My Art Journal 2011

I was lucky to get a copy of *Craft Stamper* sent to me last week from Petra B - once again, many thanks! - and have since been enjoying the inspiring articles, lots of which are from the lovely ladies of *Gingersnaps*
One of the many things which have landed on my ever growing *to do* list was the *Project Art Journaling* from Kate Crane. It reminded me of the giant, A3 sketch book I have had hidden in my hall closet for a couple of years.
So, yesterday I dug it out, resisted the temptation to dig further and see what else might be lurking there, and started work.
I decided to distress the pages with ink, as I recently tidied all my acryl and water paints away, and did not want to spend a day looking for them....
The title page has been distressed with TH inks in various blue tones and wild honey. I used a mask to make a border top and bottom, which I sprayed with *Juneberry wine* from My Tattered Angels. The alphas were left overs from Xmas crafting, and the background squares cut from paper printed with a snowy picture taken from my balcony.
Then I did a double page spread for January, using remnants of scrap paper from my stash. The background has been distressed with TH inks in stormy skies, faded jeans, victorian velvet, forest moss and wild honey, masked with scrolls and also sprayed with *Juneberry wine*. Then I did some random stamping with my large script stamp before sticking on the squares for the days and dates etc. Then I did more random stamping round about, using all the stamps which were flying around in the kitchen where they should not have been. To finish it off I added some hand-doodling, one of my favourite sayings from Albert Einstein, and some cut outs which were also littering my kitchen. This way I will always be able to remember how messy my kitchen was when I started my journal, although it was NOTHING compared to how messy it was afterwards. Now you won't believe this, but I did clear away the mess when I had finished - I had to make a path to the coffee-maker!
Before I went to bed I typed a preface for my journal, here is the text:

*Art is the window of the soul*
For me, creating my art is an integral part of my life, and I cannot imagine having to live without it. It helps me to maintain my mental balance and wellbeing, and together with my other great loves - music, reading and writing, makes me whole.
I have often had phases in life where I have been left alone, been sad, overworked, frustrated, ill or disappointed, but my *loves* have always offered me an escape into the realms of creativity and imagination.
I am happy if other people like the art work I make, or what I have written, but it is not essential; the process of creation is important, and if I am satisfied with what I have made, I feel good after it.
Now I have started on a new journey with this art journal for 2011. There will only be a small square to write in each day; space for a short, positive comment. My aim will to be to find the things each day for which I can be thankful, things which made the day a good day, and not to write a report of problems or catastrophes!
I discovered this giant sketch book in my *bottomless pit* - my name for the hall closet! As it is already bound, mistakes or pages which don’t turn out quite as I would like them to will have to become a part of the journey, a mirror of the imperfections of life itself. You can’t rub out your past, but you can turn over a new leaf and try to do better – or differently – the next time!
So, here’s wishing us all a good new year, with the courage to take life as it comes and make the best of it.

There are loads of pages in the book, so I will be able to use some of the other pages *between the months* to try out stamps, do some doodling, or...? Who knows? That's the fun of a journey, you don't know what's round the next corner!

So, now I had better get started on filling it in. Thanks for looking!