A few things inspired me to make journals. One-I’ve been thinking about the journal I’m supposed to be working on through The Sketchpad Project...it’s due February and I’ve had it for almost a year. That sounds very artist-y doesn’t it? (Not doing something until the last minute)
Also, click HERE to see new items listed in my shop.
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/unnamed-1.jpg)
Second-FLOW magazine. FLOW is always inspiring but the paper lover issues are especially…special. They come out once a year and I sometimes allow myself to indulge in purchasing one. I do not yet have this years edition. FLOW is a Netherland based magazine and so far the only place I’ve been able to find the mag is at Books-a-Million.
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/0-5.jpg)
With these two things dancing in mind, I collected all the different papers I own and sat down at my workspace to construct a sensory explosion. I quickly realized that if I was going to make these journals magical, I needed more than just paper. I collected some old keys, tea bags, photographs, paper cutouts, beads, indigo dyed threads, and other ephemera and started creating!
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/0-4.jpg)
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/0-15.jpg)
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/0-13.jpg)
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_1729.png)
I use a lot of different items in the journals and each are about 22 pages. I want people to feel like I do when I flip the pages of FLOW for the first time. The surprise behind a velum envelope could be dried flowers or a sticker of a cyanotype fern, clubmoss or maple leaves.
Tucked within the textured khadi paper could be folded up wallpaper, pages of an old book discolored by time, or vintage tissue paper.
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/0-12.jpg)
My hope is if you purchase one of these journals you feel inspired to draw, sketch, write or add more of your own inspiring artwork, magazine clippings, etc. into its pages.
![](https://www.carmencayart.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/0-8.jpg)
If you’d like to purchase a journal or see other items I’ve recently added to my shop click HERE