besottment by paper relics

My 2011 Sketchbook Project Journal

I am participating in the 2011 Sketchbook project*. I have to have my completed journal posted by January 21, 2012 and although I have had it for quite some time now, I have only done a little in it.

This project is a bit out of my norm, instead of working on spreads as they come to me, I had to pick a topic and complete the entire book. This is causing me to work in completely different way. I work on spreads here and there, not always completing one before working on the next. I also have been jumping around in the book, which some journalers do often but is a first for me.

My chosen topic is "Encyclopedia of..." which was fun to do since I had just finished reading The Philosopher's Kiss which is a novel about the life and loves of one of the creators of the encyclopedia back in eighteenth century France. I decided this journal would be a sort of encyclopedia of my thoughts, my life, my world, with the occasional creative twist tossed in...

Here is what I have so far, no spread is complete yet so keep that in mind!

Here is the journal they sent, along with the information I needed I keep it together for safe keeping:

Here is my cover - rather plain... I hope to make it a bit more attractive:

Page one - I was playing with my new camera here and wanted to try some close ups with the background blurred out:

Here is the full spread... my favourite thing lately, with the old antique images of ladies and making them interactive (I will show you the inside on my next update post):

Here is an envelope I wanted to add to the journal - not sure what else I am going to do here yet:

I plan on putting a vintage tag with some twine on it in here, with a little message, maybe a quote or phrase:

Here I used a security envelope, with a crest die cut from anther security envelope to create a sub-page:

The envelope is empty now... and on the other side I found a fun ad with a photobooth in it and used it to document how Kari and I always hunt them down to have our photos taken when we are together:

Here is a page about friendship... with various photos punched in my favourite swirly frame shape (oh and friends, hope you are okay with the page since it will be going on tour across the country!)

and one on family-ship with a photo of my parents on their wedding day along with text about the rest of my family:

Had to use a cute striped bag, used it to make a fold out page on this spread...

(Here it is open:)

... and the other bit of the stripped bag on this spread. I found this fun fortune teller card recently, it is an old cigarette card from the 1800's and I thought it would be fun to add even though it has no bearing on my thoughts, life or world:

I am going to add some words of wisdom inside the fold out:

And here is the back cover (there are a few empty spreads before it), I added a photo of me, and used some of my favourite elements on the back inside cover:

So, I will keep you posted and let you see it again when I have made more progress!

*If you are interested in participating in the 2012 Sketchbook project - you can sign up through the end of the month so hurry over and see details by clicking HERE.

My December-Daily-Reverb#11 journal

I started on my December-Daily-Reverb# journal* for 2011 (shown below with the cover from my journal for 2010) and wanted to show you what I came up with for my cover.

I decided to use the same 7 Gypsies Roma book cover that I did last year. I used the little frame tutorial I shared with you a while back.

I used some punched old paper for the edges, and a vintage dennison label on the back, and the front on the little frame.

I did the thing I love where I make the dress the antique lady is wearing open up, and I cut a while in the cover. On the inside of the cover I made a clear pocket so I can add whatever I wish to the underskirt (for now it is a tiny bit of victorian scrap).

I am working on the pages now - and will show you when I get them finished!

*Are you doing either December Daily and/or reverb# this year?

Minneapolis Souvenir Travel Journal Filled

You may or may not know that visit Kari every year (see my 2009 Minneapolis souvenir journal HERE and my 2010 Minneapolis souvenir journal HERE), and we always squeeze in quite a lot each visit, but this year we out did ourselves (hence the 44 photos of my souvenir journal below). In past years I made a slide show of the photos, but this year I decided to post all the photos with descriptions to help you see how I work in hopes to get you to document your trips with ease.

Please note: Kari was great about printing photos from each day (she keeps amazing daily albums) so photos she took with her camera, and photos I took using instagram are used in my journal. I also had my Instax Mini 50S Film Camera that I used to take photos to paste into my journal as well.

If you have any questions of what I used please leave them in the comments section and I will do my best to answer them.

You may remember the souvenir views vintage folder I found and made the journal out of (and offered the image as a free download for you to make your own), shown here:

Well, I had quite a bit of fun filling it up. I knew all along I was going to add a black and white photograph of the two of is in the center of the cover:

Inside the front cover, I added photos from my past 2 visits:

We did not waste any time.

Our first stop was to Yum! for Steak Sandwiches and Champagne (always a great idea after a flight). I recommend them if you are ever in the area:

I used a photo Kari took of me, my journal and a glass of champagne as a sub-page fold out. On the right, we grabbed salads for dinner at this great place that had the best old photo on their take out menu so I had to use it here. We also hit an Archivers, which I do not have at home - and love, on their business card I circled the location we went to:

The weather was wonderful for most of my visit, beautiful fall crisp days that reminded me of the new england falls I grew up with (and miss terribly). We hit a pumpkin patch and apple orchard - both were great. On the left, Kari purchased a porcelain pen from Michael's and had me handletter 2 sets of plates for her and her family (one in cursive, the other in block letters):

I even saved the tag from the pen to add to my sub-page:

I saved the map from the apple orchard, and even got a sticker to use in my journal as well:

And even managed to snap an instant photo in the orchard:

While I was there, Kari's son had his 8th birthday - and we had a nice celebration...

I used some images from the discarded packaging of one of his presents that matched the theme of his party:

Followed by an outing to Chuck E. Cheese (which I loved, I had a lot of fun playing video games and winning tickets for the kids)

This is one of my favourite pages, an inside out security envelope used as a frame for 3 instant photos I took:

We hit some estate sales (they always seem to have the best ones there!) and then hit Junk Bonanza:

Well, after we stopped at target to get matching grey converse (laceless) sneakers. I had only packed flip flops and my toes were cold:

Here I used a promo postcard I found at Junk Bonanza and a folder from a set that I purchased while I was there. I also have a price tag of a small route sign I purchased:

I cute out the word "Bonanza" from other promo material I picked up while I was there, and used rubber stamps I purchased to accent the folder:

We spent some time with Kari's kids (I love them both dearly!) and they both are great at posing for the camera:

We spent a day at The Creative Connection, we took a class together with Kaari Meng and Wendy Addison, which was amazing:

Here we are in my class on the left. I also added a moo card from Tif of Dottie Angel who I got to meet in person, we worked together on some tags ages ago and I was happy she remembered me. I also added a bookmark from a book by the author who I took my afternoon creative writing course from.

Before heading home, we hit a place Kari used to eat at when she lived in St. Paul for dinner - it was delicious! I grabbed a take out menu to use in my journal:

I found this souvenir folder (right) when I found the one I used for the cover, and I used the original in my journal to write about the farmers market that Me, Kari and her daughter Chloe went to:

I rigged it so it could open from the back...

and write 'open' with an arrow...

Keep opening...

Here we go! Photos and a bit of journaling about the market. We also got to some estate sales the same day...

Thai for dinner, grabbed the business card. On the tight I wrote about a funny interlude with Kari's son and included a photo of him to accompany it:

We made cupcakes (after all, I only visit once a year and it is quite the occasion!), and hit the St. Paul farmers market too.

Here is a close up of the cupcake girls, I happened to have some of my old journaling staples (dyed cupcake liner and doily) with me in my small packet of journaling bits I brought along, that worked out perfectly!

We always find a photobooth, and this visit was my first to meet sweet Bodhi!

I altered (with old paper and paint) a spinner I got from the scrapbook store to accurate all the activities we had planned...

I used stickers from the class kits at Scrapfest along with bits of scraps (and above I used one of Amy Tan's rubber stamps on a tag and had her sign it):

Where to today? Junk Bonanza? The Creative Connection? Scrapfest?

I also used some of the tabs we cut off in our 7 Gypsies class (I need to show you want we made in a future post) on the top of the left hand page. Promo material from Scrapfest cut down to make it's own page on the right):

Our yearly Photo session with Kari's sister at her parent's house:

The card on the left was also left over from a Scrapfest kit - worked great here:

My last day, before heading to the airport that evening was just as packed... we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to see Kari's scarecrow and look at some flowers... (see this post of mine to view some of the flower photographs I took). I used a brochure from the Arboretum along with photos from my camera and instagram photos I took with my iPhone:

Here I used a new white Uniball Signo pen I got to write on the photograph (it smudged, it needed to dry for a few minutes):

Used the same pen here for the sky photo:

We headed back to downtown Minneapolis to Hell's Kitchen for lunch. It was amazing!

Chloe made me something in school, and I journaled about how hard it was saying goodbye:

the back cover and last page was dedicated to Bodhi - sweet pup!

The End (other wise known as heading home to sleep for 24 hours straight to catch up from being on the go non-stop):

Always happy to come home, but it was such a wonderful visit I hated to have it come to an end!

Phew! If you got all the way to end, thanks for taking the time! Again, if you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section and I will do my best to answer them.

Update: To see the trip through Kari's eyes and her fun journal - visit her blogpost about it by clicking HERE.

My be.prompted.1 Journal Spread

be.prompted.1

I just finished reading Dr. Brene Brown's book, The Gifts of Imperfection, (which I highly recommend) and came across an exercise that I wanted to try:

Create an Ingredients for Joy + Meaning List. List out specifics conditions that are in place when everything feels good in your life.

The last couple of weeks I have been working in a moleskine, not using much ephemera or tape, etc. I have been asking myself a lot of contemplative questions and find I have been doing a lot more writing then usual. Really it ebbs and flows, and I am already feeling the tide turning back to more artsy pages. Regardless, this be.prompted was done in the more writing mode.

I started this prompt out by stating what the prompt was, and then created a list of the things that on my ingredients and joy list. I actually started the spread on the left hand side, then moved to the right... come to think of it do this quite often. Once I had my list down, I played on the 'be.prompted" and summarized each list item (or in one case, 2 list items) in to an action - for example, 'be.true' and 'be.creative'. These I listed on the left hand side of the spread and elaborated on how I can work to get these things to be prominent in my life.

Did you have time to do the prompt? I would love to see your spread!

Minneapolis Souvenir Booklet Travel Journal Before

As you may recall from this post, while I was visiting Seattle, I was lucky enough to purchase some Minneapolis souvenir pockets. With my yearly trip to visit Kari in that very city is fast approaching (yay!), I thought it would be fun to create journals for us to fill while I am there (we will be busy bees, attending a day of classes at The Creative Connection, Shopping Junk Bonanza and another day of classes at ScrapFest).

This is what I came up with (I really like showing you my travel journals before I add to them so you can see what I do):

Below is a side-by-side comparison, the original is quite small, so I scanned it to be able to make a 7 x 5 inch journal:

I adjusted the color just a smidge ,making it a little brighter as you can see in this photo below:

I will add a photo of me and Kari in the center cut out part of the cover, here is a peek through it. I just used my craft knife to cut it out, then, after sanding it, I used a darker copic marker to color the edges:

Here are some of the pages inside - not much, since I will be adding to it, but you can see the other Minneapolis souvenir book I got (see this post).

Blank lined pages and watercolor paper just waiting to be filled:

Here are the backs:

As always, I will let you see my finished journal when it is full with memories and ephemera.