Visual Journal

In this journaling series you will make a visual journal. With each prompt you can explore your past, the now and your hopes for the future. You do not need creative skills to make a visual journal. You can use photo’s, magazine clippings, washitape, stickers, doodling, stickfigures etc to make it visual interesting. 

You don’t need a lot of supplies for this journal, pen and paper is all you need. 

The prompts are guidelines. It’s fine when your mind takes you to a different topic. You can write in any language. 

Click this link if you want to see some examples of a visual journal. 
Prompts will be posted on the blog on the 1th and 15th of the month. Starting october 2015. 
Please share where we can see your entry in the comments. 

Inspiration on documenting a statue

Almost everywhere you go you can find a statue, a sculpture or a memorial sign. You can document these in various ways. You can keep it realistic and stick to the facts or you can use your imagination and dream about it.

Here are a few questions you could use in your documentation:

• Who is it for?
• Who made it?
• What materials are used?
• Do you like it?
• If you had to design something for that occasion what would you make?
• Who should have a statue in your opinion?
• Where is it placed?
• Who where you with?
• Why did you come here?
• What else did you do besides watching the statue?

When you go out try to collect things. Small things like tickets or a paper napkin or a flyer will look great in your journal (smashbook/scrapbook/project life/whatever). Maybe you can pick a flower and dry it, or you find a nice rock, or you find some trash you could do something with. Always take pictures, lots of them. If you are a sketcher, make them, right there at the moment.

Idea: Write a story where you meet the person of the statue or write about you in that era.

I think this is a gorgious layout with all photo’s. It’s not mine. I found it on this site. Go visit that blog to see more great layouts and be inspired.

Another site I found it this one. It gives a completely different version of some known statues. I think this would be awesome in a journal.

Documenting a statue doesn’t have to be boring. You can stick to the facts AND you can document your fantasy.

How I document my summer

Please don’t think this is how it should be done. This is just a way of journaling that works for me. Like I said before: there is no right or wrong.

I’ve been inspired by Project life. I like those journalingcards. I like how easy it is to add photo’s. I don’t like the amount of money it costs. Overall it might not be that expensive, but I like it as cheap as possible. I like to make my own stuff and knowing myself I will only use half of those decks. So I took a binder I already owned, I took 3 kinds of plastic sleeves I already owned and started working with what I had.

 These are the sleeves I use to store my ATC in. They are also used to store baseball cards and magic the gathering cards in. When I have a large image I cut it into fitting pieces. Photo’s are simply printed in a small size. A few lines and a date stamp will finish it. The large image is something I collected that day. Don’t forget to save your busticket, flyers and other freebies to use in you documentation.

Sometimes I add a loose piece of paper in. On this floralthemed paper I glued a tourist information booklet and a map of the park I visited. I want to be able to open it easily, so I will not put it in a plastic sleeve. I am a proud owner of an Instax mini camera, it’s like a polaroid, but different brand and smaller photo’s. They are a little smaller than atc and I should glue them. Again I added a date and wrote a little about that day.

 This is a plastic sheet I use to store my postcards in. It’s designed to hold 4 postcards or regular sized photographs. I use it for longer writings and more scrapbooking pictures.

 Last picture is a large plastic sleeve. These are perfect for my drawings or when I have a lot to write. This is an old painting I had laying around, I added a quote to it and it fit right in my summer journal. Quotes are also a great thing to collect and add to your journal.

Downside of these plastic sleeves is that there is a front and back and not always I need the unfilled format for my next documentation. Therefor my documentation isn’t a 100% chronological, but I don’t mind that. I do try to keep months together.

Document your summer

This is a project for those who journal, do project life, scrapbook or write a diary. It’s also for those who haven’t done such a thing before and would like to give it a try. You can join at any time and do whatever suits your style.

Once a month you will visit a place and document that trip/event in a format that suits you. Every 2 weeks ther will be a prompt you can use to document your daily life during this summer. Thats 3 weeks with ideas and prompts and 1 week rest. It is possible I give a prompt in the fourth week, depending on how busy I am.

I will share the prompts on instagram as well using #documentyoursummer. Please use this tag on social media.
I host swaps (mostly digital) on the Mini Challenges through the month group on swapbot. Come over and join us there.

The first prompt will be given on may 17. The project ends in september.
You don’t need much, a pen and paper or a word document on your computer is enough to get started. You decide how you document your summer and how much of it you share online. Don’t stick to the given prompts, write, draw or collage about your daily life this summer to have a wonderfull memorie at the end.