Journalling fun!

 I spent another lovely hour making the next page (right hand page) of my journal

The quote on the bottom caught my eye, so I just had to tear it out and use it.
It says:-

'Get ready to  meet your true, powerful, healthy, confident, amazing, self,'

I think that I should use that as my mantra!

These are just random pages - not intended to be part of a theme

I will use Kelly Kilmer's journal prompts at a later date, but for now I am just

enjoying playing - without a theme or 'agenda'.

All I used are torn out scraps from free magazines, a ruler, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick!

Thank you for visiting

Another journal page inspired by Kelly Kilmer

This afternoon I managed to make another page for my journal

inspired by Kelly Kilmer whose online courses I have bought.

The weather has been cold and wet and miserable

so I thought I would make something that made me feel happy.

The little picture would have come from a magazine - junk mail probably

but she looks absolutely full of joy and positively glows with good health!

The background paper scraps are from rummaging in a drawer.

Journal Journey Continues.........

I spent some time messing about with my journal and made a couple more pages.

A quick precis of the story so far.

Lucinda and Kate are childhood friends .

As a young woman, Kate was invited to join her cousins in France, and through them mixed with a wealthy circle of the 'elite'

She has been staying in a Chateau, has a new companion Genevieve.

They have been wined and dined and have been sampling the delights of Paris around 1900.

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Lucinda is now an old lady still living in England and looking through her scrap book of memorabilia of bygone days

If this is your first visit and want to see previous pages you can see them here and here  and here and here

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Lucinda kept all the letters and postcards etc and here are some of them.

Kate sent little bottles of eau de cologne.

The bottles have long since gone, but the labels, now yellowed with age have been pressed and saved on a sheet of French writing -  which she glued on with flour and water.

Kate and Genevieve were swept away by the latest fashions and used to send paintings of the latest fashion items to Kate. 

The shoes particularly amazed Lucinda - who wore leather ankle boots for Sunday best!

Like these - the height of fashion!

Some of Kate's letters survived over the years, but the gold leaf on her napkins and writing paper had almost all flaked off.

But despite the ageing the letters were still legible.

Journal -The first signature

Well I have almost finished the first signature - and have sewn it in, which fits in very nicely with this weeks Lots to Do Challenge, which is 'stitches' - take your pick they are all stitched!

I have never spent so long making something arty crafty!

Inside cover/first page

 A scrap of old curtain material from a charity shop years ago, bits of torn paper, and material sewn on top - note not a straight line in sight and lots of scraggly bits.

There is a transferred french postcard image onto a bit of old pillowcase (ripped) all held together with some buttons.

Next page - there is lace between the two

A bit of old net curtain cut around the shapes to make a pattern

Lucinda's embroiderd vintage handkerchief from Kate in France

Its tucked into a pocket at the start of the story - which it typed onto paper, and I have painted and stamped on it, the sewn it onto cardboard to make a pocket for the hankie.

You can see that the next page of Lucinda's thatched cottage has changed somewhat!

The ghost is still there!

These pages look a bit more severe , with Lucinda staring out into the distance as Kate's ship sails off to France.  The pouch for the vintage map on the right is flamboyant

As  you would expect from France at the time.

The first page of this signature centre is in a posting below (the ornate letter from Kate) together with some previous pages made.

And the above is the other - where she spent a weekend with French aristocracy in one of their Chateaux

Sadly the story is too long to make a page for each part of it, so I am going to type that up when I have finished and include it in the journal as a little booklet.

More scraps of pages salvaged from a fire - one of Lucinda's this time, and one of her paintings for Kate, together with a painting of where she sat to write her letters

She loves to illustrate her writing paper too - just as I used to years ago when we used to write letters!

Phew only 28 pages to go, plus the cover.

But I have other more pressing things to do unfortunately

All the fabulous lace came from Very Mary the wonder Mary's Etsy shops has to be seen to be believed!

 

Scissors were banned, so too any other colour than black thread - and no measuring with a ruler either - you should try it - it's liberating!

I have been using all my 'skills' new and old, improvising, inking, painting, experimenting, transferring, printing, lots of tearing, sploshing, gluing, and a fair bit of head scratching - and it's amazing what you make with a stash of 'junk'.  And I got to rediscover my old sewing machine - and once I worked out how to thread it and use it again - we have become quite good friends.  I doubt I could sew a straight line - but those were banned too - so it suited me down to the ground.

The leaf print above on the watercolour page - that was a bit of fern that was hanging in the way of my craft shed door - so I snapped it off and laid it on my desk.  The next day I picked it up to throw away and there was a perfect layer of brown dust - must have been from the seeds - so I dabbed ink on the fern, and just lay it on the page overnight -and hey presto - an perfect print!

I am taking a break from this for a week or so - I also need to get some supplies of French 'pretties' to go in it!  And I want to track down some paper serviettes to use in it too.

28 pages and the front cover yet to do - that's 2 signatures.  Lots of adventures to 'travel' on - great places to visit, and there's going to be a bit of romance too of course - and a tragedy - every good story needs a bit of both - not quite sure about a happy ending - who knows - I don't!

Thank you so much for looking

Earlier pages in the posts below.

Kate has arrived safely at her destination

She was met by her cousins who whisked her away to meet their friends, but she did manage to make some time to write to Lucinda.

I wonder where she is - look at that notepaper!

It's gilded!  Lucinda has never seen paper like that before and her eyes are wide with amazement and wonder

'Oh this is so exciting', she thinks,

and can't help but sit and try to imagine herself in Kate's place.

'Well well, her poor country cousins have friends in high places, and she has been whisked away to a Chateau just outside Paris!  I must arrange to see Mrs Ellingham and talk to her French maid to find out what it is like in France.  Perhaps she can teach me the language.' 

Lucinda muses, beginning to feel rather envious of her friend. 

Oh my goodness, the chateau looks rather grand, no wonder she gets gilded paper to write on!

I think that we are only going to get an edited version of her adventures as there are not enough pages in one book for her to write about them all!

I have got rid of my blockage!

/I had a mental blockage regarding how my journal would progress, and didn't really have a 'theme' - and did not know how on earth I was going to fill all the pages.

Mowing the lawns must have done something to me, because this afternoon, working in a very hot garden studio - I suddenly worked out what to do.

It will all take place in the 1800/1900's

It is going to be based on a story which I will write 'around' the pages as they unfold.

A story about two friends

A tragedy

And it features Kate - and a french man, and someone else!

So far that is!

Two more journal pages

These are taking me absolutely ages to make. 

Another sneak peek - page.2.

I am doing quite a bit of burning - I have a story in mind - well at least for a couple of pages!

It's all to do with a candle - and a fire!

I need to find some quotes

I have just been 'letting go' and experimenting!

Journalling Course

I have signed up for an online journalling course - been plucking up courage for ages - and have now taken the plunge.

I am a bit late joining in - but as the notes and videos will be on line until September I'll be able to catch up. Some have almost finished their first journal - and a bit of blog hopping has revealed some very talented ladies especially in the 'sewing' department - which I have found rather daunting - but hey, I am up for a challenge.

Here is a sneak peek of  the one the tutor is demonstrating.

It is what I consider a 'real proper' journal where to create a book from scratch.  The pages, signatures, layering, assembling, binding - the lot!

One of the things that did shock me, was the fact that there is no cutting - NO scissors - honestly! I kid your not and I am seriously afraid. No straight cuts - no straight cuts - no scissors - no 'neat and tidy' - now that will be difficult.

I'll be starting on Tuesday so watch this space if you want to see how I get on. I have a list of things I need to collect..............

Paper, materials, lace, inks, paints, buttons, emphemera, stamps, quotes, shiny stuff, images, ribbons, sheets of watercolour paper - which I am having trouble tracking down - they need to be the 90lb weight and approx 22"x 32" ish.

I have already made a start on rummaging around in my remnant box for bits of material etc.  I have glues, image transfer paper, inks, paints, tea bags, coffee, and can improvise on most things as I don't want to do a 'big spend' but try and use 'stuff' I have around and about.

I'll be painting, sewing, gluing, transferring, tearing, ripping, and so much more! I don't expect my first journal to be very good as it will be all new to me - but using that as an exercise I hope to go forward in leaps and bounds after that.  My head is already buzzing with ideas - whether I have all the 'necessaries' to pull it off I don't know, but it will certainly stretch me.

Night night