It's time.
My current journal is full.
I have to start a new one.
My current journal is full.
I have to start a new one.
I have a love/hate relationship with a new journal.
I love holding a full journal that I've bonded with over it's time with me.
I hate having a journal full of blank pages staring at me.
I love the options, potential, possibilities and excitement of covering a new journal.
I hate blank journal pages staring at me.
I'm taking a deep breath and reminding myself that I'll bond with my new journal.
Someday.
Right now I want to take a pause and look back at recent journals that I bonded with.
My most recent journal had it's own pouch that I embroidered for it.
I recycled a pencil pouch from one of my husband's old briefcases.
I love to recycle - and recycling fun stuff like leather pencil pockets is even better!
See how much character a journal has when it's being used, enjoyed, and filled up?
Have I mentioned how much I like my journals after I've bonded with them?
This former journal was covered with some great leftover quilt pieces, and some reclaimed leather. Texture, my favorite palette, and comfortable to hold.
This journal and I bonded in Italy a couple of years ago.
That tuscan gold paint on the spine? I remember when I spilled that
when I was in Rome......ahhhh, visual memories.
For this former journal, I recycled a wool sweater.
I embroidered with some pearl cotton and then dug through
my grandmother's button box (one of my prized possessions), to add to the spine.
I had fun choosing beads to use on the end of the leather tie.
I really loved carrying this journal.
So, here's what's facing me now: A Blank Journal.
I'd like to bond with it, I really would.
Wish me luck?
21 comments:
I couldn't agree with you more. Closing a full journal after living with it for months and months is like leaving an old and trusted friend. I always feel a loss as I move on.
I about to fill the last few pages of my current journal too. It's like saying goodbye to a good friend.
Judy and Sue, it feels good to know I'm not alone in my journal bonding.......and new journal angst.
I have similar issues starting a new journal. To get me over that New Blank Journal Hump, I write a letter to Potential Readers on the first blank page. It is a quick & dirty explanation of what I intend to get from the journal plus a request for them to enjoy it in their own way.
Alice, My daughter does something similar when she starts another journal - or she did when she used to keep a paper journal instead of a computerized one. A letter.......thanks for the ideas!
I love your journals. It does take a little time to bond with a new one doesn't it?
Nice!
I love the things you do to your journals. They look so well loved...
Gisela
your journals are beautiful, one can only imagine the gorgeous things inside... I really like how each journal has it's own special cover, might take that idea and make a journal cover for mine. I too just started a new journal, some doodling helped start the bonding process...
I love your journals and would like to know what you put in them - I have sketchbooks but don't seem to use them much. Do you carry it with you and make notes - during your general day to day stuff?? Or are they purely art work planning type journals??
Mm Hm. I'm with you. I've just finished one of my sketchbooks/journals and have a whole stack of new sketchbooks to choose from. I have yet to pick one up. The watercolor paper looks too perfect and I'm new to the medium. Do I dare? The little one in the size that fits my purse has cream pages. I like white. The spiral is... I don't know. Perhaps I should go and just spill some paint on a few pages, eh!?
I love to review my older journals for ideas but when one is full, its kinda a done deal and I'm ready to move on. Mine aren't nearly as loved as you've displayed yours here...I've only decorated one cover and have never made a seperate jacket for any of them.
I don't know why, but I always start on the second page. Somehow it isn't as hard as starting at the beginning.
Thanks for sharing them Jan-it's nice just to see them all filled up-inspiring. Happy New Year to you & yours. I think of you often!
I think the process of covering my new journal usually helps me start bonding with it. Just a little bit of time and attention put into how it's going to feel in my hands makes the process personal enough that the blank journal might just start thinking about being friends with me......
To try to answer Anna's question about what's inside my journals, it's really all in there. Day to Day ramblings, rants, gratitude, lists, ticket stubs, ideas for new artwork, ideas for new classes, travel memories (if I don't make a dedicated travel book for that trip), receipts, words from magazines, found objects that interest me...... Nothing is really safe from being glued, taped, or written inside. I've found that if I apply "rules" to my journal, it stops me dead in my tracks, so it has to be open to everything.
Lyric's remarking about the spilled paint in my journal reminded me of a couple of things I've done either intentionally or unintentionally........putting a little bit of color on some pages helps me sometimes. Using a very fast drying paint is always a good idea!
I also really like to tear words from magazines and catalogs - they are usually in interesting fonts. I glue them in in random places throughout the journal. I often use those words as prompts when i get to that page.
I remember one time when I opened my journal when I was in a particularly foul mood. There was a word, or some words, already on that page. Completely shifted my mood, and I used those words to prompt my writing for that day. Loved that.
Jan, I just had to write to say you've given me some inspiration that I have been looking for. I have been searching for months for a journal. I guess you could say due to life circumstances I have been stuck and not written and I have only just taken up the thought of writing again and I have not been able to find "the journal". Your pictures of your journals have given me new hope for writing and making my own journal.
Thanks again.
Good luck and for goodness sake, get started on it so it won't be a blank journal any more. I think you should start by doodling around where it says "Journal" on the front, that formal script looks as if it takes itself too seriously!
cmm,
you made my day - thanks for letting my know my journal post has encouraged you. I know starting is often the hardest thing, so I'm going to join you in starting again with a new journal!
Oh, and Dean, not to worry, I'll completely cover the front of the journal really, really, soon. Can't stand that formal script on the front, but love the weight of the lined pages inside......
Jan
I just love your journals! I start on the second page of new journals so that I can write quotes or lines of poetry that I find when I most need them -
teabird / ravelry
teabird, Aren't quotes great? I used to have a special notebook I kept my favorites in - Thanks for reminding me of that - I'm going to have to hunt it up in my studio ;-)
Jan
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