Create Your Life Book is a truly uplifting and inspirational guide to self-fulfillment through art. Tamara Laporte's gentle voice leads readers through 18 step-by-step mixed-media projects designed to overcome personal challenges and encourage positive self-worth. With contributions from talented guest teachers, this book offers a rich variety of artistic expressions that will not only spark creativity but also foster personal growth and healing. A must-read for anyone seeking courage, gratitude, and self-love on their creative journey.

Art books are my favorite , they are so relaxing and we learnt a new thing. This book explains about mixed media art........

While an interesting concept and beautifully illustrated, this book was more fun to flip through than useful as a practice going forward.

The publisher was kind enough to provide me with a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own and honest.

This book is beautiful and inspiring. I never thought I would actually use anything from it because I have no intentions of creating a Life Book but boy was I wrong! I'm happy to say that there are so many techniques and inspiring ideas in this book that any artist can find something from this book. I love the way the artists find purpose in the art that they are creating. My favourite projects are Follow the Light and Looking Inward. I have tried out some of the techniques used in this book on other art projects but I will be honest in saying I haven't done a full project. I am looking forward to using them this year though to help guide my mediation practice and to fill my space with positive energy. I highly recommend this book for any artist, but especially those that want inspiration for pieces with a specific purpose or those that would like to create a life book. Who knows, maybe one day I will have one!

I would have loved to read and try to projects. I simply had an issue that happened in my Kindle and the complete file was not able to be retrieved. =(

Very sweet, creative guide to use art in your everyday life. The artist and author, Tamara Laporte, is famed for offering unique online workshops designed for self-discovery and personal development. Tamara's original techniques make the entire process fun and fantastical.

This is a beautiful book and it is well written. I love the colors of LaPorte’s drawings and her project instructions are easy to follow. I am purchasing this book for my library collection.

A beautiful book and ideal for a beginner wanting to get into journaling. The book is laid out in a series of lessons stepping the reader though change, let go and growing yourself.
The lessons are lovely, easy and fun to do, I just found that at the end everyone doing this project and following the lessons would have a replica of this book - therefore my opinion the this is good for a beginner. I would have like a few more opportunities of making it your own - although there is nothing stopping anyone from doing different visuals and creating there own pages.
I enjoyed this and it is a good basis to start on and get the creative juices flowing.

Read and loved this book; and will no doubt continue to read and love this book every year, because every year will be different! A beautiful, bright, colourful guide to help you process what is going on in your life, your head and dare I say it for fear of being called 'hippy' - your soul!
The older I get, the more into self-reflection and self-development I find I am getting; that's not to mean I am getting more into myself and becoming selfish, but exploring how I tick in order to make sense of the world around me. We encourage children to do it all the time, but why not continue into adulthood and use the same beautiful methods of words and picture, be creative and enjoy the process!

Wonderful book. I was really inspired. So much so that I've bought lots of crafting materials and ordered a hard copy. Cannot wait for it to be delivered.

I love this book! Over 18 projects, you are encouraged to try new art techniques while thinking about different aspects of your life - it's like art therapy in your own home. I did at first think perhaps some of the projects would be a bit cheesy, but actually they're quite lovely in generating feel-good moments. And, anything that gets me dabbling back with art after far, far too long can only be a good thing!

Gorgeous step-by-step instructions on using art to explore yourself. Even if the style of art is not to your personal taste, I recommend trying the exercises, exploring the materials, as a meditation to take you out of your everyday self. Some great mixed-media techniques, if you lack spray inks, try watering down paint in cheap spray bottles instead (alcohol spray inks will give better blending results in general). A great book for the new year!

Overall: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Ideas: 4/5
Cover: 4/5
--------------------
Originally I expected it to be a workbook instead of an artwork instruction book, so after I finished reading it I was a little bit disappointed, but the book is fully illustrated, printed in color and some artworks were pretty nice, so overall I do like it. I liked the idea of the whole project --- since that I've always believed that art is a good way for self-healing and self-discovery --- but I hoped there were more kinds of artworks, different in style. Good book anyway. Thank you, NetGalley.

Excellent instructive guide for the beginner of art journaling for therapeutic use. Instruction is clear and concise.

When I saw this on Netgalley, I know I had to try to get it to review.  I realized that I need the actual book to be able to sit down to learn this.  If I had a copy on my ipad, it would have been easier for me to read it better tan in the Adobe Digital Editions program.

The author explains what a life book is.  She wants people to find their creativity.  Time is spent on what art supplies is needed.  She breaks the book down into projects with how you can heal yourself.  For example, Projects 1-4 are under the title letting go.  I absolutely love the Zen Butterfly.  I can see me working on this one.  I love that there is Zentangle in it.  That is something else I have wanted to learn, but time has not been kind.  Each project is broken down into sections on a 2 page spread showing the reader actually what is coming next.  Another 2 page spread shows how to put it all together. 

Love the "No One Alive is Youer than You" project using a quirky bird.  I also loved the  Seeds of Love project.  I take from this book is that I need to slow down and learn the items I have been wanting to do.

☆☆☆☆
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommend this book? Yes! Author? Yes!
Read more from this author? Yes!

Happy Reading!
Melissa

Love, love, love this book! I'm a huge fan of Tam's courses, and have taken many of her classes. She even offers a free course on her website willowing.org. Check her out, you won't regret it! This is her first book, a and I hope there's many more. Love her style, and the book is beautiful. I received a advanced e-reader copy for free, and still bought the book. She's also included other artists to offer a little variety. Not only does she teach her art skills, she also gives inspirational motivation to others through her own journey and struggles. Buy this book for yourself, but as gifts to anyone who wishes to expand their creative skills.

Let me just say: I love this book. It's basically half self help book and half arts and crafts. Mixed media art has always fascinated me because I am so very particular and the idea of just gluing and pasting and adding on things OTHER than paint terrified me! This book helped me learn to loosen up and not worry so much. Art should be fun, it should make you happy. It should not frustrate you. This book walks you through multiple projects step by step showing you how to create your own work and also giving you a little lesson in the meantime (meditation, self love, exploring your own life, etc). It is truly lovely and I can see myself going back to this time and time again to work on some of the projects. The art is so very beautiful and colorful. Going through this book was therapeutic and exactly what I needed at this point in my life.

This was a beautiful book to explore. Full of stunning colors and art projects. It was well laid out with gorgeous graphics and interesting fonts. We start off with a small introduction and then move into a detailed list and information about the art supplies needed.

The book is then broken up into the following chapters. Each chapter includes detailed step-by-step instructions for creating your own projects (18 in total)...

-- Letting Go, Manifesting & Celebrating
-- Self-Love, Grounding & Being Present
-- Honoring & Healing
-- Transformation, Strength & Gratitude
-- Binding Your Life Book
-- Final Words of Encouragement

A beautiful book that would make an excellent gift this holiday season!

First of all, I will say that I love Tamara Laporte's art, and when I first picked this book up, I was skeptical about how I could possibly make anything nearly as beautiful as the projects she describes and demonstrates here. But... my skepticism diminished as I read through each project, realizing that while maybe I can't draw as well as she can, there are many projects in the book that don't require that fine talent at all! My particular favorite project is the gratitude blessings mixed media page that consists of writing what I'm grateful for on little slips of collage paper, then rolling them up and tying them with ribbon and adhering them to a beautiful collage. Mine doesn't look exactly like Tamara's but it looks just like ME and I love it. I also appreciate that there is so much more to this book than just directions for completing each project. Tamara and the contributing authors each include background on the project, as well as suggestions for other ways to incorporate things like gratitude, strength, transformation, self-love, healing, and affirmations into our daily lives.

Some of the projects seem a little advanced or not to my taste, but some are very beautiful and I can’t wait to try them. I love the inspiring philosophy and spirit of this instructional art book.