Thursday, October 19, 2017

Unusual Things

This is the reason I was wide awake at 3 a.m., and up and working before 5.


I'm doing another Swap Bot journal, this one a book of "unusual things."  The instructions were that the journal was to include:

1 page introducing yourself and explaining why you wanted to join this swap.
10 lists/pages of top 10 (topics are your choice)
10 pages of some type of art form - drawing, photos, painting, collage-ish etc.
5-10 pages of some type of paper fun stuff - think receipts, used movie/concert/transportation tickets
10 pages of diary type entries detailing your day, your thoughts, your feelings...
5-10 pages of Wreck this Journal type entries

I had no idea what "Wreck this Journal" meant, but googled it and discovered the w-i-d-e variety of ways to wreck a page, from pouring substances on it, to punching holes in it, to burning part of the page, tearing the page....the possibilities are endless.  I got this idea of pouring wine on a page and found a chianti bottle to use as a graphic and then dripped wax down the side of it...it wasn't quite what I wanted, but it was OK.  Then last night I poured wine on the page and liked the effect, but it needed something more.  I thought about it while I was going to sleep and decided to google "glass spilling wine" and found the perfect graphic, which I downloaded at 4 a.m., doing some PhotoShop editing of the color of the wine and then pasting it on the page,  If I were more clever, the page would look better, but I'm happy with how it came out.

I'm always interested in journal prompts that suggest using "used movie tickets," since I have an endless supply of tickets from shows that we have attended, plus a lot of old programs (though most of the programs I throw away after writing the review).  But I had fun putting together this journal.  This page has become a favorite of mine to add to these journals.


Depending on which state the recipient is in, I wonder what the response will be.  Marijuana is legal in California, so ads like this are common, as are billboards.  But I don't know how it will be received in Ohio, where I think medicinal marijuana is legal, but recreational is not.  The News and Review (for which I write reviews) has a wide section each week dedicated to ads for pot merchants and it makes a great collage.

Another page I always include is one about Compassion.

I've done the pages several ways but I think this is my favorite so far.

The contents of my purse is always good for a miscellaneous collage


I wanted to do something interesting for a cover page and googled "unusual things."  Amazing what you find when you do that.  There were lots of choices, but this one made me giggle and so I decided to go with this.


You gotta admit this is pretty unusual!  

So the book is finished and off to the post office and now I have another one to make in the next month.  It's called a "Randomness Journal."  The instructions for this one say "For this journal swap, you will fill your journal with whatever strikes your fancy which means this is all YOU. Take a composition notebook (9.75in x 7.5in journal size) or as close as you can get and fill it up completely from front to back. Every page (front & back) should have something on it. You DO NOT have to completely cover each page. Decorate the cover in some way so it is not plain."

I'm glad I have a month to do this because it's going to take some time to get junk to collect in my purse again!

My life used to be so interesting.  Read "The Mama Caper, Part II"  Priscilla was a woman with AIDS that I used to drive to get her methadone injections once or twice a week, when I was doing transport for "Breaking Barriers."

1 comment:

Kwizgiver said...

I like to give Wreck This Journals to graduating students. They're always fun!