Junk Journal

We were planning to move, so I needed to reduce the amount of accumulated ephemera and wallpaper samples. Simple, right? 

I saw a link on Debbie's blog for a class that looked interesting: Mary Ann Moss' Remains Of The Day Journal. I saw the preview and went nuts! The premise is to sew together a bunch of stuff: junk mail, used envelopes, ads, magazine pages, photos, paint chips, labels... You get the picture. 

I swear if I had any money to spend (and you know I really don't!) I'd spend it on one of these classes: 

http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/rotdoci.html

http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/full-tilt-boogie-an-online-visual-journaling-class.html

This woman is a genius! I'm excited-crazy-inspired about her work!  

So anyway, I started tossing paper into a shoebox. Eek! It really isn't hard for a packrat like me to find plenty of material for a paper project. I was having a problem getting started, so I decided that instead of just throwing together random items, I'd use things I like to look at and to play with color combinations. Guess what--I now have--well, take look: 

Purple and green

All different greens plus peach

Turquoise

Pink, fuchsia, raspberry

Phoebe helping me sew

Burgundy, apricot, rose

Phoebe adjusting the stitch length

Sunset colors: purple, orange, gold...

The materials I'm using aren't really the kinds of things used in Mary Ann's class. But her idea really set off some dynamite in my creative center. I think what I have here is a multi-page collage of inspirational colors, handmade papers, bits of graphics and photos and images I like too much to throw away. 

I have several signatures ready to be sewn. But I'm leaving lots of little holes and spaces and pockets so I can write in the finished book, and tuck in stuff whenever I'm inspired.

Thank you Mary Ann Moss!