Why do I journal?

For this page in my art journal, I'm working with a very simple prompt. "Why do I journal?" For me, the point of this activity is to put something on the page relatively quickly. Since I have made this my goal, I don't want to plan a lot of new and unfamiliar techniques.

While I love diving into new and interesting stuff, it often distracts me from actually putting anything in my journal. I'll have fun for a while, but then I'll usually decide it isn't good enough for an appearance in my book.

Yeah, forget that garbage. It's all good enough for the journal because it's about the journey. I don't think it's a coincidance that JOURNal and JOURNey start with the same five letters.

The springboard I used for this project is Garden Charm Paper Pad by Recollections available at Michael's. Too often I have lost track of time while browsing all the pretty paper in this product line. Most of the time it is too expensive for me, but recently they were on sale for BUY ONE, GET TWO FREE!! So, I bought way too many.

I was hung up starting this promt for a long time simple because I didn't have a good label. I was convinced that I needed to buy something new, but the truth is I have sooo much material. Maybe too much, and I don't NEED more to make something. So, I sat down yesterday and browsed through what I had.

My mind thought this label should be in the form of a sticker. This piece of paper really spoke to me though.

With the main component done, I know what I want to do next. I've been wanting to do some paper weaving to showcase some of these fun patterned papers. First, I cut strips of varying thickness off the bottom of pages I think would work best.

Then I cut those strips in half (marking the back with my measurement).

Lastly, I weave them all together.

Not too hard at all. If I were to do this again, I would use more strips of the plainer patterns or add some solid colored paper too. It's very busy and some of the patterns were not best displayed in this configuration. Regardless, I'm sure it'll be a great addition to my pages for this promt.