Project Share: 101 Journals

12 Journals in 10 days

The paper is getting out of control so, I've issued myself a challenge, prompted by a post in one of my junk journal Facebook groups. Someone had posed the question "Could you go a year without purchasing any craft supplies (not including adhesives)?

Interesting thought as this made me reflect on why I went down the junk journal rabbit hole to begin with...re-purposing. I was a theatrical costume designer for 20 years and prior to that a student, then teacher of costume design as well. I collected a lot of paper: images, postcards and books about fashion, costume history, art, design, clothing construction, millinery, etc. in addition, things I collected throughout 20 years of travel. 

I started off well enough until I discovered a store called Tuesday Morning. It's kind of a discount Home Goods with a nifty craft section.  In the last 18 months I've accumulated more paper than I started out with.

My riff on this challenge is to make 101 naked journals without buying anything but glue and blades for my paper cutter. I live in a studio apartment so my stash, though out of control for my space, is not as massive as those who have dedicated craft rooms and storage.

Cadillac Ranch

I unearthed a large box of photographs I'd taken on my travels and made a bunch of cover plates. Cadillac Ranch is made from a box of Trader Joe's crackers collaged with painty paper scraps. my fattest journal thus far.

Birthday Girl

Gift for my nieces 25th birthday

Birthday girl was made using a gutted hard cover book decoupaged with a decorative napkin, fabric from a sun-worn tablecloth and a band made from strips of scrap decorative paper.

I had several pieces of "Frankenpaper" sort of a paper crazy quilt of scraps, which became journal covers

I covered the inside with fabric...

There's no decoration within the journals at this point...

The papers are a mash-up of anything I could fold in half: book/magazine pages, lined paper, graph paper, greeting cards etc.

I've given myself a soft deadline of January 1 because I really want to "use it or lose it" and re-organize my space. I'm also curious to see what kind of chunk this will take out of stash.