No one can make you an artist. The only person who can grant you that is YOU. I have a little story that illustrates the difference my art journal has made in my perception of myself as an artist.
Before...
There is a room in my mind with a small brass plate at eye level. It reads 'Art'. Opening the door, I can see that the one bulb has blown. I can't see how far back the room extend, but I cannot see the back wall. I am not stepping foot outside the light cast on the floor by the open door. So I quickly grab a box from a nearby shelf and go. This time, it is a box labelled in careful script, 'Scrapbooking'. Another time, it was a trunk labelled, 'Quilting'.
After I opened my Art Journal...
I walk into the room and realise someone has put in a new bulb. The room extends for miles, and there is a stack of baskets by the door. I wander around in a happy daze. I select a bit of interesting fibre from the needlework section, some acrylic paint from the fine arts boxes, some printed vellum from the scrapbooking section, and something weird from an unmarked box I hadn't noticed before. Then I can go and PLAY.