This month I will have been making my monthly mini journals for two years! It doesn’t seem that long ago when I decided to have a go at combining my love of bookbinding, art journaling and creative journaling into one to create my first one.
Let me explain the difference firstly between art journaling and creative journaling. Art journaling is a very free form of art that allows you to experiment with any art materials and techniques within a journal format. It is used to create memories, express emotions, or just to play. Creative journaling uses less paint and is more about combining photos and memorabilia with straight forward journaling. I loved the idea of using art journaling to record all my memories for each month as a sort of running diary.
It made sense that each one should be its own mini book so that is how it started. Each month I print off my photos for the month and pull together any ephemera that I want to add. Then I work on the pages. Each book is roughly 11cm square but the pages can vary inside. Sometimes I include pockets and flip outs. I also gather textile elements to add, ribbon, lace, pom pom trim (gotta love pom poms!) and scraps of fabric. I love pulling my sewing machine out to sew in the photos and different elements.
I work on each page, then bind them all together into a book. Each book takes a few days to complete and turns out different every time. I love looking back over them from time to time, as do the kids. I even catch my husband looking through them occasionally. They are a loving way of recording our day to day lives together.
Keep creating, Lisa