Had a good night at Altered Book Club last night. Pretty much no topic of conversation is safe and once we get talking journals there is no stopping! Tidbits that came out of it:

• The question of what wordy content to include in your journal. Obviously a journal can be a thought dumping ground however from the group last night it seems many of us like to avoid to much of the 'woe is me' entries (unless you really need it!). Looking back on pages show growth, challenges, illness, frustration but also equally or overly balanced by achievements, productivity, outings, people we love (including ourselves) and experiences.
• How the journal pages and entries evolve. This is where journals easily fall into the Unique As Your Personality category. Preferences included planning pages, a page a day style or what I like to call an organic development of a page. Main thing to remember is there is no right or wrong way - just what works for you.

We also discussed how we decide when a page is finished, sketching in our journals and covering text.

If you don't have an Altered Book Club, Journal Club or something similar in your area grab a friend, and start working on your projects on a regular basis. Talking and sharing your art with people (who become friends!) is very enriching.

Thanks girls!!

EDIT: Oh I meant to add - Next Altered Book Club at NZ Scrapbook is Thursday 11th February at 6.30pm. All welcome, FREE, bring something crafty to work on - I bring cake! :)

Labels: Altered-Book-Club, Journal-Notes

Hi all!
I thought I would post a few progress photos of how my journal pages come together. When I show my journals, sometimes people get a bit overawed by the busy-ness of them all which is then followed by a kind exclamation "I couldnt do that". Let me assure you, if you want to keep art journals like this - you CAN!

Three simple tricks.

1. Start at the top
2. Include stuff that interests you
3. Fill in the gaps

Easy peasy!

That third trick is a funny one as I have no aversion to empty space. My artwork and scrapbook pages show that. But in my journal art, my preference is: More is More! A full to bursting page is interesting, compelling and it takes less emphasis off the writing (this will come up in future posts) My journals tend to be pretty public (ya think?..lol) and if viewers are distracted by sketches, photos, memrobilia they are less likely to witness the inner workings of my brain! Plus I love how exciting an overflowing page looks.

Journal page progress
So... If you look at a previous post Monday's entry looked like this:

The date coloured and glued in, a paragraph and a rub-on.

Yesterday's (Tuesday) : The date, a recipe (recommended!!!) cut out including its picture from a magazine/website, snippets from an article I was reading cut out and glued in, a stamped image of a bird over the text, number stickers added to the recipe to create interest.

Today: The date coloured and glued in (I like keeping to the same format at the moment, though that may change). And since its only 5pm that's as far as I've got!

TIP:
I have a photo I may want to add once its developed. I know the sizes I like to print so to work my writing around I keep cards or old photos handy to work as placeholders as I write.


In this photo the red card is just sitting there so I know how much space to leave. Sometimes I make decorative placeholders and attach them with ribbon to the spine of my journal so I always have a placeholder card on hand. Plus they look cool if its a funky image or photo.

Ok that's my page in progress so far. Its now 5.06pm I have stuff from my day to write and a class to teach! Catch you later :)

~Kathleen

Labels: Instruction, Journal-Ideas, Journal-Notes, Journal-Pages

I make a rule for myself to always work on today's journal page first. Occasionally 'today' might mean a sentence for yesterday or a day before if I've missed a day or two. Trying to play catch up from weeks past is a recipe for journalling despondency!


By working on today and today first gives you instant gratification. Its fresh in your mind and the writing and images will portray that freshness and authenticity that can be harder to relate weeks later. Being up to date makes filling in those past dates (even weeks worth of days) much more satisfying rather than that ominous feeling of always being behind.


Tips on today's tip!

• Not every day needs a journal entry when you are catching up. Complete what you have photos, sketches, memorabilia and comments on. If you have weeks unaccounted for - so be it. Catch up for me usually means holiday entries where I havent been able to fully complete at the time.
  
• Monthly calenders that are filled in with the basics: work, school, xyz restaurant etc are invaluable for filling in those gaps. It can be surprisingly hard to even remember what you did a week ago at times.
  
• Guesstimate the space for catch up when you work on today first. If you leave too much space it can be filled in with photos, inspiring images, quote or articles later. Too little space? This is your chance to get creative by creating fold out pages, lift up flaps or page pockets to fit all the info and images in.

What are your tips for keeping your journals up to date? I'd love to hear them!
~ Kathleen

Labels: Journal-Notes

On my computer this week...

Journal good enough to eat. Simply HAVE to link to Ro Bruhn's Blog... apart from her lovely jewelery and journal art she recently celebrated her birthday and her husband had a JOURNAL CAKE made. Very cool!!
Check out her Amazing Cake HERE


Renowned marketing author Seth Godin has a great blog, this week he includes a post on the importance of keeping a notebook, journal or a scrapbook.


Rebecca Sower has such a stunning eye for detail.


Tim Holtz has a new technique video:




David Byrne's Blog is an interesting read.

...and some musical accompaniment








I love crazy stuff like this:







~Kathleen

Labels: Journal-Notes, Net-Picks