MY JOURNALS

I love making journals from "Junk" mail, catalogues, old envellopes - I gesso or paint pages, stamp and paint the pages with templates, hand sew them together then have great fun, relaxation and "art therapy" using these journals as travel diaries, "Smash Books" or "Glue Books" and yearly diaries.

I first heard the words Smash books and Glue Books from a Lawendula Paper Swap friend Melodie and these links give more information.

About glue books, Smash Journals or Junk Journals....go to

www.bluebirdpaperie.blogspot.com - and search "Glue Books" or Mary Green's blog www.greenpaper.typepad.com

This one started life as a stapled catalogue ( 14cm x 21 cm) from a dress shop and I used all those bits and pieces that are too good to throw out so I keep them until ...

 

This next one started as an empty biscuit box cut to a small size ( 10 x 15 cms) as a little book to use on holiday, with words and images added from places we visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make larger journals with strong manila folders ( 24.5 cm x 35 cms) - filling them with "junk" papers from my HUGE collection and adding ephemera and words in a weekly entry.

The next Journal was a collage and word diary type.

I attribute this idea to Nicole Austin at http://kinueko.blogspot.com.au/ (in 2011) so I tried it in 2012 and loved doing it.

I decorate the covers usually with scraps of papers then collage pieces of single ply from serviettes.

Below is my 2013 Journal/Diary - and this time I used mainly plain papers with some junk papers, and painted and stamped and decorated them with washi tape before I sewed it together. I am writing short weekly entries, sometimes in point form, this year.

 

 

 I do have separate "smash" journals happening at the same time - and am making smaller travel journals for our trips this year (17 cm x  24.5cms). These have been featured in an earlier post (2012).

As I love making these types of journals, let me know if you'd like one and we can talk about postage costs etc. depending on where you live.

I was inspired to write this blog by a lovely friend Jacqueline from Stockholm, whom I met on Marney K. Makridakis' Artella's Annual Mystery Muse Project for 2013 - and wanted to know how I make journals. I sent her a small journal from me - her mystery muse.

 

I have now enrolled in my first ever online art course called 21 SECRETS - and know that my year is going to be a very enjoyable one artistically as there are so many wonderful classes, with notes and videos included.