Sunday, January 8, 2012

First Monday Projects! Journaling

Over the past, dare I say, 20 years or so, I've been designing inspirational and technique based projects for manufacturers, books and magazines based on the products I've been given to work with.  I sincerely love what I do, but a few months ago someone asked me what I liked to do for me.  Surprisingly enough, I had to actually stop and think...........  and it was kind of an eye opener.  I like to paint and I like to draw, but realized I've done very little of either one for quite some time.  I'm always doodling, the down and dirty kind of doodling as I talk on the phone, or get bored in a meeting - oops - don't tell, and I'm always playing with markers.

I've always loved to draw.  As a little girl I remember saving up pocket money to buy colored pencils at the University bookstore and used to fill book after book with drawings of fairies and little girls in Victorian style dresses.  Wide eyed damsels of the fairy tale kind flowed from my pencils like Niagara falls together with a whole army of popular cartoon characters.  I even wrote poems to go along with them.  Then one day it happened, I became a teenager and graduated to covering school jotters with things like "John", "Paul", "George" and "Ringo".  That was in the early '60s.

I'm sure you've seen and read a lot about "Art Journals" over the past few years or so, but anything that requires a commitment is not for me.  I rebel against doing anything I HAVE to do.  I have to WANT to do something, plus there has to be a good reason to do it.  Other than marriage, the only thing I'm committed to at this time in my life, is getting out of bed in the mornings and going to bed at night......LOL  As I said goodbye to 2011 however, and hello to 2012,  I started to think it might be fun to do some, what I will call "Freestyle Journaling".  My daughter bought me a journal (because it had London on the cover) for Christmas and I decided that instead of scribbling on odd bits of paper and the backs of envelopes here, there and everywhere, I would at least try to keep thoughts, ideas and doodles together in one place.  So here's today's musings.  Probably the only thing I will share, because this is only for me........


 
This kind of journaling may not appeal to you, and that's okay......  It's like any creative endeavor,  it's very personal - no rules - just fun!  Enjoy whatever you do - that's the whole point.  Look for more ideas by clicking "hop forward" on the Designer Crafts Connection logo in my sidebar on the left.  If you keep hopping you'll end up back here with a whole bunch of new ideas and inspiration. Y'all come back now...........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing that little but really beautiful part! I love it!

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  2. Your post made me laugh! And what a great way to approach journalling - just for fun!

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  3. Great journal, love the creative approach. :) I wish I could draw like that!

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  4. Anonymous1/26/2012

    Julie, I really enjoyed your post on Jan 8th about journaling. It's something I have thought about doing for the past several years, but never seem to be able to "start". I keep thinking I need to make a fancy journal before I even begin to start to jot down my thoughts, doodles or whatever. I finally picked up a book on different types of journals at a scrapbooking convention. I bought a cheap composition notebook and am just going to get out my supplies and throw something together! After all, this is just for me! I'm a big fan of your show! Any chance of doing a show devoted to the the different kinds of journals out there as well as how to get started? Jo Ann P., Raymore, MO

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    1. Hi JoAnn, We'll be taping the second series of Scrapbook Soup this Spring and the subject for the series is JOURNALING! Hopefully we'll have lots of different types of journals to share.

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