Art Journal Journey

Not really 'junk' so I decided they are 'junque'... It all started because I had old calendars I did not want to throw away. I also had a box full of all sorts of bits and pieces...that I also did not want to throw away. There was only one solution - make journals! In the end I made 2 completed books, but I still have quite a bit of stuff left, and the current calendar is the perfect candidate for becoming another journal at year's end. For my Travel themed journal, my starting point was the calendar that had a travel theme. I covered the covers with some designer paper by Ranger ( bought at Michaels) I will certainly still add ephemera to the cover. I covered the spine with paper canvas that I found on Amazon. It was pricey but works really well. The covers themselves are just sturdy, but not too thick and heavy, cardboard. There are 3 signatures and I added them with pamphlet stitch to the spine of the cover. All those black threads are from t...

All these bits and pieces of papers and labels were just too interesting to simply discard so using travel ephemera and bits and pieces of scrapbooking papers, I set the 5 index cards next to each other to form a block so that I could stick and stamp across them all, creating a single image. The next step was to cut them all apart again so I can add more details and finishing touches as needed. I like the gritty look of the black embossing on that small textured back ground stamp. The heat from the heat tool also made those heat sensitive papers turn grey black. Nice touch! I also incorporated some of my hand stamps, cut from erasers and bits of washi tape. Snippets of papers reveal little clues of places visited.... ...and of gifts from new friends... The snippets of torn papers collaged beautifully and the muted colours still reflect the nature of the journey. Rich but draining, leaving me feeling faded. But there is lots of new...

My Mom and I had a shared love for maps and atlases. She could spend hours pouring over them and so do I! (and dictionaries, but that is another story - and another Index Card Journey) For this series I worked in a batch, using maps, stamped images, inks and paints. The colours are subdued. That was the way I felt after the journey. Tired. Washed Out. Faded. My Mom was great for taking pictures to record our memories. She left a treasure chest of black and white jewels for us to enjoy. This stamped image (Graphic 45 & Hampton Art) reminded me of her. There is something so romantic about a harbour. It must be all those popular songs that always talk about travel, far places and love - lost and found... For me a cruise ship holds no attraction at all. I don't care for hotels, so why I would want to confine myself to a giant floating one full of people is a baffling idea! I'm off to get my dictionary definitions ready for the ne...

Since i was travelling the first month of this year's Icad, I decided to take a bunch (about 30) index cards with me, ready prepped with some colour on them. I simply laid them out in batches on top of an art journal and took my trusty alcohol sprays to them. At least this way I had a beginning of colour and did not need to take too many art supplies with me. The next batch of 5 cards completes the poetry collection. There were so many great bits and pieces I wanted to preserve, but decided they may go into art journals instead. I selected from my pre-coloured cards those that have colours reflecting the mood of the poem. Once home I added more colour, some stamping and inking details.  I also added the respective poet's name onto most of the cards. For the next card I stuck a feather on the card as the poem refers to a dropped feather. Not the right bird, but the thoughts counts I think! This card really 'made itself' as the saying goes. I add mus...

I'm home from 'vacation' and will start posting the cards I've made in batches of 5-at-a-time. I'm not following prompts at all. Initially they looked interesting, but I soon decided to 'do my own thing' this year. I found a discarded school poetry book which gave me a wealth of material to work with. The first 10 cards are based on these poems and on poets whose works I like. Some poems have a significance beyond that for me personally.

The Index Card a Day Challenge starts today. I look forward to another couple months of 'small size' work! Now I'm going to be here, there and everywhere for most of June, so I'll take some goodies with me, and check in when I can. Most likely by July. Go ahead and get playing!