OMG! It's like I am you!!! In every single word you wrote or said in this video!!! This is so highly motivating and yes, it's great to look at our beginnings, especially after such a long tie of crafting! Thanks for this video Dina:) xo

Thank you for sharing this. You are a gift. An absolutely unapologetic honest vulnerable human. LOVE you.

Oh Dina! THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sharing your artist origin story. I can relate to these reflections immensely and soooooo appreciate you sharing something so personal. This is a perfect example of connecting on a kindred artsy level. THANK YOU!!! :-) :-) :-)

I am so glad that you shared your "first art journal". I feel the same way most of the time; being inadequate. That my art isn't good enough. My inner critic yelling, "who do you think you are anyway?" It can definitely be debilitating to try and move past those thoughts and put something, ANYTHING, on the page. Thank you so much Ms. Dina.

Thank you so much for sharing your art, your thoughts and your wisdom! 💕😊💕

Thank you so much for sharing yourself with the world. We ALL feel this way about ourselves at one point. I was always so afraid of making a mistake that I never went forward until I took an art journaling class near my home. It truly freed me and now I enjoy my art.

This is the first video of yours I've watched. I'm brand new to the world of art, and I can totally relate to everything you said in this journal. I've always considered myself crafty, but not artistic. I can't draw, can't shade, have a crap eye for colors. I can follow patterns (knitting, cross stitch, etc), but have never been able to do anything I felt was truly original. A couple of years ago I got into creative planning, and it's taken me down a bit of a rabbit hole. My journaling has gotten steadily more creative, and the other day I did my very first art journal page. I'm adjusting to shedding my perfectionism, enjoying the process, and not focusing so much on the result. Hearing that other artists go through the same things at the beginning makes me so happy. Makes me feel less of an imposter. Makes me feel like maybe I am an artist, after all. Thank you. 💜

everything written hit home for me but when you got to the page about your friend's diagnosis it gave me shivers because my dad passed from that exact brain tumour. hugs for sharing your world with us.

On the one page with the housewife by the fridge . I read " I hate feeling like a MAID" . Yes. Yes. Yes!!!! A thousand times yes. I feel like I pick up the same toys and the same things over and over and over. It's so frustrating. And now that everyone is home it's even worse 😭. I have to learn how to let those things go and take time to go my art room and create something as a way to keep my sanity. It's so hard to let go sometimes.... I really enjoyed this video Dina. Thank you for sharing such a personal journey with us.

I had tears in my eyes when you read that first page because I totally relate to that.

I’m just beginning my journey into art journaling and mixed media. I love creating but wasn’t sure what I’d want to express on those journal pages. I feel blessed that you invited me into your art and your thoughts. I’m inspired and hopefully more confident to say what I feel. Thank you!

I love art journaling, it so freeing. If what’s in my head doesn’t translate to my hands, I just move on. It is for me to play and try new products and techniques. And sometimes I really like what I did. Thanks for all your inspiration and techniques.

So cool!! Thank you for sharing your visual walk down memory lane. You a wonderful writer 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you for this Dina - you are so authentic - I love your honesty. It was extremely helpful and hopeful.

I saw your first journal flip on your Insta live and took notes. I secretly wished you saved it on your blog! Ah this one makes me giddy happy 😊 Thanks Dina for this. Really grateful to you 🙏🏻

So glad these videos are still out here in yt land. Loved this look into your early work! 🤍

Dina, thank you so much for sharing this. I have been watching your daily lives (delayed) and totally loved the things you have taught and shared. This though has been so empowering. I was leading an art therapy group for the first time at my work when the Covid isolation started and brought it to a halt. When I can start it up again I want to share this with my clients because the thoughts and concerns you share in here are exactly the feelings I'm hoping to help clients overcome. Thank you for sharing this.

That metal frame around your photo on the first page made me smile. I still have some in my stash.pages And I have pages like that first 1, pages because I've walked away at times and had to come back and start all over fighting against the voices in my head telling me I'm "not really an artist". Sincerely; TFS

Very interesting‼️. Because yes, we all have the same thoughts & doubts even tho we know we shouldn’t. I know what my shortcomings are - I don’t practice enough & the self criticism‼️. Thanks for showing us we’ve all done it.💚💜

How great of a find!. It speaks to me..except I never really wrote it down. Thanks to you, I was inspired to push ahead and practice and enjoy the ride...I still don't consider myself an artist. ...maybe just a creative person trying new techniques or products. I have all my journals..so much fun to go back and remember. Love what you do!

all of us has to start somewhere in art. it may not be what we would like to see on the page. but that is how we learn,grow,and push on with it. if you don't try then you give up altogether! i get frustrated and quit. but then i come back and try,try again. we are all on the art journey some of us are getting there,and some of us are afraid to try. but when you get your feet wet and do what you love or don't like the way it looks,just keep going and after awhile we achieve what we want to achieve in our art. i don't care how it looks. just as long as i am having fun and letting everything go on a page and creating is how we get there with our art journey. :)

Definitely appreciated this! Identify with a lot of what you have recorded in your first journal x

Thank you for your honesty and openness.

thank you for sharing from your heart and your authentic journey.

Thanks for sharing this. I have so many art supplies, not used, in boxes, insane! I know I can do it, but the massive hoard now disorganized is overwhelming. Lost in just wishing, but not doing. So, first step, no more supplies needed, organize, park my tush and JUST DO IT!!!!~> for "me". Yup, got tons of YOUR stuff....just got gloss sprays!

Wow! Thank you so very much for sharing this!

Loved seeing this. Thanks for sharing 🥰

I can totally relate to this as this is exactly how I am feeling now. One thing I learned recently from you and Carla Sanheim is that I have to let me self love the process. Learn the process and explore it. I don’t have to follow any rules. Find my own style. The last couple days I have honestly had a lot more fun. Soon I am gonna try making my own stencils to use as well as use the many ones out there :)

This I can totally relate to be a mother of 3boy one toddler and one school age I see my self in your writing and I feel the same way..but I know that art make me happier and I can be a better mother wife friend etc..self care is looking out for ur well being..I'm trying to learn this and that is not be selfish. But making you be a better version of your self...I can only try..

That was VERY interesting.........I wish I had done something like that. I guess I could start now as I am fairly new at art journaling and don't think very highly of my own work....but my husband loves it and is very encouraging!!!! He thinks every page I do is wonderful!!!! Thank you, Dina!! BTW, I missed your Ranger video yesterday and I can't find it anywhere today!! I really wanted to see it but I had to set up a Zoom with my band members - every Friday for Happy Hour, we play virtually!!! It's a lot of fun!!!

Love this!

What a superb share.

Takes me back to my own thoughts from when I started and still today. Thanks as always for sharing.

This took me back and at the time it was indeed what everyone was doing. I was teaching journaling with a twist at a scrapbook store back then. :)

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your heart in this video! It IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL! LOVE your work. Love from Texas, Melissa

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 😢

What a fabulous share, and yes I recognise the sentiments and appreciate that we are on a creative journey .

OMG! This is like opening a time capsule. What an amazing first journal. You haven't changed, you have battled all your inner demons & put them on the page for eternity. It really touched me. I have my very first journal from 2014. Some of the pages are a disaster, but I'm proud of them nevertheless, because even when they failed to match my inner vision, I bravely kept going giving a voice to my idea & getting it down. Some of the pages were lovely, not perfect. Nowhere near the art I create now, but experimental. The good pages were when I ignored my inner critique. I put them up on Pinterest, good & the bad. I am no longer ashamed of my art( though I do cringe looking at some)

Love it.

Been there. Done that. Didn’t write it down. Sometimes hard to make it past instead of present. Thanks.

This is the first of your videos that I’ve seen and I loved it. I’m still fairly new to even the concept of art journalling and I’ve been confused by the mix of beautiful decorative pieces or sketch / practice / technique books. They are all wonderful but I’ve been searching for what I think of as *journalling* i.e. inner journey / exploration that incorporates but is not limited to words. This video made me think YES! Thank you.

Hi Dina! Oh my gosh.... this is like the song "Killing Me Softly!" I could have written every page if I had the guts to actually journal in my journals. I'm going to take a spiral bound I have and start journaling for real in it. Thank you for inspiring me to reach out. ❤ Laura m 🦋

Thank you! This was amazing! Why do we feel like we either have to be "professional" artists, or not at all. Why do we not know this is a common journey? Thank you for sharing this start of your journey! Art journaling has been a mystery to me; is it art, is it journaling? The answers are yes, and whatever we want to make it. I kind of "get it" now. Thanks

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We are the worst critic 😖😖