Junk Journal July - The First 10 Days

We're beyond halfway through Junk Journal July, hosted by @megjournals, and I'm really enjoying it so far!  The daily prompts have been great in keeping me focused on exploring one idea at a time so I don't get overwhelmed with too many what-am-I-doing thoughts.  Believe me, I still have them, but they are minimized by the step-by-step nature of this journal-along.  It is, after all, only one page you are filling each day, and that is totally doable.

Here's the rundown of the first 10 days.

First, I made a cover page that included the daily prompt list.  

Day 1 prompt was BEGIN, and a true beginner I was.  I used some rubber stamps (thrift store finds, including the used stamp pads), stickers and transfers from the dollar store, along with some favorite quotes.  A tentative beginning, but you have to start somewhere.

Day 2 was REINVENT.  As I was making a cup of tea that morning, I was inspired to reinvent the tea envelope and its contents from fabric.  Get it...T?  Guess I was feeling pretty pun-ny!

The prompt for Day 3 was LAYERED TAG. This was fun.  I used a vintage sewing pattern, fabric, and a bit of hem tape for the tie.

As I was making it, I thought a lot about women of my mother's generation, which the pattern image exemplified.  Under the put-together, happy housewife appearance, there were multiple other layers, real circumstances at play beneath the surface.  I jotted down some of my thoughts and pasted them on the back of the page.  I wasn't sure I wanted to consistently get that deep with the writing thing in this journal, but it was early on, so I went with it that day.

Day 4 was TRANSPARENCY.  Having spent a lot of mental energy on the previous day's prompt, I kept it pretty simple, using some pattern tissue paper as the page.

Day 5 was FOLD-OUT.  I had just cleaned out a desk drawer of some old greeting cards, and one of them became the fold-out, along with recipes clipped from magazines a long time ago.

The prompt for Day 6 was SYMMETRY.  While looking through photos on a flash drive, I came across an old high school drafting class drawing of my father's from 1950, which I had scanned a couple years ago.  That became the basis for the page on Day 6, along with parts of his high school drafting class textbook, which I had in a box in the sewing room.

This was the scene outside the office at the same school I attended. I looked at this drawing often while I was growing up, and I was always amazed at the detail he had achieved.

BOUQUET was Day 7's prompt. I thought of bridal bouquets, but on second thought, why not a bouquet of brides?  The same flash drive I mentioned earlier held several old family wedding photos.  I printed out various pictures and then sat out on the deck that afternoon (on a thankfully windless day) and cut and pasted to my heart's content.

Lest you wonder what became of the grooms in the photos, don't worry; they make an appearance in a later journal page.  I also ended up adding some words to the bride bouquet page and you'll see that later on as well.

Day 8 was WALLPAPER as the journal prompt. Hmm...  I found some vintage William Morris wallpaper images online so began with one of them as the base layer, then added some thoughts, song lyrics, and a couple of dry birch leaves and a linden tree whirligig from the neighborhood. An old ditty learned in middle school kept going through my head, so that became part of the page as well.  I thought about how my dad was notorious for remembering goofy little songs and jingles and serving them up for a laugh or an eye roll. Maybe it's genetic, lol.

It was CLASHING PATTERNS for Day 9.  Patterns? Roger that! I used a groovy men's 1969 sewing pattern on a background of more Victorian-era wallpaper (left side), a women's 1970s pattern on a 1950s canning book cover, and rubber stamps.  The text is from the dust jacket of a 1940s mystery novel.  I had a lot of fun with this one!

TIME OUT was Day 10's prompt.  I took it literally and took the day off!

So that's how the first one-third of Junk Journal July has gone.  It feels like I'm getting more comfortable with it every day and am really enjoying the process.  It's interesting to see how little moments and ideas and notions come together in these daily pages.  Stay tuned for the next installment soon!

~Paulette