Power Words for June Journalling Prompts + DIY Garden Stones and a Frog Makeover

June 11, 2024

Hello! Last month, you journalled about “The Deep Stuff”TM using May’s prompts to help you gain perspective about your writing and your career. You did such an awesome job thinking about what you want to write and what you need to move forward—both are important to “seeding” (pun intended) your future as a writer. It will take time for those ideas and your plans to take root. There is absolutely no shortage of patience required when it comes to writing.

This month, your mission is simple: pick a meaningful verb to journal about and use as your mantra. This word (or two-word phrase) helps keep you grounded, motivated, and focused on your writing. Some examples of “power words” are:

  • Inspire

  • Create

  • Imagine

  • Reach

  • Focus

  • Dream

  • Submit

Then, once you’ve got a word in mind, simply journal about why it’s important to you. Words, especially for writers, have power—find and use your words wisely!

This month, I’d also like to share a creative exercise with you. That power word you chose? Find a stone and channel your creativity to paint your word on it so you won’t forget!

DIY Garden Stones

Garden stones are painted, flat rocks that add a touch of color to an indoor or outdoor space. I recently learned what they were and painted them for a fun shindig. Taking inspiration from this exercise, I’m sharing the instructions and materials for you, too.

Recommended Materials

Instructions

  1. Wash your stone. Before you get started, wash your stone. Dust and dirt will damage your markers’ nibs.

  2. Choose colors. Then, take a look at the color of your stone. Mine were medium grey and that affected how the colors showed up in the final design. High contrast colors, like fluorescents paired with a standard hue, are always a good choice.

  3. Select a design. Before you draw on your stones, figure out what you want the saying to be. Then, think about what kind of illustration you want and find a reference. I recommend sticking with simple, like a line drawing you can embellish or the outline of a photo you’ve taken.

  4. Mark the Outline. Using your tracing pen, mark the design and the words on your stone. The tracing pen helps you position your letters and image so you don’t accidentally misuse the space; unlike the oil-based markers, it’s okay if you make a mistake with the tracing pen. If you misjudged your space, wash the ink over the stone, let it dry, and try again.

  5. Color from dark to light. When your design is all set, grab your darker markers and color with them first. This will allow you to highlight over darker tones. (If you’re not sure how your selected colors will show up, shake up the markers and do a test dot on the back of the stone.) Be mindful of how much paint is on the tip and use the colors sparingly. I recommend waiting for each color to dry before picking up the next marker, otherwise you’ll get “soup”.

  6. Let the paint dry. Place your stone on the reusable wipes—I chose these because they won’t stick to the stone even if your paint runs. You can still, every easily, peel the wipe from the bottom of the stone. Drying time will vary depending upon how many layers of paint you use, which markers you’ve selected, and how big your stone is. The paint should be completely dry within a couple of hours.

  7. Fix mistakes. This is very important. First, don’t panic! When your stone is completely dry, it’ll be easier to fix mistakes. If you’re frustrated and hate the design altogether, grab a dark color and paint over a large section of the stone—or the entire surface. Once you start using the paint markers, it is much harder to strip the paint or retrace your colors, so be mindful of that. If all else fails, don’t be afraid to call your first stone a test and start over.

  8. Seal your paint. Once your paint is completely dry, it’s time to seal your design. Though oil-based markers are waterproof, I do recommend sealing the stone with the sealer I mentioned. Just place your stones on the folded towel and squirt. The reason why I recommend this specific acrylic sealer, is because it’s a clear acrylic non-aerosol spray that you can spread with your finger if it pools—and there’s very little waste, mess, or hazard. That said, if you want to seal the stone with a different acryclic sealer, use the gloss (or matte) sparingly in a paper-thin coat.

  9. Dry, one last time. The sealer doesn’t take as long as the markers to dry, but your time will vary depending upon what sealer you use and what temperature your room is. The stone should be completely dry within 30 minutes to half an hour.

  10. Celebrate! This is very important. You’ve done the thing! Don’t forget to cheer!

Further Inspiration

Last year, I started growing succulents indoors and got really excited about funny plant pots. I have an owl with a succulent sticking out of its head, and thought a frog would be the perfect friend. Except… Well, let’s just say the frog’s appearance didn’t match my expectations.

I loved the shape, but hated the paint and set it aside. Frustrated. After painting the garden stones, I opted to try freshening up the paint by leveraging the base and using speckles. If you were reading my newsletter in October of last year, you may recall I participated in OcTOADber, where I sketched a frog every day. This inspired me to use the same technique on the pot.

Using three different colors (black, brown, and green), I added the dots to make the frog pot more presentable and fixed the eyes.

Here’s a pic of the back, where I continued the pattern.

I haven’t figured out what I’m going to chat about next time, but will be popping in again later this month with a fun announcement and recommended links. As always, if you’ve got recs, feel free to comment!

Hope you’re fabulous!