The New Journal, February 2

My camera has a dead battery. While it is recharging I thought I'd write a bit today about the new journal. Last month I worked in a large 12X12 book with black pages and a spiral binding. It was a challenge for me at the beginning of the month--and the beginning of each page--to work in that large format. I have only done one 12X12 scrapbook page in my life. In fact, the only scrapbooks I've ever made are all 6X6. In looking for a journal for this month, I thought I wanted to try something with either a different orientation or a smaller size or something not square. I kept finding journals I liked but the pages were white or the binding wasn't spiral--I really like my journal to lie as flat as possible when I'm working on a page. What I've ended up with is a journal I've had on a shelf for a very long time. It has a hard black pebbled-finished cover and large spiral binding. The pages are a lovely creamy off-white. The book is only 5X7, so the page workspace is about 4X7. I can use the pages either vertically or horizontally. The first page I did was inspired by an Anne Steele photocard of a field of phlox, a card I found on the floor of my studio this morning--it must have fallen from one of the boxes on my desk. I always pay attention to what ends up in my path, so it seemed like a good starting place. I looked through the papers on my desk for coordinating colors and chose a small piece of light green dotted paper and a piece of the green script Memory Box paper. I had some purply pink Core'dinations papers, too, so I ran a small piece through my Cuttlebug and embossed and sanded off the Swiss dots. Once I layered all the paper elements onto the card, I added a large circle of pink rhinestones that overlapped all of the images. In the center of that I placed a torn BLISS Bingo Card (Jenni Bowlin). To finish the page I added a tag in the upper right hand corner stamped in a pinky purple using Batik Birds and the hearts from Tree of Love (both Memory Box stamps). Some hot pink and lavender dot ribbon finished the tag. I think I'm going to like working in this smaller format. Maybe I'll use of some of the tons of scraps and small things I have in my studio!

Anne