Playtime with JJ's Journal

Yes, this is a blog hop, but it's also a chance for me to ramble since I've been feeling crummy all week and haven't really been off my couch other than for a few hours at work.  While on the couch yesterday I thumbed through my Crafter's Devotional (I'll refer to it as CD365 from now on).  I actually keep the book nearby here in the living room all the time because it's fun to just pick pages at random and see what ideas come up. 

CD365 came into my life as a gift from Elisabeth, a fellow Air Force Officer/Craftisan.  She also included a big, blank journal.  Well, normally a blank journal would excite me with the paper...since I just love stacks and stacks of paper, but I think journals are also very intimidating.  They're supposed to be full of perfect creative ideas, right?  I mean, how many journals and notebooks do you have sitting around that you expected to be wonderful works of expressive beauty and outlets for your passion?  haaaaaaaaaaaaaa  One of the big things in CD365 is to encourage journaling, uh oh.

BUT, once I changed my expectations about my big journal and gave myself permission to just jack it up and have fun and not expect big mental breakthroughs, I actually started having some fun.  I started with just a black pen...kept it limited, but not too limited.  Then, in anticipation of this post, I tried a few more "mixed media" pages, even though I'm totally intimidated by OPP (other peoples' pages) that I see in magazines and workshops.  

This picture, that I took while at the beach back in August makes me soooooooo happy.  I actually danced around when I saw it on my phone!  I printed a copy of the shot and then scotched taped into "the book."  Then, I sat outside in front of my building on the curb drinking a soda and drawing.  I played around trying to make my own fancy fonts.  I need to play more with those.  

Then, back in the house, I wanted to do something else with color.  Since I slept all afternoon in a cold medicine fog, I had plenty of energy late in the evening so I figured I'd break out some new watercolors.

And now there's a big wrinkly colorful page in my journal!!

It's crazy to me that I was so averse to getting the paper wet and letting it wrinkle.  Now, I'm all excited because when I flip through the book there's actually some texture and color.  I want more of that!  So, today I'm going to head out and take a big bag of markers with my book and see what happens.  It's not all deep and meaningful, but it makes me happy.  :)

And, to see stories of how CD365 is influencing some other lives, here's a list of blogs to check out:

~ Elisabeth http://www.beadsforbusygals.com/ (She's the one who started me off with the big blank book! Thanks, E!)

~ Beth http://storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com/

~ Holly http://silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/

~ Hope http://craftyhope.blogspot.com/2012/08/crafters-devotional-first-hop.html

~ Jeannie http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog/2012/08/18/crafters-devotional-blop-hop

~ Kristin http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

~ Patty http://www.mylifeunderthebus.typepad.com/

~ Sally http://thestudiosublime.com

~ Sandi http://sandivolpe.com/

~ Vonna http://www.justvonna.blogspot.com/