Heart-Themed Weekly Planner

I love making valentines, and this year, had extra painted hearts leftover from my card-making.  You can see my Valentine's cards post here.

Needing a new weekly planner page, I gathered up a fistful of hearts, a few pens, some painted papers and a glue stick to create a collage page.

When I collage, I lay things out on the page, and when it looks sort of pleasing, I glue them down.  I used to try to make perfect collage compositions, which we all know isn't possible.  Sometimes I would abandon a collage creation without gluing things down.  I eventually learned to listen to my intuition, lean into the imperfections, and my creativity flowed naturally.

Now I know that when a piece looks imperfectly pleasing, it's time to glue it down.  

That's what I did in my planner page.  Then I added the days and events.

Following a process, even if your inner critic doesn't believe you're doing it right, helps to get the creativity flowing.  Step-by-step, you make something based on your intuition; something unique and beautiful.  Something that reflects your own inner beauty.

And starting with a low-stakes activity like making a weekly planner page can help you to build your art-making skills and try out new ideas.

Here's my step-by-step process for making a collage planner page:

1. Gather a few materials that catch your artist's eye -- they only have to be interesting to you.  You don't have to use them all.

2. Tear or cut out some shapes or pieces of the collage material and move them around on the page.

3. Listen for that weird little voice inside you (your Intuition) that quietly says "Yes." or "no" or "turn this piece upside down."  I've never heard my Intuition shout.  It speaks softly, gently, and often surprises me with unexpected ideas. 

4. When the collage pieces look sort of interesting or pleasing to your artist's eye, glue them down with wild abandon. If this feels scary, remind yourself that you are allowed to paint over anything you don't like with acrylic paint or gesso, or simply cover over it with more collage.

5. Add any other elements you'd like -- a wash of watercolor or ink, some colored pencil, whatever appeals to you.

6. Add in the days, dates, & appointments.

7. Step back and admire what you've created, with the option to add something else if you like.

8. Enjoy your days, knowing you started the week with creativity!

Happy Creating!