No Expectations Journaling

When I first saw individual journal pages being published in magazines such as Somerset Studio, I fell in love with the journals and I knew that I wanted to do some journals of my own. However, the beginning process was not as easy as I thought it would be. At first, I intimidated myself with high expectations of how my journals should look and feel. When I discovered that I have my own style and set of rules (no rules), I freed myself to just being able to write what I wanted to, whether it was meaningful or not. The point for me was, being artful.

I have made journals now of all sizes and paper types. When I am in the mood for rubber stamping and adding text with all the different markers and pens, then I choose the journals that I have made with card stock. I also have journals made with watercolor paper that I use when I want to add my own color background and adding text with a dip pen. I make these journals different sizes as I found if I want to add a lot - then the "too small size" was too difficult for me. Then of course, the flip side - when I have only a few words of text, the "huge" size would be too intimidating to even begin.

So I would encourage everyone to begin a journal and know it is for you. You can either choose to share your pages or not. There is no right or wrong way to do your journal. Give yourself permission to enjoy the process and learn from your own entries.

I have found that I enjoy my own journals but later in time. This particular journal I begin over a year ago.

I used a cover from an old book and inserted my own papers.