I had a big idea for this journal at first, which was to use it as a vessel for exercises from Liz Lamoreux' book "Inner excavation", but somehow that just never happened (so many plans, so little time), so it lay in waiting patiently for me to use it for something else. Every now and then I would tenderly caress it so it didn't feel abandoned, 'cause I loved it so much. (What do you mean, that's weird?)
Last May I finished another everyday journal (the Roses Journal) and decided to let the ROD be my next everyday journal. It was quite a challenge at first for someone who is used to starting with a lot more 'emptiness' on pages, but it turned out to be great fun. And now...now it's filled. And here's how it looks now:
It has a little more wear and tear which I absolutely love. It has been used and it shows. It's also even more filled with all sorts of elements, trinkets, pictures and anything else you can possibly fit in a book (anything flat basically).
It was a challenge to write on these patterned papers. Black pens didn't always work so I had to use colored paint pens sometimes, this only made the journal more interesting and colorful.
The journal is also full of little flaps, things added with paperclips, taped in photographs or just flyers and postcards. I like the messy effect of all that 'stuff'. It gives a sense of abundance somehow.
When making the journal I already enjoyed the fact that I could use my pretty papers for the pages instead of actual 'remains of the day' as the course recommends. But when filling it I also started using all sorts of stickers, die cuts and other ephemera I had collected over the years. It's a really good way to incorporate all the pretty things you've accumulated over time.
Anything just seemed to fit together even if it didn't fit together at all. That's the paradox of an ROD journal. If you search for ROD journals on flickr you will see what I mean. There's such a variety of things that people use and somehow they just all work out well. It's a wonderful concept really.
It took me only about six weeks to fill the book, which may be the only draw back of this wonderful journal. I love to write so my writing takes up space and that means that filling this journal was indeed a matter of weeks instead of a matter of months as is usually the case.
But I'm not complaining, because this simply means I have to make many more of these journals to fulfill my journaling needs ;-). Right now I am using my altered atlas as a journal, but I am in the beginning stages of making another ROD journal and I plan to make several more so I can fill those up as soon as the atlas is filled. This may take some time yet, but that's okay, that also means plenty of time to make plenty of journals. Yay!
Wishing all of you a very artsy weekend.
PS: a shout out to my blog pal Andria for doing a post on our mail art/atc exchange. She sent me some wonderful cards in the mail and you can find them on her equally wonderful blog. Take a look and compliment her on her creativity!