Inside the Junque Gratitude Journal...

I decided to start the journal with some inspiration from Joanne Sharpe's "Top Ten tips for Artful Lettering" *. She says:-


If you want unique lettering on your journal pages, begin with your very own handwriting.  Get comfortable with making letters and writing words and quotes.  Explore and experiment with new pens and supplies to write with.   Each tool gives you a different look and feel.  It takes practice, practice, practice just as if you were learning to play the piano!  Try making a new alphabet where all the letters have a common element.  You must make “artful letters” every day!  


 So I took some quotations about "gratitude" off the web and had a go at lettering these with different pens.


I had already added the circles to the page when I decorated it  so I also used these as "containers" for the quotations.


I am sorry to say that my writing does not look anywhere near as exciting as Joanne Sharpe's wonderful examples, but it has got me started...


* See Art Journal Every Day's fabulous July 2011 “TOP TEN TIPS for ARTFUL LETTERING” by Joanne Sharpe

Read more: ttp://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/07/index.html#ixzz1WBE9U6NL

Junque Journals - minus some of the junque...

Junque Journals -  minus some of the junque...!!

I always try to keep a gratitude journal - inspired by Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance -but I have been using just plain notebooks...

However I am now inspired by the look of Junque Journals - I love them and have now made several - but I decided I also wanted simple books to write in daily , just using simple pens. The gratitude journal is just a list - 5 things a day which I am grateful for.




It is a great discipline because whatever your mood, you realise that there are always really good things in your life.

So I bought a cheap set of recycled exercise books from Morrison's supermarket.

I decorated the pages using watercolour crayons and water soluble Inktense pencils from Derwent.




I used a variety of colours and templates and then sprayed them with a mini water bottle and painted them with a water brush.





Between pages I dried them off with a heat gun so I have made a lot of pages all ready to go as I am now trying to always have pages ready in all of my journals so I can journal at a moment's notice.



I have tried to make them lively and colourful and I have kept the margin for numbering my 1 to 5 things to be cheeerful about with a date across the top.





I am really pleased with them -I think they will make a great record of my days - and my ups and downs! As my lists are very brief when I am a bit down, but much more expansive when I am excited with life!

I will post some pages when they are done. They will also give me a chance to practice my hand writing - I am trying to make my own style of writing into more of an interesting font  following Art Journal Every Day's fabulous July 2011 “TOP TEN TIPS for ARTFUL LETTERING” by Joanne Sharpe

Read more: http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/07/index.html#ixzz1WBE9U6NL