Perfection?

As you’re already very much aware, I’m SO loving my new art journaling addiction!

One of the best parts of it, to me—besides just the sheer fun of making each one, is that I seem to learn something every time…whether about the process of making the page—or something about myself…

Favorite quotes from favorite people grace many of my pages so far…even sometimes from someone “Unknown”…

We all strive for perfection, don’t we? It’s not always possible though, is it? And sometimes, that’s just really okay.

As I was outlining my ribbon frame, my pen kept slipping…YIKES!, I thought—I’m going to have to cover the mistakes somehow…

Then, I read the quote that I had just written inside the frame, and I breathed a little sigh…and forgot all about the mistakes.  And was happy.

And one of my very favorite quotes. EVER.  What a wise, wise woman was Mrs. Roosevelt…

Thank-you, Eleanor.

Go ahead, make some mistakes.  Learn something.  Be happy.  And don’t let anyone let you feel otherwise.

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: art journaling,Eleanor Roosevelt,happiness,perfection

It’s a Good Day

It IS a good day, isn’t it?!  Each and every day could and should be…

A few journal pages to share with you today…I can’t tell you how much I love being inspired by gorgeous vintage images…they never fail to give me more & more ideas…

Watercoloring, stamping, cutting, glueing, doodling…what could be more fun?!

Why do I love vintage hand images so much?  I have no idea, but I really, really do!  This vintage hand inspired a bit of writing about…writing!

Ralph Waldo Emerson…he just always knew just what to say, didn’t he?  This simple little quote—profound in its simplicity, isn’t it?

I love using these black & white images of women on my pages—definitely inspired by the beautiful journals of Hope Wallace Karney…thanks, Hope!
 
I love this thought.  It’s a wonderful thing to let others inspire us, but it’s so very important to be ourselves, isn’t it?  BE UNIQUE.

What beautiful words will you write down on this VERY good day?
Julie

LiveJournal Tags: art journals,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Hope Wallace Karney

Character

I found it sitting on a dusty shelf in a little, old antique shop last year--and I knew immediately that it was mine & what it would become…

This sweet Victorian album would become my “CHARACTER” book…a book filled with images of my mothers—the women that came before me—and would—with just a few words--encapsulate their characters…

The pages weren’t in the best shape, but not too bad, either…a bit ripped where family photos from the former owner had been removed…I could work with it…

It was a bit hard for me to write that first word on the beautiful old page…but once I started, I couldn’t stop!  A bit of my art journaling coming into play here…and just the tiniest bit of doodling—couldn’t resist!

Words and elements added to briefly illustrate a life well-lived…here, lovely bits atop a piece of crushed red velvet—just the kind Estella loved to put in her hair when a girl…

My youngest daughter told me I should write just snippets of their stories on the sides of their portraits…so I did.  And I love the results.  

A perfect pen nib found—“memoirs” etched upon it—it illustrates Anna’s life so well, as she spent so many of her later years recording not only her own life, but of those she loved, as well…

{nib from the Tim Holtz collection—thanks, Tim!}

The two women together…I didn’t mean for the book to be in any kind of order, but as it turns out, these two are perfectly perfect to be facing each other, as their children married each other…which is precisely why they became my great-grandmothers…

I love the shabbiness of my new treasure…bits of gilding, still lovely--it’s seen a lot of love in it’s life--and will see much, much more now…

Pages waiting to be filled…I can’t wait!

Now I just need to find another one for my fathers…

See you soon with something new.

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Character,heritage,album,Tim Holtz,Estella Vance Stapley,Anna Meier Brandley Ostlund