Another Joyful Journey

Juliann's joy journal traveled quickly across the country to Washington State and was just delivered to her home late this afternoon. The whole process is a such a joyful journey. Getting the papers...figuring it out....making the journal...tracking it to its destination....and finally hearing from the recipient. 

Here's a reminder of what Juliann sent me. I used the backside of some of these papers.

Here's a quick view of how I puzzled it all together into her joy journal. If you're interested in all the details....please read on.  If you are reading this in an email and the photos are distorted, I recommend you link to the blog for better viewing. You can click on the title and it will take you to the blog.

Juliann wanted to have blank spaces to collage and plenty of spaces to write poetry. She has actually been taking a "found poetry" class this summer. I think I want to know more about that! 

The background of the covers is hand dyed fabric fused onto heavy paper (my go to recycled mailer)....and the front cover features a beautiful card she included. 

I had a hard time figuring out which pages to share...so I end up sharing almost all of it. Not all...but almost. I apologize for the long post...but I know there are a few  of you out there who might have interest.....and maybe some of you are still thinking about sending papers. Or maybe even make one of your own.

I'll be doing this for a while. Updated guidelines can be found on the Your Joyful Puttering along the side of my blog. I weave it around my life...so you just have to be patient.

I had fun with the inside cover. If you look back to the photo of her papers ...notice the dark "TREASURES" card in the top right. It's a flyer from the New York Public Library and is a beautiful navy blue. One of the first things I did was cut around that half circle separating the two pieces. The half moon cutout on the triptych reminded me of the top of a pocket....but the cut-out was on the bottom. So I trimmed that part off and cut another half moon on the top and stitched it into the book for a pocket. Then I turned the rest of it into little pull-out card with the rest of the card.

WHAT WILL YOU DISCOVER?  The opposite page was a lovely image Juliann included and to give it strength I baked it with lined paper. The quote along the edge is from the bottom of the card from the front. I just love using all the pieces and parts of all the papers! There are only just a few scraps left.

Plenty of lines for writing...and the colorful paper was a large piece from her stash I used in several places.

This little page had a pocket where I tucked one of several little jars she included. It could hold a sweet little quote or poem if Juliann is so inclined. I was tempted...but I held back.

This is a piece of my scrapbook paper that coordinated so beautifully with the journal...and was the perfect backdrop for her leaf that I fussy cut.

On the back of that is another pocket from one of her papers and a vintage postcard from my grandmother inside. It's address to Miss Katie Daniels and is postmarked 1918.

Juliann provided the green envelope with a sticker on the front that said "good words for later."  I stitched it onto another piece of paper so it could become a page....lined the envelope with that same scrapbook paper and filled it with good quotes for later. This is the envelope I nearly glued shut while ironing on one of the birds on the page before. The flowers are hiding the spot where it stuck!

Juliann included a long cream envelope that I folded in half to make a couple pages. I added the floral border as a pocket which holds my calling card...and opened up the end to create a side pocket. 

Inside is a zine I made out of a photo copy of a mixed media art piece I made a long time ago. The colors didn't copy very well...but it could be collaged and altered in a variety of ways. I mostly loved that it was a perfect fit in this side pocket. I always include a few things from my stash....but somehow my stash never gets smaller!

Juliann included a map of her area...her town is actually on this page.

I added a tiny clothing tag from Cherrie as a tab on this blank page. If you remember....Cherris's journal featured clothing tags! Then she sent me more to share and I love how it connects the joy journals a bit.

I love this tiny center page...and the fun graphic behind it was on the back of one of the papers in the stash. I cut out the characters and glued it onto the light cardstock.

Here's where the little wild landed. In hindsight I wished I put it somewhere more prominent. The mushrooms are from the notecard she included and with the circle topper...it makes a sweet wild tag.

This is the other end of the cream envelope...with another side pocket. Juliann included several sheets of some thin graph paper...and I made her a couple tiny booklets with it. One of them is in this side pocket.

A tag from a local artist here in Maine fits in the other half of the floral border pocket..and a leaf from Juliann made a cute tab. I backed it with extra paper before I cut it out to make it stronger.

Several weeks ago Candy sent me a pocket booklet with lots of little things to share. Two of her little folded hearts are in this journal. I used one of them as a second little booklet using the lightweight graph paper and tucked it into this pocket.

The coffee cup image I believe was from a magazine. I created a pocket and had fun with the insert. 

I loved this quote Juliann included....but it was pretty long. Using more of the fusible bird tissue...I created this insert. The magnificence of seeing makes me smile.

This little jar made a fun tab.

And finally...another fused bird and a postcard that became a back pocket....filled with more quotes for later. Phew...if you're still reading...you made it through another joyful journey!