creative collages

Ever since I can remember, I've had a knack for collaging. I remember being a little girl of about 8 years old, laying on my bedroom floor with a pair of scissors, a glue stick and surrounded by magazine clippings. I would cut out all different things and put them together on a piece of paper and hang them up in my room. It was always my creative outlet because I never felt that I could draw, but always felt the need to create.

This need to collage only grew as I got older. It always made me feel better to be able to complete a creative project and create something that I felt was beautiful and personal to myself. I would use these collages to decorate binders and journals as well as make them with someone in mind and gift them to friends or family. They always seemed to be a perfect gift, especially to my mum who received many, and seemed to enjoy every one of them.

I credit my grandma for teaching me how to collage because I always remember her cutting scenes out of magazines and deco-paging wooden boxes with the images. She also had a framed collage for each of her grandchildren in her living room. I loved looking at them and asking about when the pictures were taken. As I started getting into crafts more, I discovered that many people used collaging to create "Vision Boards" which are basically collages or images and words that embody what you want to do or who you want to be. Vision Boards are meant to be placed in a place where you see them often to remind you of your goals and dreams. I took that to heart because that was what I had been doing anyway in a sense, the things that I collaged were always things I like and thus things that I wanted to be surrounded by. Be it a beautiful flower, or the picture of a dog, my collages were always full of things that I wanted to embody and include in my every day life.

The highlight of my "collaging career" came when I was featured in my absolute favorite blog of all time, it was then called "Hip Tranquil Chick" and is now called "Tranquility du Jour". Either way, having a picture of my most personal art form was such an honor and I still relish in the thought that others were able to see my collage. You can see the post here: click here to see my collaging debut!

Here are some pictures of some of my collages to give you an idea of what I like to do.





These two are the front and back covers of a "creativity binder" that I've had for a couple of years now. These are all magazine cut outs except for a few things that I printed from the computer. (And the ones that were featured on Tranquility du Jour!!!)

I also did some a couple of nights ago. They are the front and back of the new planner that I just recently got. I wanted to add a personal twist to an ordinarily boring black cover. I used pictures that I printed from the computer, images of things that I love or inspire me and also included personal photos of family which added more of an intimate twist to it. In order to preserve the pictures, I "laminated" it with clear packing tape!

I strongly encourage you to give collaging a try. There is really no wrong way to do it. It's so therapeutic and is a really great relaxer for a week day night. I love laying out on the floor with all my supplies, a great episode of "Friends" on the TV and my dogs laying at my side! :) Please feel free to show me any pictures of collages that you have done! I'd LOVE to see them!

Ciao for now,

Kayla xx