junque journal swap

 I joined SwapBot recently and discovered that post cards are more fun to swap than one might imagine. I also joined a Junk Journal swap. You start a junque journal in a cheapo composition book, then send it off to someone, and receive one from someone else. You're supposed to do at least 10 pages, plus add about 25 prompts to blank pages. I'm all done with the decorating part, so thought I'd share them.

This was oddly freeing, knowing that I wouldn't be the one working in it. Not that I mean I didn't do good work, just that there wasn't any sort of pressure to do it "right," since I have no way of knowing who my victim will be or what they like. I tried out some different techniques, I added pages from old books, all sorts of fun stuff. Can't wait to see what I get back.

This also cured me of thinking that people who journaled in composition books were nuts. Who wants thin, lined paper? I used to think. Certainly not me. Well, turns out it works just fine. I even painted a little, altho not real wetly. So, while at Wally World today, I bought another blank comp book, just to have on hand, if, in case, you know, the mood strikes me to start another one. Gotta do something with those hundreds of magazine images I tore out back in my frenzy days of cleaning out old mags.

Anyway, here are my pages.

1st pic is the cover. I used some cool looking scrapboook papers. I love the colors in these and they already looked all distressed. 


2nd pic is the inside cover. Old books, torn up and patched, plus the eyes from a magazine, the word ART, and a writing hand.

3rd pic is torn brown paper bags, a mag image, and tucked into a fold of the bag bottom is a bit of bright crepe paper from a Mexican store in San Diego, bought when I visited Julie in January. (finally used some of it!)

4th pic - woven strips of old book pages and blue squares made with Derwent inktense watercolor pencils.

5th pic - background is paper from a music writing notebook. I like the spacing of the lines. Part of a map showing where I live, some painted paper, and part of a gift bag sewn to make two pockets. I decorated a tag for the small flap pocket and stuck two ATC bases in the other. In the word search puzzle, I circled the letters to spell out 'blue sea.'

6th pic - painted acrylic square bordered by the untwisted paper handles of a gift bag. I love the texture of the paper after it's untwisted.

pics 7 and 8 - background is a bunch of receipts from the last few days - grocery store, Walmart, Starbucks - torn and glued down, painted yellow, then brayered with some blue. The tip-in is a page from one of my journals stuck to the back of an ad card torn from a magazine.

pic 9 is two large book pages with an image of a crumbling old mansion and a tag hanging from a grommet. The tag says "but it's magical". This is my favorite spread, I think.

last pic is several diff colors of tissue paper put down with gel medium - sort of an impressionistic garden scene, I suppose...