Meet Rachel Whetzel

I am excited to introduce Rachel to you as she welcomes us into her world of creativity. We all have creativity in us..God gave us this gift. Each month we will explore the many different ways we use our creativity to benefit ourselves and others. Rachel's creative outlet is through Art. She has enriched her own life and encourages others to find their own inner artist and explore what is hidden deep with in them. She is the owner of two creative challenge blogs Guttergirlz and A Year in the Life of An Art Journal where she challenges us monthly to dig a little deeper. She is the creative director of Tally Scrappers and her dream is to start a business where she can share, teach and inspire the love of art in children. Above you will find my own Tribute Layout to Rachel..She has certainly enriched my life. I chatted with Rachel a while on Sunday and here is what she had to say.





Susan: When did you fall in love with Art?

Rachel: I have always loved art in one form or another. When I was a child my mom always encouraged me and signed us up for classes in art, drawing and watercolors.

Susan: You have inspired so many to Art Journal and creatively scrap their story Rachel. Tell me, who was your inspiration?

Rachel: Well my mom was really my first inspiration and it was she that told me that Emily Falconbridge was hosting a art journal challenge Deck of Me on her blog. After that I starting looking up resources on Art Journaling and ran across the book Journal Revolution Rise Up and Create by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino .It was then that I started to own the artistic side of myself. I knew I was an artist.I always thought in order to claim the title artist one had to make a living at it. This isn't true.

Susan: Rachel, there are so many people that would love to start on this journey of Art Journaling and scrapping but don't know where to start. What is your advise for them?

Rachel: First I would say NOT OT LET OTHER PEOPLE DEFINE WHAT YOUR ART IS. OTHER PEOPLES RULES DO NOT APPLY TO YOU. There are no rules..only self imposed ones.

I would join a group where people encourage you and appreciate your art.Find one that you are comfortable with. A few I would recommend are Guttergirlz,A Year in the Life of An Art Journal and Tallyscrappers.

I personally love the miniature or ATC size art journals because they are easy to keep up with. You don't ever feel like you are bitten off more than you can chew.
You can find two of them going on now at A Year in the life of an Art journal and also on Emily's Blog.

Susan: Thanks Rachel for sharing your insight, wisdom and resources with us.
As a special Thank You for taking time to share I will be sending you a copy of Living The Creative Life.

The following is taken directly from Rachel's Blog Memories of Mine to Thine and written by Rachel:


Art Journaling... or really, ANY form of creativity... at the risk of sounding totally off the deep end... it's something I don't know what I ever did without!! Still, when I'm encouraging other people to take the leap and try it for themselves, it's hard to get them to take the leap and TRY it. They have reasons why they can't or won't... and so, to all of you who might be feeling that this isn't "for" you...
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't be intimidated. You have creativity in you. You've always had it in you. It's been there from the day you were born. It will be there until you die. What you do with it is up to you. When we are children, we BELIEVE that we are creative. We don't doubt it... but then somewhere along the way, someone, or something, tells us that we DON'T have it. Or that what we have isn't good enough. Or that we HAVE to color inside the lines, and that skies can't be pink, and trees can't be purple. That grass can't be red. But without pink skies, there would be not magical sunsets and sunrises. Without purple trees, there would be no America the Beautiful. Life is NEVER in the lines. There are rainbows all around us. They tell us that words have to be said just right, or that we have to say so much that ANYONE can understand. That's NOT what art journaling is about!! It doesn't MATTER if no one else knows what encrypted message to yourself you've written. It doesn't matter if you are simply embracing the idea of another human. It doesn't matter if your paper matches, or if your embellishments are acid free. It doesn't matter if you know HOW to use a paint brush, or how to apply the paint. What matters is the CREATIVITY that you allow to be inside you once again. What matters is connecting with that part of yourself that we so often deny. What matters is the experiment. There is a kid in you that knows that there is beauty in simply scribbling one color all over a page. That child in you knows that this simple thing alone is enough. The kid in you knows that there is beauty in getting painty fingers. The beauty of smelling the glue as you paste things down. You have it in you, but you can't BE creative if you don't exercise your creativity. You have to let it breathe. You have to give it sunlight. Think of it as a seed. Waiting under the earth for the winter to end. If you don't let it see the sun, it will grow and bloom. It will always be IN you, but you MUST let it out for it to grow.

Now you see why she is such an inspiration in my life. Rachel's blog (Memories of Mine to Thine) her challenge blogs (Guttergirlz and A Year in the Life of an Art Journal) as well as Emily Falconbride's challenge blog (e) can all be accessed from the blogs I follow at the side.You can also access Tally Scrappers where Rachel is the art director and which I am proud to be a member of.

Now Rise Up and and Create!

Share with me your creative story. How do you create? How did you start?