art journaling

I have a journal that has no rules. Sometimes I feel like the obligation of journaling is what makes it so difficult for people. Journals play a mind games. They make you feel like every time you write in them that you have to start off from where you left. Even if it have been 6 months. Who wants to try and condense the last 6 months in a couple journal pages?
Not this girl.

This journal doesn't do that. This journal had no obligation.

I don't know if "art journal" is the correct term for something like this. Perhaps a collection of thoughts and collages?  That doesn't sound quite as poetic as art journal, but it is a collection of things that make me feel stronger and more passionate about life.

I have a stack of magazines that are sitting in my living room. Old anthro catalogues, Nylons mags, and anything else I can pillage from the work mailroom. Every once in a while I go through these magazines (mostly when Michael and I are watching tv)-- the same magazines over and over. Photos, typography, designs, patterns. I have seen these same pages before, but then something will speak to me in that moment, more than it ever has before and I tear out the page and stick it in this journal. I use washi tap or photo tabs to hold the magazine scraps in place. 

Sometimes I pair the magazine photos with quotes or song lyrics. Sometimes I don't. I have also included a lot of photos from my wedding because I have a giant stack just sitting in a Costco photo envelope that need love. I have been keeping this journal for awhile and I feel like it has become something beautiful in its own right. Something that captures a little piece of myself that I am not sure words could.

Here it is. I hope you like it. There were lots of pictures so I broke it up into two posts. Tune in tomorrow for another set.
--- xoxo, harley