Monday, June 27, 2016

My First Journal 2006-2008 Journal Journey

 
It's finally up. I've mentioned about the history behind this very first journal of mine, and am now showing what it looks like. The following words have already been said about this book in the "About My Blog" section of the site.
As an early 13 old, my brother gave me a sketch book as a gift; I didn’t know what to do with it, and I asked him how I should use it. He shrugged and suggested I start a journal or something. 
I drew in the book for a long time, never feeling satisfied with my sketches, then one day my brother’s advice echoed back in my head. So I picked up some colored pencils and pens, and started my very first journal page about butterflies on our plants outside. This first page was the beginning of my growing desire for journal keeping, and I’ve continued the process from that time onward. 
My journals have become more complex over time, and the more I look back on the ones I made, the more I love making them. I feel that history is important, especially your own, and it’s really quite extraordinary watching your life unfold through words, pictures, and kept objects. The beauty of journals to me is that you can see your life unravel on a page, and reflect back on times that were both good and bad, even see how much you’ve matured from life experiences; or recall certain details you deemed important and wished to always remember.
There's more to the beginning days of my journal keeping. One thing I'd like to note because I couldn't quite remember during the time of recording is that I technically had no desire to start journalism for a long time, and only struggled for a few years, not many. 

I was encouraged around age 11 I believe, but was unable to grasp the concept and didn't start thinking about it more till I was 12. I had always loved papers and keeping record, and recall making kid art for my scrapbook at a very young age, remembering the joy that came with helping Mommy make a book full of pictures.

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When I hit 12 I went through a big craze of reading through library books on the subject of journaling, keeping journals, keeping scrapbooks (I'll list the main book that inspired me and helped me grasp it better if I ever find the name of it). Which I did. Making Family Journals was my favorite book that inspired me to try book keeping.


 I was still trying to wrap my head around it, facing the block that others have of feeling like there should be some kind of rules or guide lines to journal keeping, when in reality there isn't. This block in my mind is what kept me from starting a journal sooner, but I did try to grasp the concept starting on May 17'th, 2007.
I had this dollar store notepad I really liked, and started writing in it with a brown pen that matched the outline color of the flower border on every page. As I worked in it I started to feel relaxed by the feeling of my pen moving on the paper, then started to grasp what it was like to just journal and not think so much about it. 
Technically speaking my journal keeping started on this day, just didn't become as official till June 12'th when I switched over to using the sketchbook my brother gave me. I remained facing struggles for awhile while writing in the notepad, part of the learning experience to relax and let go.

I wrote several entries in the notepad till May 27'th, 2007. The rest of the notepad has remained unused ever since, and I'm considering the idea of making a mini booklet out of the journal entries so I can keep track of them better. 
Now you know when I started my journal keeping, and as I explained in the video, I decorated my book after it was all filled up. I had a nice collection of colorful scrapbook paper and stickers from the Dollar store which I used to decorate the book. The bright green shade of the paper made me happy, and of course I'm big on sparkly stuff so I sealed the paper with a glitter finish. 
To this day I like the appearance of the purplish blue spine that looks like marble, seeing this book and its colors as a reflection of my younger self.
I covered the insides of my book  with a cheery yellow scrapbook paper and added my own touch of doodling using some cheap metallic and sparkly jell pens I got from Big Lots. 

I also added silly hologram stickers of butterflies and dragonflies from the dollar store. 
Now that I think about it, all the decor I used for this project was inexpensive and fun.

I added my name to the front inner cover of the journal to show it was blatantly mine. Plus everything is better with some swirls. :P I also added a slot window below the name so I could change out the added information card if I needed to.

The back of the book is where I really had my fun, going all out with the vine designs. Doodling became a big thing throughout the entire journal, and I always tried to add some pretty borders somewhere so the book would always have interest on almost every page.
There's a lot of art in the book, and sometime I may try to share actual pictures of more sketches from it, but for this post I decided to just include a few of my favorite pages.
 
June 15, 2007 pages 3-4. 
I was having silly fun that day and drew random sketches in the book to encourage my friend at the time to give it a try. My sketch is on the left and then I let my friend try, hers being on the right. I still find her style to be amusing.
June 30, 2007 pages 3-4.
 I did some collage after going to a friends birthday. The cake and candles is from an ad, and the cat with its crown is collage made from leftover wrapping paper from my friends party.
Nov. 18, 2007 pages 2-3.
Thanksgiving 2007 was a boredom sketch I did on that day for the holiday. I managed to pass the time by drawing out some of the dishes we eat on Thanksgiving.
Lava Lamp Power. Nov. 17, 2007

Lava Lamp Power is a full blown illustration I just decided to draw in my journal for some reason. It was made a day before the Thanksgiving image, but is drawn on the page after the Thanksgiving image. 

I remember being inspired by this lava lamp I had which bubbled black wax that made me think of oil in a bottle. This led to the idea of it being like an alien fuel source, its canister a special generator that can contain it. This is when I drew this picture of a lava lamp generator room complete with a little alien which I find to be rather cute and stylish. The whole image was done using colored pencil and a little jell pen.
Dec. 25, 2007. 
I really enjoy the little collage peacock I added to the page. I was bored that day and used some wrapping paper to make a picture. All I did was use imagery of ornaments and snowflakes, then added feather designs with sparkly jell pen. I used a light blue sparkly jell pen to write and create an icicle border with too.
Feb. 14, 2008 
The fanciest section in the book is the one for Valentine's Day. I used decoupage images, cupid stickers, an image from a calendar, some cloud scrapbook paper, a white doily, and jell pen to create my little Cupid collage. I then added an envelope to the other side where I slipped in a report on Cupid and the history behind him. I was required to do a report for school, so I chose the subject of Cupid, a convenient choice since Valentine's Day was near.
Peacock Ornament Card (left). Antique Cupid (right).

Since I like the collage pieces from my journal, I went ahead and made them into separate illustrations which could serve as cards. The Antique Cupid one already stands by itself, but the Peacock Ornament card is composed of selected parts from the journal pages of Dec. 25 2007. 

All I did was select the collage part, then used the hand drawn border on the other page as accent to the card, and finalized the image by using some of the page text which I blurred and made into a circular window encompassing the bird. 

I might try using similar techniques I used for the Peacock Ornament image to share other sketches and art pieces from the journal if I ever get around to it.

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