WIP: Journals

I have four journals that are a work-in-progress...not sure how that happened, okay, maybe it's because I'm a hoarder saver.

This first journal is my 2014 journal...it's basically all my instagram photos.  The journal itself is an old book that I altered.

I actually had too many photos just for the first half of 2014 that I've decided to do four books broken down by quarter...this book is first quarter (I'm a little behind) so it ends with March.

I've got the other three books ready to go...I just need to order my prints from Origrami.com for second quarter so I can get caught up!

This is my junk journal...I always have one going.  As soon as every nook and cranny is filled with junk I've kept from everyday life, I will start on a new one.

This is a sewn journal made entirely of various size patterned papers, newspapers, book pages, old envelopes, etc.  Anything I thought would work as a "page" was folded in half, then sewn down the middle.  Outside cover is brown kraft paper.  These simple and inexpensive handmade journals are my favorite.

You can see there's still plenty of room for little odds and ends, bits of papers and other goodies that I stumble upon daily.  Anything that I think is pretty, interesting or has neat graphic goes in here.

This is my "treasured things" journal made from an old book cover.  I took out the inside pages and added a three ring binder insert with patterned papers and other cardstock weight papers as the pages.

Only treasured things from my daily life make it in this journal...concert tickets, theatre tickets, business cards from my favorite people/shops, etc.   I started this journal three years ago and still have lots of space.

And this last journal is my "Explore Minnesota" smash book that turned into my summer bucket list journal.   It seems every summer, around mid-July, I get a little panicked because we haven't DONE anything and summer is almost over...so this year I made a summer bucket list consisting of 23 things I'd like to do...we have 15 completed with a month to go!

 And the book is almost filled!

There's nothing I like more than filling a journal...except maybe ice cream!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

What I'm Working On...

I ordered prints of about 80 of my Instagram photos from Origrami.com. 

They print the photos similar to retro Polaroids and as an added bonus, for the back you can choose from a few different themes like a retro camera silhouette, postcard style, a map of your Instagram photo location...or it'll print the first comment from your Instagram post...doesn't matter which you order, they're all super cute.

 Sorta makes me cringe when I glue it down cause the back is just as cute as the front.

And if pretty packaging is your thing, you'll love that your photos come in a cute little "photo file" box with a white silhouette of a retro camera printed on it (just like on the back of the photos.)

 I've been slowly adding my origrami prints to this journal I made at the end of 2012...

 I still have a million photos to add but I'm just taking my time, enjoying the process.

 Maybe I'll finish by the end of 2014?

Super Duper Junk Journal...

Last summer, my niece, Madison, made this cute journal for me with all sorts of random papers, sticky notes, ephemera and tags with her own artwork on them.  It's the cutest little thing. 

Since I save everything...clothing tags, address labels, used envelopes, price tags, postcards, soap wrappers (you get the point)...I decided to make this into my "Super Duper Awesome Junk Journal".  I needed to do something with all my hoarded saved junk.  I have so much of it my little plastic bin was overflowing, but I couldn't bring myself to throw anything out.

My niece will be back in Minnesota in a few months and I can't wait to show her all the awesome goodness!

I have about 1 and 1/2 empty pages but I used most of the true "ephemera" I saved...all that's left in my plastic bin are journaling cards and stuff that was just too big for this project.

There's something about the feel of big, bulky, crinkly, scrummy pages that makes me really happy!

I just hope that one day you don't see me on an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive"!