Colorful Art Journal

I have always started journals and never gotten more than a few pages in. I tried written journals, photo journals, collage journals and every other sort of journal in between. But the other week I was reading A Beautiful Mess written by the talented Elsie and she wrote a post on making an art journal. Then I had an epiphany! I shouldn’t try to make a journal that fits into a box, like a written feelings journal or photo inspiration journal, I should make a journal with no rules. Have a book I can fill in whatever way pleases me at the time. Photos! Decoupage! Quotes! Inspirations! Ideas! Everything! Anything! This revelation has pleased me to no end, I am feeling so jazzed about the whole thing that I have barely set down my journal since I started it. 
I started with the cover, I simply layered different colors of construction paper and added my favorite self-portrait.

On the back I cut a pretty pink chevron pattern and added a Hemingway quote.
         ”I never had to choose a subject-my subjects rather chose me” 
I really love to add quotes from people I admire, I feel like they are cheering me on. 

This is the inside cover and first page. I found it so relaxing to just cut colored paper and arrange on the page. It is such a simple action but the way the colors look together and take shape are so inspiring to me. Green, black, white and yellow is definitely a color combination I am going to be using in an upcoming jewelry design. 

These are a couple pages I am working on. I have been thinking about traditional Navajo prints, and really any kind of aboriginal patterns. They can be so geometric and so colorful. I think it is a lovely juxtaposition. I was thinking of making neon Navajo patterns to kick it up a notch. 
On the opposite page there is a Ray Bradbury quote.
          “Don’t think.Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious,
                             and anything self-conscious is lousy.” 

This is my favorite page for whatever reason. It is the inside of the back cover. I made a little pixelated heart from pink post-it notes. On the bottom I added a quote. 
           ”I like people and I like them to like me, but I wear my heart
                             where G-D put it on the inside” 
I feel most represents the way I am, it’s written by the lovely F. Scott Fitzgerald (no relation).

Anyway, there is a little peek inside my journal. I totally recommend an art journal. It is a lovely way to spend an afternoon and a really lovely way to get creative. I am looking forward to adding fashion inspiration pages too! 

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!

much love.