a new month

A new year, a new month, a new week, a new day...all are so exciting.  So full of possibilities.  This year I decided to make a "small" art journal for each month.  It has been very fun...easy to complete and "fill" because they are small:  so far no bigger than 6" x 6" and about 10-12 pages...This is perfect since I mostly work in 10-20 minute time slots.  (I rarely have more than a 20 minute chunk of time "just for art")  I have also been trying to stretch my color palette "muscles"...using different colors than my usual favorites.  So, this month I chose some paper I found at my favorite stamp store (Stamp Art Shoppe in Roseville) to inform my May palette:  yellow, gray, green, and blue...kind of a funky combo, if you ask me...but I am loving it!

  

This is the cover...so far undecorated.  I usually do my covers last unless I am inspired sooner than later.  Also, I spiral bound this one...just to try working in this format...we'll see...(The past 4 months have all been stitch-bound.)

Bordering my first page...tape along bottom.  then I chose catalog pics that spoke to me at that moment...probably thinking about journalling so I chose the pen...and I always LOVE script and books :) 

  ...glued those in place...

Then I punched some little butterflies, and cut a bigger one out of notebook paper.  I played around with placement, and glued everything down, along with some fun tape.  I love the sense of movement on the page that the scattered blue butterflies give.

 

I added the words "explore," "discover," and "wonder" which I stamped on white paper...(I am doing 30 days of  WONDER from Margaret Feinberg's book Wonderstruck  so I want to include that in this month's journal)...I like it so far...I will journal, doodle, and embellish it more...as I "live" with it.  That is the happy beginning...

Happy MAY!  

MAY you be happy!