With the Good Camera still out of the house and away from my
slimy little fingers for the next couple of days, I’ve decided to write a post
on an experiment I’m conducting this year rather than the sewing guide I had planned.
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A journal!
I’ve tried to keep a journal/diary/sketchbook/planner
several times in the past, but I always get sidetracked and it winds up
abandoned under my bed for bugs to lay eggs in or something. This summer,
however, I discovered this lovely creation on Deviantart. It’s everything in one big, ink-drenched , chicken-scratch package! Sure, I’m
not studying art, so mine won’t be as lovely as hers, but if there was ever a
way to accurately capture one’s life experience it would be in a collage diary.
As such, I’ve filled up my Mario pencil pouch with an entire
kindergarten classroom’s worth of art supplies, and doodled away! At first I
was afraid of ruining it with either an off day, or my general lack of artistic
arrangement skills, but then I realized it didn’t even matter! Journal’s aren’t
supposed to be pretty or smart or filled with detailed prose about pondering
life’s mysteries. They’re supposed to be about what happens to you! And you
know what? Big pencil scribbles and way too much glitter is what’s happening to
me right now.
Journaling this past week and a half has been a surprisingly
liberating experience, leaving me less nervous about screwing up the perfection
of a crisp empty page, and more in touch with my thoughts and my daily life
than I usually am.
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| My beloved Mario pencil pouch. |
As such, I figured I’d show off a few spreads and tell you
how to do this as well!
How to make a REAL
journal:
Materials:
1.
A journal
of some kind. I got a $10 one from Amazon since I wanted something sturdier
than your average spiral-bound or composition book, but those work fine as
well, and can be decorated just as easily. Lined/graph/blank paged books are all great!
2.
Coloring
materials. Dig through the art cabinet no one has opened since you were ten
and pick out your favorites. For me, it’s some colored pencils I got for X-mas
a few years ago and the few glitter pens to have survived my youth.
3.
Glue
stick. Sure, maybe you’re not a collage genius- I’m certainly not- but you’ll
find stuff to glue in, like your schedule and locker number, or new friends’
emails, or even just a funny fortune cookie fortune you get at lunch. I suggest
the massive Elmer’s ones emblazed with the intimidating title of X-TREME School
Glue Stick.
4.
An X-acto
knife. Seriously. It’s one of my prized posessions. You can cut anything
with this baby, quick and easily, and it fits into any pencil pouch like just
another sharpie!
5.
Whatever
else you can think of. Stickers? String? Magazines? Nail polish? I dunno
what you can do with those things, but obviously you do, and whatever you think
should go in your journal can.
Procedure:
1. Do whatever the hell you want with your new journal.
That’s it! Write down interesting conversations or funny
jokes, glue in strange notes you find crumpled up on the floor, and draw a
picture of your LA teacher with your eyes closed. In five years when you look
back on your younger self, you’re going to appreciate having the sort of
journal that actually says something about you, rather than one filled with
whiny passages about teenage hormones written every
once in a while when you get grumpy.
Come! Join me! Together, we shall take over the world
with our unconventional diaries!
And now, for some inspiration. This will help show you how much thought and time you don’t have to put into your journal:
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| What could that sensor bar possibly be covering? Also, 10 points to whoever knows what song I obviously had stuck in my head. |
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| I'm a real sucker for creepy songs, and was bored out of my mind in Latin, so I decided to make a Rookie-style playlist. That blacked out one is Jeremy, by PJ. As much as I love that song, and it's about a killer, it isn't that creepy. |
Hey, love your post, and Mario pencil pouch is very sweet!
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely read you, but I have problems finding follow button so don't get mad at me :)
Thank you so much! Yeah, I had a strangely large amount of trouble with following you as well. I won't be mad if you don't follow me, but if you'd like to you go to your blogger account home page, and beneath the list of your blog(s) is something called the "Reading List", which you can copy blog urls into to follow them.
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