A few years ago it became necessary to get my grandmother out of her home and into an environment where she had some company (full time), three meals a day and somebody helping to pay her bills and keep her from burning down the house, etc.
That experience started me on my junkin' journey and a new business venture as well as, amazingly enough, helping to repair and heal some bad feelings I harbor towards grandma. Not saying those are gone, because they're not, but helping her through this time of life has really helped me develop a fondness and a partial understanding of what makes (made, she's medicated now so wow! what a difference) her tick (not that I'll ever agree with some of her more abrasive personality traits, but it's always easier to move on when you have a better understanding of where someone's coming from).
Anyhoo.... let's move on shall we. Grandma is still alive and kicking at 98. Sweet (yes, I said sweet, meds where have you been all her life), happy and busy, busy busy!
When cleaning out her home, I really wish I'd known what I know now, I'd of kept a lot more of her paper, ephemera, that I just threw away. I'm kicking myself now, what a waste! One thing I did keep was this Horticulture magazine from 1974 with the mailing label on the back. Love it!
My mom has been sending me links to you-tube videos dealing with art journals of all kinds. One of the videos, entitled En Masse Collection Journal by Shannon Green is included below. This is the video that inspired my project.
I used Elmer's school glue to adhere my pages together (I wanted to use glue sticks but couldn't find any at the time). Each page is at least three, sometimes four pages thick.
Here's how it looked once I'd gotten all my pages glued together and before I'd started any of the finishing touches.
Page 1 & 2: Each time I encountered one of these pull-out ads I glued down the outer edge and formed a belly band.
Page 3 & 4: I put a small pocket on page 4.
Page 5 & 6: Another belly band.
Page 7 & 8: I made a pocket on page 7 and am thinking I'll keep much of page 8 as is. Love the roses (and so does grandma).
Page 9 & 10: The first of two full spreads, not sure what I'm doing here but I saved these particular pages because I love the drawings.
Page 11 & 12: Another belly band.
Page 13 & 14: Another full spread, again, no idea yet what I'm doing here yet.
Page 15 & 16: belly band.
That's it. How many pages does a typical Horticulture magazine have? Not sure (I didn't think to check). I ripped out some pages as well since I'll be adding bulk later in the form of photos and other memorabilia.
Now, I've begun the decorative process. So much fun. Here's what I've done so far:
I used a stencil and some spackling paste on the front and back cover. I'd like to add some color but really want the cover to peek thru.
One of the tips in the video I shared above by Shannon Green is to alternate front to back when doing your decorating (helps to keep the spine from skewing too badly in one direction or the other). I started on the inside cover, page 1, adding decorative paper and another coordinating paper for a pocket.
I am planning to add some type of decor around the outer edges, not sure what yet. On page 2 I used gel medium to obscure the page, not sure what else I'll do here and then added a photo mat to the belly band. That's it for today on these pages.
Then I switched to the last pages, page 15, yes I know it looks like 16 but the picture is upside down (couldn't get it to rotate for some odd reason so pretend will ya). I plan to do a waterfall with pictures here, grandma has multiple photo albums that open in this manner and I've always loved them. Just so happens while watching a video, I came across this very technique, how convenient ( I think I could of figured it out on my own but really nice to get some hints and tips and see it done without experimentation on my part, I'll be sharing that video at the end of the post).
I started by cutting down a piece of cardstock and gluing it onto my journal page, leaving me an edge all the way around to decorate later. Then, I measured an old photo of grandmas so I knew how big to make my flip cards. I added 1/2" for the fold and left roughly 1/2" for a border all the way around. Once I knew the size of my flip cards I started cutting them out of the same cardstock I used for the base. Score them 1/2" down for the flip and beginning at the top, glue them down. I started off using glue but it's so messy and they want to slide around until the glue dries, so I switched to tape. What an amazing difference.
Here it is with all my flip cards installed. I will be adding decorative papers to each card, front and back. That's all I've gotten done so far. Lots to do but it's coming along nicely so far.
Here's the video I promised detailing how to make the waterfall photo display, by My Sisters Scrapper. Really easy, its towards the very end of the video if you're not interested in watching the entire thing (this is part 4 of a series to make paper bag journals, I encourage you to watch the series sometime, its really good).
My mom and I will be spending a week together soon and our plan is to play, play, play! I can't wait. Maybe I can get this journal decorated and ready for photos. I've got two other journals "in the works" and am dying to start a paper bag journal. I also have plans for an envelope journal with the binding taught in the above series. So many plans, so little time!
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