Journal Inspiration!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Kim at http://flowerkim.blogspot.com/ I have been inspired to start my own journal.  Kim saved a beautiful old photo album that her Mother gave her and has turned it into such a treasure!  Check out this link to her post - scroll down towards the bottom -

http://flowerkim.blogspot.com/2013/04/plugging-along-while-waiting-for-garden.html

Kim is a fantastic artist and she incorporates pictures into her journaling.  She told me, "don't worry about anyone but yourself when you write or draw in it. When I start worrying about what people will think when they see mine that is when I get blocked-but if I remember it's for myself and my own happiness first and foremost then it stays fun."  Great advice, huh? :)

What I picked to use as my journal is a photo album as well.  It was gift from my sister.  She bought it for me years ago at the beach and I never quite knew what to do with it.  It appears to be all handmade and was a bit delicate so I sealed it in a bag and it has been tucked away ever since.

This is the nifty binding on the side.  The braided string is wrapped around a funky looking stick on the front side.  The front middle section is a picture painted onto sand.  It has a cute turtle on it, which I'm sure is one of the reasons my sister picked it for me :)

I always worried that it needed to be sealed somehow, but back then I wasn't quite as crafty (or should I say didn't have time to be crafty) so I wasn't sure what to use.  As you can see the front and back cover is done with natural leaves.  Along the edges the leaves have begun to crumble.

The inside pages are a thick ribbed material and are double folded.  The strings are for inserting pictures.  There is tissue paper tucked inbetween all of the pages.

The back cover still has the original color of the leaves.  The front has faded to brown over time.  There isn't any way to bring the color back to the front, but at this point I hope sealing the entire book will help preserve the rest of the color.

The string is tied in the back so it was easy to take the album apart.

I think there will be room between each of the album pages to add cardstock tabs just like Kim did for her journal.  That way pages can be added by gluing them to the tabs.

Kim also gave me suggestions for sealing my journal.  I tried some tacky glue and regular glue, but didn't have much luck.  Kim suggest gel medium so I bought this at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.

I'll post again once I've sealed the journal and added the tabs.  I can't wait to get started!

Happy Friday everyone!