The Messy Taster: 14 Days of Creative Play - Free

A host of messy artists

The Messy Taster: 14 Days of Creative Play

✨ The Messy Taster: 14 Days of Creative Play ✨

A two-week journey into joyful, no-pressure art journaling.

Ready to build a creative habit that actually sticks, without the pressure to be perfect?

The Messy Taster is a 14-day experience designed to gently lead you into the heart of the Get Messy approach: imperfect art, honest expression, and wildly joyful play. Each day brings a new invitation to make a mess, explore your inner world, and fall in love with your journal.

Inside, you’ll find a handpicked collection of our most beloved lessons, each one designed to spark joy, play, and a little glorious chaos in your journal.

✨ Try different techniques

💛 Get to know the Get Messy vibe

🌼 Follow a playful path to consistent creativity and showing up

And here’s the best part - these don’t have to be 14 consecutive days. You can go at your own pace, follow your own rhythm, and pick up your journal whenever you’re ready. No guilt, no pressure, just playful progress.

Whether you’re brand new to art journaling or just looking to reignite your spark, this is your place to begin (again), with encouragement, community, and a whole lot of heart.

All you need is a journal, your favourite supplies (or just whatever’s nearby), and a willingness to show up exactly as you are.

Let’s make something beautifully imperfect together.

Messy Collaboration

We call ourselves Messians. We’ve held solo and group gallery shows, published books, been in magazines and actual newspapers, created online art schools (and art communities of our own), been featured by Instagram, led retreats, sold our art, collaborated with other artists, quit our job for art, and taught art live.

Mainly, we’ve created a LOT of art.

Brandi Kincaid

A tiny treasure seeker, an eavesdropper, a paper lover, and a voracious reader, Brandi lives with her very tall husband, and very small dog, in northwest corner of the US. She spends her days making messes and sending Extravagant Hope by mail all over the world, and when she's not busy with those, you can find her in the thrift stores and used bookshops. Journaling of all kinds is the way she makes sense of the weird, weary, wonderful world.

Char DeRouin

Char is an artist, designer and maker whose work is abstract, intuitive and organic in style, with a no-rules approach. She is influenced by experiences and emotions; colors, patterns, and just about any kind of ephemera out there! Char loves using her creativity for personal expression and connection.

Mou Saha

Mou is an artist, author, teacher and speaker. She has been published over 800 times in print media, appeared on PBS TV shows and taught workshops around the States, in Europe and online for Creativebug under JoAnn, Etc., Big Picture Classes, Michael's, Get Messy and many more. Mou's background as clinical psychologist fuels her ongoing quest for wellness through daily creative and spiritual practices. She has represented brands like Faber-Castell, Anna Griffin, Sizzix Ellison USA, etc. and been a freelance writer since 2005. Mou is a mom of three humans and one canine and lives in New Jersey, USA.

Alyssa Griese

Living in Canada, with a BA in visual arts, Alyssa is a maker and lover of all things handmade. For Alyssa, embracing imperfections and chasing after “happy accidents” is the true magic of art journaling. Anything goes within the pages of her art journal and it has become an important place for her to process, to experiment and to play.

Sarah Gardner

This is Sarah Gardner, aka, Juicy*S. Juicy*S is her DJ name. She's not a DJ. She would love to be a DJ. It's one of her fantasy dream jobs, really. She got this name when she was slinging paint and working in her art journal with a couple girlfriends,, drinking wine and keeping track of the funny things they were saying on a "sign-in" sheet...just craziness. They all ended up with a DJ name that day. She started her first blog with this name, and she's had it ever since.

She's the girl (yes, even though she's fifty-something, she's still a girl!) who has a Tutu Dance Party and makes every one of her guests their own tutu! She's the kind of person who thinks a lot (maybe too much) about things. Art journaling is a creative practice that is her self-care. She loves to take what she's learned and infuse her art journal pages with meaning as well. She's a life-long learner, and learning is really what life is all about for her. She's also a lawyer, a wife, and a mom of two. She lives with her family in Southern California, in a small surf community called Cardiff by the Sea.

Abbey Sy

Abbey Sy is an artist, author and creator based in Berlin, Germany.

Throughout her creative career, she has worked on freelance projects, has written and illustrated best-selling books such as The ABCs of Hand Lettering, The ABCs of Journaling, and Always Be Creating: A Field Guide To Living a Creative Life. Her first international title, Hand Lettering A to Z, has been translated to nine languages. Her new book, The Art of the Travel Journal, is now available.

She has given two TEDx talks, spoken in Graphika Manila, and facilitated workshops on creativity and making things happen. Currently, she shares her love for journaling through her creative community on Patreon, YouTube, and Instagram. With her Always be Creating mantra, she hopes to inspire others to unlock their creative potential and move forward with their creative journey.

Helen Colebrook

Helen is an author, online teacher and blogger. She loves sharing her passion for creative journaling and aims to help inspire others on their journaling journey too. Helen uses a wide range of techniques, but purpose, gratitude and self-expression are always at the heart of her work.

Helen Wells

Helen is the author of the book ‘Expressive sketchbooks: developing creative skills, courage and confidence’ published by Quarry Books and the creator of an online class about developing your own Expressive Sketchbook.

She is passionate about sketchbooks and art journals as a powerful tool for creative discovery and development. Her own sketchbook use is the cornerstone of her artistic career and practice. She became a professional artist later in life and credits using sketchbooks for this career pivot.

LaQuisha Hall

LaQuisha loves all things creative and has been an artist since childhood. She is a bible art journaler, planner, mixed media and hand lettering artist. Through her social media she creates and shares her own work as well as hosts workshops to fuel the creative abilities of those she inspires.

Claudette Hasenjager

Claudette Hasenjager is a mixed-media artist living in sunny South Africa. She firmly believes that art has the power to heal and nurture the soul. Her art reflects the many facets of her inner landscape and gives expression to her multi-passionate personality. It is this deep calling from within that has fueled her passion for exploring various forms of creative expression. Through her art and her creative process, she strives to inspire others to heed the call of their own unique creative yearning, free their artist soul, and find comfort and healing through developing their own art practice.

Rae Missigman

Rae Missigman, mixed media artist, author and instructor, is known for her vivid colors, intricate layering, and signature repetitive art marks. As an artist, Rae believes that creativity can be accomplished in bite sized pieces during even the busiest days. As an instructor, Rae strongly encourages all artists to trust themselves to fearlessly do what they love. She champions a bold voice, continuing education and finding inspiration in the everyday.