inspiration monday

i have a bit of a problem when it comes to just being still.  i start to go a little crazy if i don't have something to do with my hands, and if i can multi-task, i'm even happier.  so when i sit in front of the t.v. at night, instead of stuffing my mouth with chocolate chips, potato chips, or anything else related to chips,  i've been "collecting" little snippets from magazines and catalogs.   then when i'm looking for inspiration, i can turn to this growing pile of printed goodness!

these snippets would be fabulous collage fodder, but i'm going to use them as starters for journal pages.  first, i'm going to create a new journal:  to take away that "fear of the blank page" i like to take pieces of 140 lb. watercolor paper and slosh some watercolor across the page.....on both sides (diluted acrylics work great, too!).

then i lay them out to dry.....and hope my dog doesn't walk all over them.

once the pages are dry, i fold them in half, 

and now i have the beginnings of a new journal that i can bind later.  

{note:  i cut my pieces of watercolor paper out of a spiral bound notebook like this one.  it's also perfectly okay to paint your paper while still in the notebook,  and then you don't have the extra steps of folding and binding later!}

now,  it's just a matter of rummaging through your snippets (i consider that half the fun!) and creating a journal page.  since your snippets come from all different sources, you'll have a great variety of subjects to choose from.  for example, you can create a page based on a quote you like.....this snippet says 

"don't go through life, grow through life" by eric butterworth

or maybe you find something that reminds you of someone special.

you might come across something that brings back a favorite childhood memory.

and sometimes you read something that really speaks to your heart.

when i was in school, i used to keep a journal very similar to this one.  i think the nice thing about this style of journaling is when you're inspired to sit down and be creative, you already have a starting point......your pages already have color (and you can always add more.....or not......depending on your design), and you have an illustration from your snippet stash to help you get started!

 go through those piles of magazines and stock up on inspiration......
you'll have lots of fun, and save tons of calories by not eating all those chips!! :))