Sunday, January 8, 2012

Journaling

The topic for today's blog hop is Journaling.

Journaling, for those who would like
a quick definition, is:
a personal record of occurrences, experiences,
reflections, or sketches kept on a regular basis.


I may or may not have added a word or two.


I kept a diary growing up,
and I kept a huge three-ring binder full
of my sketches and my ideas for sketches.


Today I'm not nearly that ... organized.
Today, I have countless journals.
 I call them notebooks, or sketchbooks.



 At least they're all in one place.


Not really.


There are at least two baskets
full of journals I've written or drawn in,
and at least two baskets of 
blank notebooks and sketchbooks
waiting to become my next journal.
Maybe I have a fetish for paper.
Maybe I don't.
I'm not saying.




I can look at my own drawings
and paintings, and not always recognize them.
That's how poor my memory is.
I try to sign and date my sketches,
and I go through my drawings often,
just to stay fresh and inspired.




I can't function without
my sketchbook journal!  How else
would this:








become this??




and this???







This may or may not have something to do
with the fact that my memory is
so lousy: 


I have actually started several
journals full of magazine cutouts that
inspire me.


When I was going through some
of my journals for this post,
I realized that the same kinds of things
inspire me today as the day
I started cutting up my magazines
ten years ago.
  
I have some nearly identical journals,
is what I'm saying.
Or, I've cut out the same pics
over and over again.



I'm not efficient.
I'm not organized.
Do as I say, NOT as I do.
Ha!


Here's a sneaky peek at a
couple of the journals that I keep today:






I encourage my kids to keep a
journal, also.  I think someday it will be
a lot of fun for them to go back and read
about how they viewed life when they were
thirteen years old, or seven, or four.







 Before every trip,
I gather art supplies, puzzle books,
and a fresh composition notebook for each kid,
along with stickers and plenty
of colored pens and pencils.
Sometimes they write about the trip
while we're in the car,
sometimes they don't write about the 
trip until after we're home,
sometimes it's just one page that
says, "We went to the zoo" 
accompanied by one of their drawings.



For the kids' journals,
I usually print up something for the 
cover like this:













Amelia has a sticker journal, also.
She sort of carried that sticker theme
over onto all her other journals.
;)

 Here's a sample page
from one of my daughter's journals:


(She said it was okay to post this~
it is about Friendship,
which she now knows is one word).







Here is one of my son's journals:







He said I could post a page,
but only if I laid the background.
So, here's the background:


He wrote:


Wednesday:
I hurt my foot running.
Brannon


Thursday:
Jumping hurdles,
I hurt my foot and scraped my
shoulder and smashed my face.
Brannon


Friday:
(here's what he wrote:)







Ha!!!



I don't scrapbook, exactly.
I have thousands of unprinted pictures
on my camera chips from
the past thirteen years.



Actually, I have actual PICTURES from
twelve and thirteen years ago,
it's just the last eleven years that are
trapped on those little disks.



I have pounds of scrapbook papers.
I have a plethora of scrapbook supplies.
I have journals full of noted milestones
like potty training and teeth pulling and
glitter spilling and Kleenex piling
and shot records, and height and weight notations,
and swimming and diving and birthday parties
and ... you get my drift.



I just don't have them all in one
place ... yet.



I have an "official" baby book for each child
and an "unofficial" three ring binder that
holds all the things I couldn't get in the baby book.
Like baptismal cards, copies of each year's
Christmas letter, baby hand-prints in paint,
etc.  I have filled the binders with
clear plastic pages that open at the top.






Here's what I NEED for each child:





I made this so many years ago,
I think I only had two kids at the time.
But now I need four new ones.
It stands neatly on a shelf like an
ordinary book, but it opens!
The whole cover opens
and there is a tray inside for
"stuff"!!




I found this at The Container Store.
I need a new one.  Actually, I need four.

For all the craft projects they've made
and I can't bear to part with:
salt dough ornaments,
Rudolph with hand-tracing antlers
and a fuzzy pom pom nose,
macaroni necklaces,
glittery, textured, three-dimensional
craft projects.  And special awards they've
won, like the First Place Medal
for track or their karate black belts.
Those items just don't tuck
neatly between the pages of an
"official" baby book, or the plastic
envelope-style page of a three-ring binder.



Here's the one I did for
Brannon about ten years ago:







I am working with each kiddo on what
design they want on their new "textural" storage journal -
but I had to talk Ayden out of Woody from Toy Story.



I just think there are other things he
could come up with that he likes right now at
age seven, that won't embarrass him
when he's sixteen.  So he went with his
favorite team mascot, who just happens to be
our namesake, Pistol Pete Maravich.






Since I'll be storing
all their "school" crafts and trophies,
I wanted the title page to
look like a school chalk board.



I bought acrylic paper, (which is just
heavy, textured white paper that doesn't
curl when you paint it).
Correction.  It doesn't curl a LOT when
you paint it.  It did curl a LITTLE.







I trimmed the paper into four 9" lengths.





I base coated the papers with black,
then I sanded the edges with a sanding block.




To give the impression that their name
is written on a chalkboard,
I used white paint to add their name.





Then I added a mat to their school photo
and attached both to a sheet of card stock.





So each Textural Journal will have a
cover with something special painted on it,
their name painted on the spine,
and this will be on the inside of the lid:




Another idea would be to use
a sturdy white gift box - shirt size - from
Christmas.  Decorate the top of the box
and store all those special
memories inside.





I am so excited about this idea,
I'm going to make these for my niece
and my nephews, as well!


I hope my post inspires you
to create something wonderful!


Please use the DCC Blog Hop button
at the top right of this post
to hop Forward or Back to view other
blogs by my fabulous artist friends.


Peace and Journaling ... and Storage ;)







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