Art Journal Beginnings

About 10 years ago I was all about scrap booking.

My scrapbooks were not the typical one's where every page was someone else's clip art with a few photos pasted to the pages.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  It's just not me.

My scrapbooks were more like a journal of my thoughts, my art and my photos.

Kind of interesting (to me at least) but not very pretty.

Well, a few months ago I purchased some handmade paper.

It's so pretty.

I wanted to save it for something special.

I thought it might make a sweet art journal.

I made the cover with recycled card stock paper then layered on some vintage lace and some dried plants that I gathered from along the woods while walking Jack. Then I embellished it with a couple of flea market items and some text. This was my first experience using gesso. This stuff is fabulous! I felt like a kid who had just discovered the joy of finger painting.

I was lost in the zone of creating.

I didn't care that my just cleaned dining room was now covered in gesso, glue, lace and bits of paper.

This morning I'm a little overwhelmed with the mess, but that's nothing new.

I will organize the chaos today and get ready to make a new mess.

It's all part of the process.

My thoughts today:  Life is short. Make a mess. Play as if you were a child and get lost in doing something that brings you joy.

Karen