30 DAYS: Day 8 and Day 9

On Day 7 when our task was to use tags in our journals, my page was already pretty full with BIG numbers and collage borders not to mention my play with collaging a lady as a focal point. My solution was to draw a tag behind the lady and continue with the journaling in the remaining space. But that just didn't seem right. I didn't feel as if I was being true to the intent of the technique or format of the lessons for this week.

So, I pondered ... and I paced ...

and I thought ... and I wondered ...

And then, on Day 8 Julie made a postcard flap on her page with "secret" journaling hidden underneath. Ah ha! The light bulbs went off. Surely there is a way I can incorporate a flap in my journaling. After a little more thinking and plotting I came up with a way for add a fold-out flap to the edge of my page to add journaling space to Day 8. I also added a center seam flap for Day 9 having the two flaps meet with a mitered corner.

edge flap open

center seam flap open

center seam flap closed

Other things added:

• I finished the shoes and legs for the collaged art dollie
• I used a receipt from the art supply store and some ad material for collaging on the flaps. Strategic placement of gesso over the sale total was critical. LOL
• I closed both flaps and re-stamped the number 9 on top of the flaps so it shows if flaps are closed but is there if they're open
• I played with some circle stencil texture

One more thing I would like to do is find the tie closures for envelopes and add that to my flaps so they could be closed until I want to reveal/read the hidden journaling beneath the flaps. I'm not sure if I will continue with more flaps or tags on the right side of the spread. That is to be determined yet. For now, back to doing some advance page prep ... gluing 2 pages together for added foundation or base strength, coating with gesso creating more "tooth" to the surface which will help the paint adhere to the page, adding some collage materials and stencil texture, and one of my biggest helps:

 

 

I jot down quotes, meaningful phrases, and journaling prompts on post-it notes and stick them in the my journal on different pages at random so when I'm out and about I am already to go ahead with journaling on pages that are all prepped.