My Journal Obsession Part 2

My journal/diary, paper and pen obsession began as a child.  I loved to write in my little lock and key diaries, collect pencils with cute pictures on them and my name printed on the side.  I also loved those cute little erasers and would have them all lined up on my desk.  Yeah, yeah, I know,  I'm OCD.  I've admitted this already people! 

I would sit at my desk or lay on a blanket in the back yard, pull out my little diaries and write and write.  However I was always embarrassed or ashamed of the words on those pages.  I would tear them out and discard them.  Oh how I wish I had kept them now.  I can't remember anything I wrote, although I'd love to know what it was I felt compelled to put down on paper when I was a child and why did I feel so fearful of keeping those pages? Funny, the negative feelings remain - the need to remove my voice from those pages but not the positive  - what thoughts I put down on paper.

Feeling the need to write was always there but for many years I never acted upon it for fear of being exposed, the fear of not doing it right, of looking foolish.

When I began to write as an adult I was old enough to be smart about it. I wouldn't let outside negative influences get to me.  It didn't matter whether I did it right or not.  And the biggest reason, my purpose to write, was for my future children.  I would write for them or so I believed at the time.  

I began writing again several years after I started dating The Husband.  We knew we loved each other and planned to get married.  With the prospect of marriage, I hoped some day we would have children.  With this hope I began to write about my life.  Through these words my children would have an accurate account of me, of who their mother was throughout her life.

As I have come to learn these many years, years of happiness, sadness, loss, and gratitude, my journals are for me.  I put my thoughts, feelings, aspirations, fears, and hopes within those pages.  I will never destroy my journals nor will I willingly give them to the kids to read or anyone for that matter.   I will keep them private until my death or until I'm so old I don't care what people read or think about me any more.  But for now, my words are mine and no one else's.  

I may have begun my journals out of hope that my future children would get to know the real me, but through time I've come to acknowledge that those books are truly for me and only me.  

As promised here are my finished journals.   The books are numbered in the order I have written in them.  The first entry dated 1996; the last 2011.

1. My very first journal.  I can't remember where I bought it or if it was a gift?  No idea.  Loved it because it was crisp with silky pages and wide ruled which I prefer.  Because of it I found another reason to write.
2. Purchased at Barnes and Noble.  This journal was my most favorite to use.  I loved the spine which is spiral but because the spiral is enclosed it never fell apart.  Spiral bound books lay flat and this makes it easier to write - for me anyway.  The pages were beautiful and any ink worked without bleeding through.  I have never used a journal since that I loved as much as this one.
3. Another Barnes Noble purchase.  Beautiful, soft (real) leather.   Difficult to use because it is so thick.  The thickness keeps it from laying flat which makes it hard to write comfortably.
4. Purchased from a book store which was closing in the mall.
5. Barnes and Noble.  I think Barnes and Nobles has the most beautiful notebooks besides stationary stores.
6. A black leather beauty I bought in Italy in this AWESOME Italian Stationary Store.  I was swooning and The Husband had to make me leave!
7. I purchased this small journal at Home Goods.  It has handmade paper and a Linen cover.  I named this journal "My Gratitude Journal" I used this book while I was suffering through infertility.  It was a dark time in my live and I used the book to write five things a day I was thankful and grateful for.  During the months I wrote in this book I became pregnant with J.  It makes you think, doesn't it?
8. I bought this book in the Zion National Park gift shop.  Purchased in 2000 on a hiking/ camping trip The Husband and I went on.  (I wrote in 7 and 8 during the same time frame)
9. I can't remember where I purchased this one but I know why I bought it.  The cover! I was drawn to it because I always draw angels.  I don't know why, but my journals are full of my angel drawings.
10. This book was purchased at a the same book store mentioned above that was closing in the mall.  It had a pain black cardboard cover.  I covered it with scraps of scrap book paper I had laying around.  I ended up hating it because of this and will never cover a notebook again.
11. A "green" composition notebook I bought at Staples.  It was an impulse buy.  I used it but it is not my favorite type of journal/notebook to use.  
12. I bought this one with those discount coupons you can receive on line for making purchases at Borders.  I got this one at 40% off!  I love, love, love the owls but hate, hate, hate the spine.  The back cover fell off almost every time I wrote in it.  

Do you write?  
What makes you want to write? 
What is your favorite type of notebook to use?  


I'd love to hear from you.

Stay tuned for Notebook Obsession Part 3 - My current notebooks in use, yes I said notebook"s"

Journal Jars and Notebooks

Last week my Brownie Girl Scout troop made journal jars and decorated composition notebooks to receive a Try-It patch called The Write Way.  Each meeting we work on a Try -It patch.  If you are not familiar with Girl Scouts, Try- It patches are something the girls earn for learning a new skill, contributing positively to society, etc.  

My Co-Leaders and I plan most of our meetings around earning Try-Its.  We asked each girls parent (mom or dad) to sign up to do a project and/or lesson to do with the girls.   

We also decided to plan a meeting around a Try-It that interests us, the leaders.  I chose to do The Write Away Try-it (Why the writing Try-It, you ask?  Well because I LOVE notebooks and pens and writing in journals!!) and planned two meeting to do some creative activities, including writing using prompts, decorating a journal jar and a notebook. 

Below are the journal jars.  The girls decorated the jars using white glue and tissue paper. The effect is a beautiful colored jar that has texture.  The jars are recycled from my kitchen.  I put the empty jars in the dishwasher and viola, a nice clean jar to be reused for something creative.

The journal jars house writing prompts ( a piece of paper with one prompt on it folded up). The girls can pull one out each time they feel like writing but feel stuck or unsure of what they feel like writing about. 

Some of the prompts I included are:

• My Favorite color is ______________ because . . . . 
• Write about your least favorite day of the week . . . . 
• If you were an animal, what kind would you be and why?
• My favorite holiday is __________ because . . . . 

I truly enjoyed working with the girls on this project and hope that I may have influenced  them in a positive way and maybe, just maybe, created some new writers out of this group.

Merry Making and Messy Making

It began several days ago. . . I took my already cut out and ready for sewing coffee cozies and got to work.  I sewed seven in total, here are the five that needed to be done ASAP.  

I let the kids pick out the fabric for their teachers, bus drivers, and C's speech Therapist.  I did learn during this Merry Making that *I, Shelley, neat, organized, OCD, and on occasion a perfectionist can not sew a straight line.  No matter what trick I tried I could not sew a straight line.  Ugh.  This was one of those times (as time was running out!) that I had to say to myself "It's O.K., It's the thought that counts.  Is anyone really going to look at every stitch you made??"  Oh the doubts that fill my mind at times. 

It truly is the thought, don't you think?  We picked out fabric and thought of what each person would like.  I sewed and the children were thrilled to place the cozies in their bags with another handmade gift.

Here is that other handmade gift, a journal/notebook.  I used Kraft paper, white card stock for the pages inside, this Owl Stamp and sewed the spine.

Viola! A notebook or journal if you prefer.

*Now for the messy making.  

Are you ready for a fright?

My craft space after sewing and folding and stamping.

Oh my!

Really?  You ask?  

Oh yes, really.

Oy Vey

I am now screaming in my head.  Be thankful you can't hear it.

She doesn't seem to mind.

Fear not.  I did clean it last night.  It took a good hour, but it's done as well as the homemade gifts.  However, now that my space is clean I can't wait to go down there and make something new!

Hopefully this time with less of a mess!  Wish me luck.