January Junk Journal

Last year our faithart Facebook group decided to use one journal for everything for the whole year. I did it, with the exception of my Colossians Words and Advent Words challenges. Can I tell you how hard it was for me to just use one journal! So it seems that even art is about self-discovery. I learned through that challenge that part of what I really enjoy about art journaling is making the journals themselves. I love the creativity of making a journal or book. I like trying new ways to bind them. It actually inspires more creativity for me.

So, this year, I have a different approach. I've been following some people on Instagram who make junk journals and it really appeals to me. Junk journals combine using vintage papers and ephemera with the concept of a commonplace book. (For a definition of a commonplace book read this post or this post.) The appeal of junk journals combined with my enjoyment in making journals is going to be lived out this year with a monthly junk journal. This way I will get to experiment with making a variety of journals and sizes. Last week I shared about the January junk journal I made and how it served to break me out of the creative slump I was in.

Valerie Sjodin shared a post recently about making calendar pages in her art journal. I have watched over the years how she decorates her calendar page, but it just didn't seem my style. That is, until I started thinking about commonplace books and the purpose of writing down quotes and things you want to remember. So I made a calendar page in the front of my junk journal and have been adding things from books I'm reading, from podcasts, from my calendar, or just a Bible verse that was significant that day. 

Then I'm filling the pages with prompts from different groups or challenges, such as Life Documented and Junk Journal January. It seems that another bit of self-discovery is my need for variety when making art....a bit of a contrast to my daily routine driven personality!

What have you learned about yourself recently through art journaling or some other creative habit? Feel free to share in the comment section below.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I facilitate a Facebook group about Living your Word of the Year. In it we share insights through blog posts and connect with other like-hearted and like-minded people who want to live out a word focus throughout the year. We offer participants a bi-weekly A-Z Inspiration to help prompt reflection and creativity. as well as other inspirational ways to connect with your word of the year. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word throughout the year, explore new ideas, record thoughts, prayers, and events, you are invited to join our Facebook group.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Please use #livingyourword2019 on social media.

Check out the other blogs:
Bernice: www.newlycreative.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog

Hello January 2019

I so love the start of a fresh year. 

Nothing literally changes between December 31 and January 1, but there is a mindset or perspective change that a new year will bring a new beginning, a fresh start. And I fully embrace that each year.

At my job, we usually close the office for the week between the holidays. So I am able to begin the new year, and January, feeling rested and refreshed. This year has been no different. I feel rested. I feel refreshed. However, I also began the new year in a bit of a creative slump. One thing I have come to know about myself over the past few years, is that after a long daily challenge, like Advent Words, I tend to go into a creative wandering phase. It's almost like having creative attention deficit disorder, I can't seem to focus on one thing for very long. Over time I have found that there are a few ways to jump start my creativity when in a slump: play with art supplies and/or make a new journal. I did both!

I had already made an altered book signature journal for my word of the year and our A-Z challenge in the Living Your Word group. You can read about that in this post. But I needed to just make a journal to play. 

Since I like using vintage papers and found items in my journals I have been drawn to junk journals. There a few junk journal artists that pop up in my Instagram feed and on Pinterest that inspire me, so I decided to make a junk journal. I've had this conference promotional folder saved for a few years waiting for the right project. The graphics caught my eye and I held on to it. The front cover folded in half made a perfect size for a journal.

The back side of the journal ended up narrower than the front because I wanted to keep the full graphic in view. So I simply cut a piece of kraft paper cardstock, folded it in half and attached it to the narrow side, making them both the same size. 

I then took a mix of magazine pages, book pages, maps, etc. and folded them in half, sewing them into the fold of the cover.

My assistant felt I needed a paper weight for the pile of papers I was combing through, so he cheerfully gave me his assistance.

My junk journal has enough pages to have one for each day in January. I'm following along with the Life Documented project again this year after not participating for a few years. Plus, there are a few junk journaling challenges this month on Instagram that I am not going to follow religiously, but will borrow from their prompts when I need some inspiration. So I will use this journal for the art I make in response to those projects and anything else outside of my word of the year pages.

It was great to play with supplies and make a junk journal. I really enjoy making journals and bookbinding so I may just make a new one each month...just to play and spark my creative juices!

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group: Living Your Word of the Year

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I facilitate a Facebook group about Living your Word of the Year. In it we share insights through blog posts and connect with other like-hearted and like-minded people who want to live out a word focus throughout the year. We offer participants a bi-weekly A-Z Inspiration to help prompt reflection and creativity, as well as other inspirational ways to connect with your word of the year and your faith. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word throughout the year, explore new ideas, record thoughts, prayers, and events, you are invited to join our Facebook group.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Please use #livingyourword2019 on social media.

Check out the other blogs:Bernice: www.newlycreative.com
Valerie: www.valeriesjodin.com/blog

Everyday Journal Update

So far, just six weeks into the year, I am enjoying the challenge of doing most of my art and recording of insights for my word for the year in one journal. The "challenge" part for me is that I love to make (and start) journals and handmade books, so combining everything in one journal doesn't leave much room for making new journals. But I'm committed!

Here a a few of the pages I've worked on over the past few weeks:

My word for 2018 is FLOW. Each year I am amazed at how picking a word for the year ends up being a filter through which you see so many other things. The word,  or the concept of the word and my intentions for it seems to pop up everywhere. Last week I was digging deeper into the context of a passage we had been discussing in a sermon prep meeting. The passage was Hebrews 12:3-13, which will be the focus of the message in our worship service tomorrow at church. I was struck by so much in our conversation surrounding this passage that I decided to look a bit more into the context, which took me back to the verses preceding it. As I studied Hebrews 12:1-2 my word popped up.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Now, my word flow does not appear in this passage. But one of the main reasons I chose this word was that I want to live more in the flow of God's Spirit this year, and as I read these verses I was struck with a thought that was connected with my word: I cannot live in the flow of God's Spirit if I am hindered or weighed down and entangled, both by the things in life that weigh me down and/or by the sin I struggle with. I also think that my practice through Lent may come out of this revelation in some way. We'll see. Anyway, I enjoy how my word will pop up when least expected. I also love how living and active the Word of God is in our lives when we delve into it!

Of course, I respond with art and recording it in my Everyday Journal, so that I take it deeper and have a reminder of how God spoke to me through these verses.

I wrote a bit of hidden thoughts under the tag.

Six weeks into 2018! On some level it's hard to believe that this amount of time has already passed. On another level it also feels like it has already been 2018 for quite some time! I hope the new year so far has been filled with revelation and inspiration for you, in faith and in art. How are you doing with your word this year? We have conversations going on about our Everyday Journals and our word for the year over in the Everyday Journals ~ Living Out Your Word for the Year Facebook group. Join us!

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Also, join us for Lent Words 2018 -  A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent. More about it in this post. There is also a private Facebook group for the Lent challenge:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords/