Visual Journal Part I

I have always been an avid journal keeper…okay that’s a lie…I used to be an avid journal keeper- writing about anything and everything going on in my life. Well, that is until I went to graduate school. Then, I found writing three to four papers and essays a week was all the writing that I could handle and my journal began to collect dust… literally.

Yearning to express my inner thoughts,  I knew that I needed to do some journal re-inventing. So, I came up with what I called my “art journal.” Yes, I used the word “art” and many of you are ready to move on to the next page because you just thought to yourself, “Well, this doesn’t apply to me because I am not an artist.”  Whoa there…before you leave- let me change that intimidating word to “visual.”  How does visual journal sound? Better?

I didn’t realize that some people had such an aversion to that word until I had a great discussion with my good friend Steph from The Daily Digi. She talks about her new found love of visual journaling opposed to “art” journaling here .  So, in order to keep your attention,  I have decided to call this book a Visual Journal.

 I took a black spiral sketch book with thick white pages and began thinking of creative ways to fill each page with my dreams, vision boards, thoughts, quotes, or whatever I am in the mood of.

Anything goes in this journal. There are no rules! Personally, I like to combine writing, magazine images, photographs, doodles, paint, paper, stamps, and pretty much anything I have laying around in the moment to express myself and how I am feeling.  It has taken the stories of my life and transformed them to pieces of what I consider expressive artwork that convey much more than words; they bring in my emotions.

I can open to any page of my journal and see the image that I created and automatically can recall what I was feeling or thinking that day. And I must add  as a recovering perfectionist and someone who would spend hours on getting a scrapbook layout “just right”- it was freeing to just let go and not have a plan in mind.  You see, with  visual journaling there is no right or wrong way to do anything. It just sort of evolves.  It is through the process of creating and not the final product that a person can find relaxation and identify emotions occurring in that moment.

So, I am at the end of this visual journal and have been ready to try something new to re-invent my journaling once again…and that by using a vintage book.

This is what I did.

 I went down to a local used book store to see what kind of treasures I could find and there were SO many to choose from that I spent WAY too much time in there!

So, I may have walked away with two…or three…or six Vintage books all with their own story to tell. Some with written notes and dates on them. Oh it was exciting!

Then, I decided to go to a local fabric store and choose fabric and felt iron-ons to decorate the front cover.

Using a hot glue gun I glued the fabric on the cover leaving some of the original book exposed.

I added some black felt embellishments on the cover and glued ties and covered a piece of cardboard and glued it in the inside.

Now for the fun part – creating blank pages to journal on.

You may first want to first remove some pages with a razor blade as the book can get very fat at the end. However, this is something you can do as you go along if you wish.

Then take your Gesso and apply a thin layer to a page and allow to dry. I like to let some of the letters still show through the pages as an extra element.

And there you go…you now have a clear canvas to begin to paint, glue, whatever you desire! These journals are not only great for you but also your little ones (who can’t write yet) and for the older ones who love to collage and express themselves someway or the other anyhow!

I’d love to show you more ideas on how to actually do the visual journaling part- but that will have to wait my friends for another post!  So, keep your eyes open for Visual Journal Part II!

For more ideas on visual journaling you can visit me here at www.weedstowishes.com.

xo

{linking up to these parties}