I don't think either of us realized how much we appreciated each other until we didn't have each other.

So after almost 2 years of not speaking, texting, etc. I got a text from Jordan while in my 3D Design class. I have to say, it was really odd and overwhelming at first. But she and her boyfriend were actually in my state for the first time, and mentioned that one of the only reasons she would even come to Illinois was to see me, and thought she'd take the leap to try and get ahold of me. After some conversation back and forth, I was so surprised that she had felt the same way I did during those two years: Like I was missing something in my life, but every time I had the urge to fix things I was too afraid to send anything. It was crazy to know she felt the same way. (Kind of sounds like a Hallmark movie, actually).

During the 5 days of catching up via Facebook Messenger, we caught up a little bit and I think both of us grew up a lot in the 2 years we didn't communicate with each other. We met up at a Popeye's  that was sort of a halfway mark for both of us (so neither of us were really driving a ridiculous amount of time compared to the other) and the feeling of seeing her car pull up and know she wasn't just this other person on the other side of my computer/phone screen was so surreal. (I was apparently taller than she expected because that was the first thing she said to me, haha!) We went inside and ate at a table all to ourselves and caught up for what seemed like minutes, even though it was an hour and a half before we had to part ways.

Between all the adulting and other stuff coming up between the both of us, it's hard to say when we'll be able to have this chance again, so I'm glad she got ahold of me when she did. It was truly surreal to meet her in person, after so many years of being best friends and then not hearing from her for a while.

It's nice to know time and distance hasn't really changed a thing between us. We're back to being best friends and I hope this time there's no end in sight.

Miss you already, Jordan!

:) <3

3 PAINT CHALLENGE | Cactus Family, Long Time No See!

3 PAINT CHALLENGE | Cactus Family

Long time no see, everybody!!

So sorry I've been away so long! My homework/studying load is CRAZY this semester, and I'm honestly more stressed with 3 classes than I was with 5. ANYWAYS, I saved this video from the end of the summer so that I could post it right after midterm, just to keep you guys entertained about halfway through the college semester grind! I'm really hoping to get videos up more often either toward the end or after the semester ends because I'm swamped from bell to bell right now. I'm still doing art, but it's mainly for my 3D Design class. Next semester I'll be taking 3 art classes and an English class, so hopefully I'll have more time and inspiration next semester to do videos!

I've also been MAJORLY into bullet journaling, and I actually feel like it might be part of my calling in life. I have a successful Instagram account (@haleyjournals) that I post to daily, so follow me there to learn about bujo!

Okay, back to the video!

I REALLY love how this video turned out, even though the lighting was messing with my camera a little bit. I hadn't watched it or listened to the narration since I edited it months ago, but I was surprised to hear it today and realize how well I had actually done this! I'm really proud of this video, and I can't wait to make more acrylic art videos in the future. I've been really inspired by succulents and cacti lately, since I'm now a succulent mom, and the last three pieces I've started are all succulent-themed. So you can tell where my brain was, haha! I'm really tempted to try this sort of piece out with other colors and sizes, and I'm hoping to be able to sell them since they don't take much time to make at all! This video only took an hour of my time to create, not including editing anyway, and I really enjoyed the layering and freeness of it all.

I'm also hoping to make blog posts a regular thing now. Most will probably be about 3D pieces or Bullet Journaling, but hey it's my blog I can post what I like to do, eh? ;D

Botanical Sketching with Darby

Hi all! Today I have an extra video that will hopefully put you in the artsy mood!

My friend Darby, who you've met before in our IRL Art Trade video, and I went to our local botanical center and drew from life! It was SO HUMID but it was so much fun!! We got to see some pretty sweet plants and flowers, and some REALLY big fish (that we also got to feed, hehe). We had made plans to go to the botanical center, but I don't think either of us had any idea how much fun we would have!

We went on the most humid day, and there was no difference between the climate controlled indoor area and the gardens outside, but it was one of the best real life drawing experiences I've ever had! We had some awesome chats and we relaxed to the sounds of birds, bees buzzing, and trickling water from the ponds and child play areas! And yes, we did go play in the kids area...don't judge.

After scoping out the place, we picked out the best spots for our sketching adventures! We saw all kinds of bugs and succulents, especially succulents <3, and by the end of our time there we each had at least a page full of sketches and we ended up buying two succulent babies so they can be pen pals when Darby goes away to art school. I propagated mine because it was growing incorrectly, and she named hers Peedee!

Overall, we had a pretty cool day! But enough of that, here's the video showing you all of it!

Botanical Sketching with Darby

First Impressions | LUKAS Studio Watercolors (Half Pans)

Hello everyone! This week I'm reviewing/giving my first impression of the LUKAS Studio Watercolor half pans.

I can't WAIT to start using these regularly. I'm not very good with watercolors yet and I can't seem to find these watercolors ANYWHERE anymore so I'm glad I took the leap and bought them when I did. I'll use them sparingly, haha ;) I got them from Jerry's Artarama and they have some REALLY good prices on art supplies! I've always heard of this website but I never really looked for it, I'm so glad TheFrugalCrafter on YouTube reviewed these because that's where I found them from. Her review videos are AWESOME and are so informative about each single product.

Without further ado, here's my video!

First Impression | LUKAS Studio Watercolors (Half Pans)

All links and other information is in my video description or it's mentioned IN the video! (:

Trying out Gouache!

Hello everyone, it's Monday again! (: I've taken a bit of a break from making videos, but luckily I've had some ready to go! I'm back at it, though! All of my upcoming ones are vlog-ish videos, but they pertain to art in some way, I promise! And hopefully they'll be fun to watch (:

This week I'm trying out Gouache and you guys get to see me fail! :'D I'll admit, I was trying to be funny during the whole video but I think me just not even knowing what I'm doing is funny enough, haha. I could see myself using these mainly for abstract pieces, and maybe for some multi media pieces in small amounts. But I don't see myself using these specifically for a painting by themselves. Not until I experiment and play with them a little more I think.

Trying out GOUACHE

I'll need all the advice I can get with these, so if you have any please let me know! I have NO clue what I'm doing! (:

A Pokemon-Filled Week!

Hi everyone! I didn't forget about you this week! I just wanted to make one big blog post for this week since this week had a main theme!

On Monday I uploaded my second fan art for my channel! I mention in the video that fan art is really hard for me to do now, because I feel brainwashed from college that fan art isn't okay. I used to ONLY do fan art and now it's scary for me to even attempt to draw. Pokémon, though, always has a special place in my heart <3 So it felt weird but it was a good kind of weird. Very nostalgic!

SPEEDPAINT | Ivysaur Family - POKEMON Fan Art

And today I uploaded a fun and simple vlog of Mirella and I going out and finding Pokémon on the new mobile game: Pokémon GO! We had so much fun! This game is seriously awesome and it's improving everyday! This game has gotten so many people I know who don't like exercise outside, including myself! We tried so many new things and found so many new places so far, and the game has only been out for about a week! The vlog today was 3 days out of the first week of Pokémon GO being released, and we were having so much fun we forgot to vlog most of the days we were out. But if you guys enjoyed we can always have a mini series of Pokémon GO adventures! (:

VLOG | First Week of Pokémon GO with Mirella

Hopefully with this exciting last week with all the Pokémon hype you guys will enjoy this week's selection of videos from my channel! <3

Pokemon Fan Art - Ivysaur Family

In honor of Pokémon GO and all of the recent leaks for Sun and Moon I figured I'd bump this video up to the top of my video upload queue!!

SPEEDPAINT | Ivysaur Family - POKEMON Fan Art

I really love this type of Pokémon fan art. It's simple, the Pokémon are interacting with their surroundings, and everything sort of feels like the artworks you would find on the Pokémon Trading Cards. I LOVE fan art that looks like it could potentially be on a trading card. To me they're just more fun to look at, even if they're fairly simple. And fittingly, my first starter I caught on Pokémon GO was Bulbasaur!

I feel like I should have more to say but it's almost 1am and I have to be up somewhat early tomorrow so I'll leave you to watch and listen to the commentary on the video. Also, I may have an extra video for this Thursday *twirls nonexistent mustache*. See you next week! <3

My Coloring Process

Hi all! It's a new week, meaning a new art video! (:

This week I'm sharing the final part of my "Process" trilogy, ending it with my coloring process! I REALLY love how this video turned out, and this trilogy in general, really. I never thought I'd be qualified or brave enough to make any sort of tutorial video, let alone three! Maybe in the future I'll do some on acrylic painting because that's my second strongest medium, by far. I'm really excited to see what else I can do with this!

My Coloring Process | "Twisty Tree" Series - Stripes

I have a lot more ideas coming up in the future, and I've written them all in my new Bullet Journal! :D I even made a new Instagram account strictly for bullet journaling, so if you'd like to follow it my username is: haleyjournals! I'm actually the most behind I've been on making videos in a while. And it's funny because I feel like I've been making a lot of videos but I only have 3 on backup now! I have one in the works, but this is still the least amount I've had on hand in a while!

If you want me to make a process/tutorial video on anything else, please comment here or on my video (preferably on my video) and let me know and I'll see what I can do!

Bullet Journaling!

Hi everyone! Another extra video for you peeps! :D

This week I started bullet journaling! I've always wanted to try it, but I never did much research on it until I spent half the day in bed being lazy and looking up stuff about it. Then that's where this video was made!

Starting My Bullet Journal

The notebook I used was a cheap $6 Greenroom Regular Journal from Target and I use a G2 Fine Black gel/ink pen. Links for those two things are in the description of the video! So far I really like my bullet journal! I'm always opening it through the day to see what's coming up next, and I really want to add more things to it but I'm really nervous, still haha! I've added a few more pages since the video was made (Tuesday). These are my pages so far:

• Index
• Year at a Glance
• Key/Legend
• June Calendar
• June Memories Page
• June 19-25 Weekly
• To-Do's by the end of June
• Inspirational Quotes

I'm also thinking of redoing my key because I forgot I needed to add colors for my different classes for this semester. But that can change whenever August rolls around (: That's the beauty of bullet journaling, you literally tailor it to JUST your needs. I LOVE IT! I get a lot of my inspiration for pages/layouts from Pinterest and watching flip-throughs of other peoples' bullet journals! My Planners and Agendas board on Pinterest is full of bullet journaling ideas, so if you'd like to take a look go ahead! (:

For a cleaner look on what I plan to add once July comes around, here's a list of my ideas!

• July Calendar
• Exercise Tracker/Habit Tracker
• Monthly Mood Tracker
• Redone Key?
• Quotes that go with every month
• Savings Goals
• Spending Log
• Yoga Habit Tracker
• Habit Tracker Page in general because I'm thinking of a lot more things haha
• Bills Tracker

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to make this work for school in August, but the beauty of bullet journaling is that you can redo it whenever you want, and however you want, since it's the user who tailors it to themselves! Right now I sort of like how my weekly page looks, but I'm going to experiment with the upcoming weeks to see how I can get it to work for me even better!

I'm off to obsessively pin things about bullet journaling! Have a nice weekend! <3

MOO Erasers and Canvas Paper Reviews

Hi everyone!

My video this week was an experimental painting for me, but it was finally a painting in my style for once on my channel! Hahaha.. I incorporated two product reviews into it mainly because 3 separate videos would have been too much, in my opinion. I do go over the products in the video, but I'll also put my reviews here.

MOO Erasers

These erasers are now my new favorite! I LOVE not having a billion little shavings all over my desk after finishing a sketch. These MOO Erasers are VERY nicely priced (about $2.50 for two eraser pack at Hobby Lobby) and they work very well, especially for us artists who make a lot of mistakes/change our minds a lot on lines, haha. I highly recommend these erasers because the more I use them the more I love them! The only bad part is that they smell HEAVILY of crayons when you first open them. In the video I tell my funny story about when I first opened them, haha. If you erase lightly you will still get a lot of tiny and thin shavings, but if you erase with a normal/heavy hand it make a longer rope, which means easier clean up! :D

Strathmore Canvas Paper

Okay, I'm sort of hit-and-miss with the canvas paper. I didn't like how "plastic-y" it felt/acted, but once I got thicker paint on it it worked just fine. I was trying to experiment with layering watered-down acrylic paint on a paper I wasn't familiar with and it just didn't work out how I wanted, haha. Overall, I think it's a really good alternative to buying real stretched canvases, especially if you don't have a lot of space. I'm lucky enough to have an extra closet where I store all of my extra canvases. The pad I got was 12 x 16 inches and it's one of those sizes where it could feel small but also feel large at the same time. For me, anyway. I'm used to painting larger than I draw and this was a nice happy medium. I feel if I went in with just regular straight up acrylic instead of watering it down (which is not something I normally do)

Acrylic SPEEDPAINT | Abstract Lion + 2 Product Reviews

I hope these reviews helped out! (: It's also mentioned in the video (probably in a more entertaining way) so click the link above to watch it! <3

"In Real Life" Art Trade w/ Darby!

Did an "irl" (in real life) art trade with my friend, Darby! She's awesome! I asked her to do this video with me probably a month in advance and I was so happy to hear that she had been thinking about it a lot and was really into it! And didn't judge me when I wanted certain shots/clips in my video, haha!

I know I keep making series but I do have a lot of ideas for them, I just have trouble finding the time, haha! And most of them are all bigger project videos so they take longer to make. However, these videos only take some heads up planning and a whole day to film! So I should HOPEFULLY be able to find some takers for these videos c:

IRL Art Trade | Darby

"The Grandfather Tree" Details

The Grandfather Tree | Watercolor, Ink + Copic SPEEDPAINT

Twitter photo of my grandpa and his piece!

The video is just to some nice music, because I was getting emotional every time I tried to record it so here are the details for this picture!

I used my Van Gogh watercolors for a majority of this piece, which was what I wanted to challenge myself with. I'm so used to my normal media that I wanted to branch out. I'm REALLY happy with how it all turned out, too, so that's good. I was really trying to do most of the shading with watercolors since I'm so new to them and I'm trying to experiment more. And I wanted a softer look for this piece and watercolors are good for that. I originally was going to do a winter scene but I figured out that might be depressing looking and I wanted it to be happy! So I wanted to use a lot of warm colors with a few cool places BUT that ended up not working because I have no self control haha. And I never really planned the background so I was working with nothing and didn't really know what to do with it. I also tried to use all that color theory knowledge I've been learning in college and I really like how it worked out. I challenged myself to put at least one layer of watercolor all over the paper before jumping in with Copics, because I feel I'm becoming too comfortable with my markers. CHALLENGES! Also I tried to make it look like sunlight was coming through some leaves and it turned into some sort of impressionistic style. I promise I'm not an impressionist painter that's just what's kind of happened in my last two paintings, haha.

After the watercolor I went in with my Copic Markers and added some shading to the lighter parts of the buck and the background to give it more depth. Then, after I was happy with the Copic details, I went in with my Speedball India Ink and dip pen and outlined the Twisty Tree. I wasn't sure if I wanted to outline the deer or not, so I did the tree first and decided not to because it would look more realistic instead of cartoony. And I think it gave a nice interest to it. Then I went in and added line thickness to the tree with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen that I recently bought (I might do a review soon) and added white details with my Sakura GellyRoll pen (:

I got it matted and framed at Hobby Lobby in just a simple light-colored wood frame and a "warm white" mat. That's all folks, hope you have a nice week! <3

"Arctic" Speedpaint + Mini Series Thoughts

Hi again everyone! As always, my weekly art video is up! (Almost late, was too busy getting a wicked sunburn today haha) Here's this week's video:

SPEEDPAINT | "Twisty Tree" Series - Arctic

Uploading this, I thought maybe I should elaborate more on what I want to do with this mini series. If you've been watching these since the beginning, you know I've speedpainted under half of these pieces. I do plan on making a tour of my mini series portfolio so my viewers can see them all in the order they're all in (which is important because there's a transition through it all). I know I'd like to do more Twisty Trees, just because they're part of my life now more than ever and I want to see how far I can push it, and I told my portfolio class professor I'd do more of them this summer. I guess I just don't know where it's going to end up.

I've decided I'm not going to transfer to another college right away, and I'm going to take a break before deciding for sure. This gives me time to strengthen my portfolio and my mini series. I think I'll definitely keep the one word theme going through it and try and see how I can stretch it out. But as of now I'd like to do something OTHER than my trees, since I had to deal with them a lot this last semester and I'd like to have some fun with fan art and paintings of my own this summer. I already have a fan art in mind! ;) *cough*Pokémon*cough* I'll probably start them up again toward the end of the summer and through next semester since I think I'll have more time (hopefully).

This "Arctic" piece is one of two I have left to upload, besides another bigger piece that has one in it but it isn't related to my series at all (even though it's probably one of my favorites). The other is the last part of my "Process" triology series, "Stripes" and you can see the sketch and lineart parts on my channel already!

I've also officially decided to upload extra videos on THURSDAYS if I have one to upload. These videos will probably be "vlog" type videos, whether it's a haul or collection/show and tell thing, or smaller pieces of artwork that didn't take much time or effort to make. I'm not PROMISING two videos a week, but mark your calendars for Thursdays and keep an eye out for extra videos on those days! ;D

I think that's all I have to say about my series and channel for now. Enjoy and thanks for reading! (:

My Lineart Process

Here's the second part of this video trilogy! Each part is explained/executed a little differently so hopefully that makes it more fun to watch! The Coloring Process will be up in a few weeks!

My Lineart Process!

My Plans for Summer

Hi all! Just a casual little post today. Figured I'd let you all know about what I plan to do on my YouTube channel during the summer!

Well, first off, I'm not looking for another job anytime soon because I'm fortunate enough to not HAVE to have one while in school. I'm deciding to be selfish for one last summer and spend it with family and friends, and most importantly do a TON of experimental artwork! I've lately felt like I'm in a growth spurt in my art skills that I'm having a hard time getting through. But lately I've found some cool things from just doodling and I've sort of had an "ah ha!" moment. I can't wait to show them with you all! <3 So I guess before I get TOO far into things, I'll show you the TENTATIVE list of videos I hope to upload in the next few months:

• Behind the Artwork video
• On/Off Twisty Tree speedpaints
• Fan art
• Doodling/Zentangle work
• Acrylic painting speedpaints
• #MerMay piece
• Gouache Trial vlog
• An "in real life" art trade vlog
• Mini Series portfolio tour
• Two remaining parts of my "Process" series
• Watercolor vs Watercolor review
• Art Book Collection
• Reference Book Collection
• Sketchbook tour (if I finish it)
• Crayola Challenge pt 2
• 3 Marker Challenge

These are just some ideas I have for over the summer, and I can guarantee there will probably be more to come from me! I've been contemplating on whether or not to upload TWICE a week over the summer. Maybe Mondays and Thursdays? I'm not really sure yet. I thought about doing what some YouTubers are doing now, where the "extra video" day would be a smaller/less significant video (vlog, simple speedpaint, etc) while the main upload day would be the "better" video. But I don't want to promise two videos a week because what if something comes up? So I think it'll be some sort of a pleasant surprise kind of thing for now and if I feel I can do two a week then I will for sure. I do have some videos that are slightly "smaller" and simpler than my normal ones I upload on Mondays but I feel if I uploaded them for my Monday video it would be sort of a let down. I feel I could probably keep up the occasional second video a week through the semester as well! So I think I'll implement that starting next week when I upload on Monday. I have a lot of cool videos already edited that have been waiting their turn to be uploaded!

I don't want to go into TOO much depth with the video ideas listed, so it can still be sort of a surprise, but I'm super excited to have this summer to really see what I can do! And my college's art department is letting students come in and use the painting room as a semi-open studio over the summer so I'll have a TON of better light for painting videos too!

That's all I'll say for now, any suggestions are appreciated! I'm always looking for do-able video ideas that my viewers would like to see! (:

HOORAY FOR THIS SEMESTER FINALLY BEING OVER!! :D

Painting Like Monet

Hey everyone! Back again with a weekly art video! This one is actually my Art History 2 research project. I'm turning it in this week so I figured it would be the best week to upload it! And surprisingly I got it to upload AT HOME in less than 15 minutes. Don't know how that happened considering it's a 13 minute video. Who knows, I'm not complaining! ;D

Painting Like Monet - ACRYLIC SPEEDPAINT

All of the colors of paint I used are in the description of the video, along with a link to the best place to get them from: Dick Blick! I tried amazon, like I said in the video, but when I looked closer they were all different prices for the same thing! Uncool!

I had a lot of fun with this project/style challenge. It was WAY out of my comfort zone but it's good to do that sometimes! (: Lately I've been trying some doodling/zentangle stuff and I was up until 3am today working on one in my art journal x'D Which I'm now converting into my doodle book. I've also done some watercolor stuff in it but it's hard to work in with watercolor. Maybe I'll do a blog post and/or video about that later ;)

Enjoy! <3

Dick Blick Warehouse Haul

Here's a little haul from about a month ago when I had a road trip with my friend Nicole and we went to Dick Blick in Galesburg, IL! This Dick Blick has a HUGE warehouse that has RIDICULOUS deals, and most are because of very small flaws in the packaging, so you're getting a smokin' deal with great supplies! It's also good for trying new things because you're not spending a fortune on something you're not sure if you'll even like. I have a few items in this haul that are new to me, so here's this week's video!

DICK BLICK Warehouse Haul

3 Marker Challenge!

Back again with the weekly art video:

3 MARKER CHALLENGE!

I'm really excited to post this, because I was SO nervous to do this challenge for the first time and I'm so glad I did! I got pretty easy colors for my first time, thank goodness, but I feel like I could definitely go for a harder round of the 3 Marker Challenge in the future. I wanted to try and get one marker from each of my baskets, but I couldn't tell which ones I had chosen from, so I ended up getting some pretty similar colors..oh well! Better luck next time!

Art Collective Trip to St. Louis!

Here's that extra post I told you readers about! ;D If you've been keeping up with my art channe, twitter, and tumblr, you've noticed this last week I've been uploading THREE extra videos! These videos are the vlog montages I took while my art collective was in St. Louis! This was the first big weekend trip the club has ever taken, and I'm so glad that my group was able to go. They're such a great group of people and I'm so grateful that this club has brought us together. I truly feel like I have friends now I'll have for the rest of my life.

Enough with the sappy talk, I'll start with Day 1 of our trip!

St. Louis Trip VLOG - PART 1

This was a pretty awesome first day, because we got to explore around downtown St. Louis on foot for a little bit, eat some really good food, check out the sculpture garden, and go to the famous City Museum! We also found a pretty cool comic book store on the way back to the museum, I felt like I was in Big Bang Theory! My uncle and aunt that are locals in the St. Louis area told me about the City Museum and how there are random buses and planes suspended in air you can just go climb and jump on! I honestly thought they were overemphasizing it, BUT I WAS WRONG. In the vlog you'll see the bus hanging off the roof, and the planes suspended in air with kids climbing through wire mesh tunnels from each one. IT WAS INTENSE. And the entire place was just fun, colorful, and very creative! Before that, we went to the Citygarden (sculpture garden) and we were surprised to find out that we could CLIMB on the sculptures! We got some pretty cool pictures and footage from that place!

St. Louis Trip VLOG - PART 2

Day 2 was pretty cool! We went to Hardee's for breakfast and headed to the St. Louis Art Museum! That place was so big, I only got through maybe an eighth of it before we went to the gift shop and café and then headed to the zoo right afterward. The museum was very quiet, and because we were younger the security guards followed us like vultures. There was a time when I was in the Impressionism room by myself, and this guard literally stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, STARING at me. Like bro, take a picture it'll last longer. I personally felt pretty uncomfortable at the art museum, but I was super excited to head to the zoo! The Saint Louis Zoo was literally right down the street, and even though it was busy, we only had 3 hours there, and we barely saw a fourth of the entire zoo, I had a blast! :D The butterfly dome and the sea lions were probably my favorite parts of the zoo that we were able to see. I can't wait to go there sometime with Austin and see the entire thing! And I will remember NOT to wear flats. That was a bad idea. After the museum and the zoo, we went to the BEST ribs/bbq place ever. I think it was called Sweet Fire or Sugar Fire ribs...I can't remember but I've been craving bbq everyday since we ate there and I CAN'T BE TAMED.

St. Louis Trip VLOG - PART 3

Day 3 was the shorter of the three days because we left right after the arch and started heading home! It's also the shortest vlog too (only about 3 minutes). We ate Panera for a late breakfast/early lunch and it was AMAZING! It's called St. Louis Bread there, though, I think because Panera originally started there? That's what I've heard but I'm not sure if it's true or not. It tasted better than the one back home, so that's a plus. The City Hall was pretty cool too! Very nice to look at on the inside and it was a lot bigger than I thought haha. There's a cool part in the vlog where we're in front of the City Hall, and then when we're up in the arch you can see where we were standing! On our way home we stopped by the Pink Elephant Antique Mall that we spotted on the way to St. Louis. It was so cute, and just really unique! It was built out of an old school and their dippin dots and funnel cake were AWESOME.

So that's all the St. Louis stuff I can think about to talk about! All three vlogs are linked beneath each picture, so you can watch them all! Subscribe for weekly artsy videos, and more travel vlogs will be coming in the future! <3