Current Journal Cover

I keep a journal.  I try to write in it every morning.  I wrote a post about my "Morning Pages" that explains how wonderfully de-cluttering they are for my mind and spirit.  They really are helpful.  When I don't write for awhile, I can feel myself overcrowded with a mish-mash of thoughts, feelings, noteable occurrences, prayers, etc.  I love getting them out every morning.  I don't always know what's swirling around in the background of my mind, heart and spirit until I put pen to paper and see what comes out.

I use the cheap composition books you can get at Wal-Mart or any place that sells school supplies.  I just found a bunch of them at Wal-Mart during a pre-school sale for 25 cents each.   From my friend, Angie, I've learned what fun it is to decorate these cheap journals.  She does AMAZING things with them.  I do mediocre things with them.  And usually, I don't get them done in advance.  I usually fill up a book before I decorate it - or I get a background color painted on it but never finish it because I'm on to filling up the next blank book.

Ahhh, but this time....this time, I decided to use the scraps from my "real" quilt project to cover my newest journal book shortly after I started using it.  It's so fun getting to enjoy it while using it almost every day and taking it to church for note taking.

I love it!  Here it is.

That's my morning Quite Time basket.  It has my journal, my "Mom and Dad" journal for notes particular to my grieving them, my New American Standard/The Message Parallel Bible, my Prodigal God book and workbook (love it), a book on mourning I'm still working my way through, another Bible Study book I'm enjoying now, and a couple other books on my To Read Soon list.

I take my basket by it's sturdy handle and head out to the little bistro patio table on our front porch where I enjoy the morning air, the chirping birds, the silently hopping bunnies, and the buzzing hummingbirds. I spend time before God, and and with God as I write and read and study and pray.

Here's the journal opened so you can see the back, too.

I covered the inside of the front cover, too.  It makes for a nice finished look.

The back cover is where I tape in my mini-month calendars so I couldn't cover it.  I created calendar months on the computer that are about 5"x7" or so.  I put two on a page of card stock and trim it down to fit into the journal.  I tape them onto the back cover and the last page, as many months as I think I might want to look ahead.  In this journal I have July through December taking up the back cover and both sides of the last page.

I always write in my start date on the "title" page of a new journal.  When I'm done, I add the finish date.  Recently I've started making note of entries that contain special insights, special prayers, learning experiences, or fun highlights.  I write a note at the top of those pages and then I make a list of them by date on the front page along with my start and end dates.

I couldn't resist adding a little collage of little fabric pieces to the corner of my title page in this journal.

Now I need to start on covering some more so when I fill up this book I'll have an already-done one to begin.