Travelling and Junk Journals

My love of traveling - both overseas, and  in Australia is enhanced by my love of documenting these travels in photographs, and in my own hand-made Junk Journals. I make a journal specifically for a forthcoming trip - using favourite saved papers, envelopes, Travel Brochure pages and lined and blank papers, some painted papers and then I sew these together into a cover. I edge some pages with Washi Tape, add newspaper/magazine words, estimate locations and add some travel brochure pictures to various pages. I use a mixture of of sizes of papers - some narrower so that I can add tags, tickets, cards etc., some made into envelopes and flaps and some envelopes as pages. Then I'm ready to go, with a glue stick, a small pair of scissors, some washi tape and a few favourite pens and markers.
OVERSEAS

During December and January my husband and I visited Central Europe - beautiful cities, magnificent buildings and some snow! Lots of museum and art gallery visits, train journeys and flights, newspapers, magazines, brochures and fliers - so lots of wonderful souvenir papers in Czech, Polish, German, Turkish.

I usually make my Travel Journals with folded A4 papers and a slightly larger cover. Easy to carry around and work in!
I work in my journal every day that I'm away - in a train, in waiting areas, airports, and at our accommodation. It becomes a travel diary as well, where I document the events of each day.

 I  took a smaller journal - a  watercolour book for practicing sketching and playing with paint.

TASMANIA
We recently went on a Caravan Trip for 3 weeks in Tasmania and that entailed another Journal, and working in it as we traveled there via the Melbourne to Devonport ferry.

I  had quite a few small pieces of leftover paper on my desk and couldn't resist making a mini arty journal - just for little pieces and some doodling. A tiny size that fitted in my handbag for those waiting times.

LOCAL WORKSHOPS
I tentatively approached our local library with the journals one day and was thrilled to be offered the job of teaching two workshops for teens, during the Easter School Holiday Program. This entailed lots of preparation and collection of supplies, but the 31 teens who participated completed great sewn  hand - made journals that they'll be able to use for photographs, drawing, writing, collageing, collecting or many other purposes. It was great to see their enthusiasm and pride in completing a journal.

More 21 Secrets - flowers and more flowers

I am loving the luxury of having art workshops at my fingertips! Twenty - four hours a day access to amazing lessons, inspiration and "art galleries" of other participants work.
Below are some pages using recycled business envelopes and flowers designs made into a book where I can paste more envelope flowers. Making envelope flowers are from Ro Bruhn's workshop, called "Flower Power".

I love opening my bills now - and have a pile next to me when I watch TV - colouring and decorating them, trying different colour combinations - soooo relaxing and rewarding!

Back and front covers.

Pages ready to be sewn into the covers - note flowery wrapping paper through the clear envelope window.

The following pictures are of my progress through the stages of Cathy Bluteau's workshop titled "Dooding my Way" - and using flowers cut from papers, lines, copic markers, washi tapes and small pieces of patterned papers.

I had so many flowers cut out I decided to do two versions - Cool and Warm colours.

 

This was relaxing, calm inducing and pushed my boundaries with the business of the process as I an used to having white spaces.

My pile of cut out flowers.

Flowers, text and lines in the Red version.

Flowers, text and lines in the Blue version.

Almost completed

Finished

Almost completed

Finished

Enrolling in 21 Secrets is the BEST present to myself - now I just want more time!

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.

Christmas cards are now done...

I've been making my Christmas cards and today's the day I start to write them and post them too - especially the overseas ones!

 The card above features hand made paper, gold foil paper, a stamped sentiment and is finished with a button glued over ribbon.

These two cards below were made with hand made paper, recycled vintage sheet music and die cut trees. The handmade paper was made in Burnie, Tasmania, where a group of paper makers experiment with different fibres to make paper eg plants, cotton and even animal droppings from plant eating animals! Yes I've got some - and No - it doesn't smell!


Hand made blue paper made from denim fabric.

The handmade red paper made from towel offcuts from a towel factory.



The next cards are made using scrapbook papers, ribbons, embellishments and a stamped sentiment.

Christmas Greetings to my readers.