ROD Journal #2

Here is a Remains of the Day (ROD) journal I made mostly from pages I received in a swap. There are 2 signatures with 6 pages in each one. The cover is made from melted plastic bags with stitching over the top, inspired by the "Shopper's Joy Book" in Eco Books. I'll fill up this journal with travel pictures from my upcoming trip in August.I received some beautiful swap pages:I'm still not sure how I feel about this style of journal making. I was so excited about it when I started the ROD class but I don't know if I'll be comfortable working in a journal that is so visually busy to start with. I'm going to plunge in and add words and pictures during my trip and see how I feel about it then. Can't really tell if it will work for me if I haven't actually tried it out!

Thrift Share Monday

It's time for Thrift Share Monday sponsored by Apron Thrift Girl.

Years ago I worked with a woman who found the ultimate treasure (to me) at a yard sale - a personal journal written by someone from a different generation. The journal she found was written by a woman who wanted a career but in 1920s society was being pressured to marry. Much of the journal was about this woman's struggle with her desires and her role in society.

I've spent years looking for old journal of my own. I love personal journals. I can't say what ignites me so much but I've been keeping my own for years and I love blog posts abut journals and journaling - sketchbooks, color studies, art journals, diaries- I find them all fascinating.

Saturday we stopped at an estate sale. It was in a trailer park so I figured there probably wasn't too much of an estate. There was a box of notebooks in a corner looking forlorn and untouched. Kelly found it first and then I went through the whole box looking for paper ephemera for my journals. As a was looking through the box it took a while for it to sink in - I was looking at years of someone's personal travel journals. Long entries of handwriting with maps and brochures and pictures taped in. The one on top is a log of a travel trailer journey undertaken in a Dolphin in the late 80s. The orange one is from 1982 and the black one (the only one written in German) is from 1954 - the year the author came to America. There were quite a few more binders and notebooks but I ended up taking just three - the ones that really spoke to me. At the bottom of the box were these:About 40 pre-war German postcards. It looks like they were glued into some kind of family album and then pulled out. You can see in the upper left corner where she labeled some of them. The cards are in excellent condition except for where you can see the glued paper in the back. I think I might be able to remove it without destroying the postcards. Here are few I especially liked:The last thing that I had to have from this estate was this picture:It's about 13" x 20", mounted on thick cardstock and says Gossip 303, Hans Comotio on the back.

The estate seller explained that the woman died and all her heirs are in Germany so no one was interested in taking any of this stuff. From a wartime teenager in Germany to a senior in Brookings, OR with bountiful road trips in between. No one interested? Hard to believe.

All of the above (plus a book) is in great condition, no musty smell, no damage and I paid $1.25 for all of it.

Scrappy Journal Swap Pages

I finally finished my 11 Remains of the Day journal pages for a page swap sponsored by Gathering Up Bits of the World. I can't wait to receive my set of journal pages made by the others in the swap group.

Fabulous Paper Stash Giveaway

Tara Finlay cleaned out her paper stash and very generously gave lovely packages of paper scraps (and other assorted items) to 5 lucky recipients. I was one of them. Here is some of the loot:I think it's time to sign up for Remains of the Day journal making class and use some of this bounty. Thank you so much Tara!

Happy Fridays!

OK, so it's really Sunday but we'll climb in a time machine and head all the way back to Friday so I can post my happiness to "The Next Chapter Happy Book Mail Around". I received 2 books in the mail that have made me very happy: Eco Books & Good Mail Day. I started working on a cover for a book made from plastic shopping bags:

I've been gathering scrapbook paper, junk mail and other random scraps of paper so I can make the signatures. I can't wait to have my own made-from-scratch journal. Yippee! That's my Eco Book happiness.

Good Mail Day happiness: I received a handmade card in the mail 2 days after I received Good Mail Day.

Conincidental, yes, but I'll take it as a fortuitous sign that I'll be recieving a lot of mail art. Of course I'll be making mail art so, if I have your address there should be some coming your way. Soonish. Thanks Ali! Mail art went from something abstract to something tangible in my mailbox. Now I can't wait to create some.

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Last, but not least, on the happiness front:

Bella, who was living at the Rogue Valley Humane Society, went to her new home yesterday. As much as I love the animals there, I'm always so happy to see them go to a real home. The RVHS is a wonderful place with hardworking staff and volunteers and the animals are well cared for but, it isn't the same as living in your own home. When the animals leave forever with a smiling individual or couple or family it makes my day. Goodbye Bella!