more pages from my collage journal....

A few weeks ago, I was able to do a few pages in my collage journal.  I absolutely LOVE this type of art journaling.  For me, and where I am in my life (a.k.a. no free time from being full-time mommy), it is the easiest way for me to be creative and get some of my emotions out in my journal and not bottled up inside.  After I discovered Kelly Kilmer and her amazing journals, I knew that it was something that I could easily do, with not many supplies needed, no big space needed and I could work on pages as I could and finish it when I finished it.  One of my biggest struggles with working in my other art journal is that I have always felt like when I started a page, I HAD to finish it.  So, a lot of times I rushed to get it done and didn't truly enjoy the experience of getting all of that paint all over my hands.  I'm not sure why, but for some reason, I do not feel that same pressure to finish a page when I'm working in my collage journal.  Some days I get a page done easily in one sitting and other days I might take me all weekend to just finish a single page.  No stress.  I work on it when I can.  Maybe it's because I don't have to pull out a lot of stuff to work in it and make a big mess that I know I will have to clean up.  I have a tool box that opens on each side and I have all of my supplies in it that I need to work in my collage journal.  Well, everything except a magazine to get images from.  I need to take some time and share that with you, because it's made such a difference in my being able to create anywhere.  I even take it with me when I go to pick up my daughter from school.  If my son is napping then, I can sit in the car and work in my journal and everything I need is in that tool box or my tote bag.  I keep it upstairs at a little desk in our living room, so that I can work on it during the day as well.  It is absolutely freezing in our basement during the wintertime, so I really hate going down there to work in my art area.  Having that tool box with my basic supplies is perfect for keeping on the main floor and always there when I have a few minutes to work in my journal.

Another reason why I adore this type of art journaling, is that I love looking through magazines and such for images that relay what I'm feeling at that time.  It's an easy and quick way to share in my journal what I'm wanting to express.  I can think more about what I want to say when I don't have to really worry about creating a multi-layered page of paints and whatnot. I have always loved clipping images from magazines since I was a little kid, so I know that's a lot of it, too.  And who doesn't like gluing things down?  I could sit and cut images and words from magazines and then glue them down all day long.  It's like some form of stress relief for me. I have tons of words and phrases that I have cut out, too, and am trying to decide of a good way to sort them for easier use.  Even as simple as a box with "happy feelings" and a box with "not-so-happy feelings".  If I think it will ever work in my journal, I cut it out and save it for later.

This journal is definitely a place where I spew out some of the yucky stuff that I'm feeling and/or thinking.  It's not all pretty and not all happy thoughts, that's for sure.  And it's comforting to know that I have a safe place to go art out some of those things....good and bad.

So, here are a couple of pages that I finished recently:

visit my YouTube to watch me work on some of these pages below :-)

Thanks so much for stopping by :-)
Dianne