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