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!

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"!

December Daily...

I finished my December Daily and did something a bit different than I've done in the past.

 This one is more of an art journal made from an old ledger book.

I was inspired by a book Julie Collings made a few years ago...you can see hers here.

I started at the beginning of November and made a few pages each day.

 And now I am done and ready for the craziness to begin!

 Happy Journaling!

Time flies...

Seems so long ago that we were in hot, sunny Florida for spring break. The weather was perfect the entire eight days we were there, and, needless to say, we had SO. MUCH. FUN! This was the first vacation in a long time in which none of us wanted to come home.

Here are some of my favorite picturesShelby gave Mickey a little smooch on the cheek...

Matt was thrilled about this one since Goofy has always been his favorite Disney Character (with Pluto a close second)

I was thrilled Pinnochio was there! Isn't he adorable?

Love this picture of me and Tom...kind of romantic huh? This was at Clearwater Beach (Gulf of Mexico)

I just couldn't resist snapping their picture under the "We have crabs" sign...notice Matt didn't want anything to do with it. Tarpon Springs, Sponge Docks.

{BIG SIGH} I really haven't come out of vacation mode yet even though it's been a week since we got back...I'm having a really tough time getting back in the swing of things. I quit my shameful photography "picture a day" blog...I fell behind while on vacation and there's simply no way I'll be able to catch it up now (or maybe I'll feel really ambitious this weekend and just do it??) I did manage to make a few new goodies for my shop...

That's all for now!