Themed Art Journal -Newbie Friendly!

For this swap you will decorate the cover of a journal on a theme of your choice. On the first page write down your thoughts on your topic and what you would like to see on your journal pages. Decorate that page - or save it for when you get your journal back. Partners will be assigned on Sept. 1. Within a week after they are assigned (no later than Sept. 5) you will send your journal to the first of your 4 partners. When you receive a journal take appx. 2 weeks to add a new 2 page spread (or more) on the theme of that journal and then send it along to the next person on the list. Each page should have some writing on it, as it is a journal, but it should also be illustrated/decorated. It will be open on how the page is decorated/illustrated - collage, paint, markers, zetti, stamped, etc. Think of the pages as large ATC’s. The way I plan the timetable - you should get your journal back sometime in November. Then you can add pages to your own journal or ...

If this works out like I am hoping - I will run a part 2 starting in January. You can again send your journal to 4 new partners or start a new one and new people can join.

IMPORTANT: As our journals will be traveling to 4 partners - commitment and communication is necessary. You have to be willing to get your page(s) done and get the journal on it’s way in a timely manner. The time frame Sept. - Nov. should leave enough extra time for mailing and delays. As long as you keep in touch with the journal owner I think this will work out!

I have never done a swap like this and hope other Newbies will join me in this swap. If you have done this before and are experienced and will be disappointed at Newbie efforts, this probably isn’t the swap for you. Plan on doing at lease one 2 page spread (2 pages facing each other). I plan on using a plain composition notebook - but I will leave it open to each of you to select a journal of your liking, as long as it already has blank pages in it.

Be sure to:

• Pick a theme that everyone can relate to on some level. For example - my theme is going to be ‘Music’. I am going to suggest that my partners tell me how music affects them - or - their favorite song - or - their favorite singer/group - or - lyrics that speak to them - or - musical instruments - music from a certain time period, etc.
• Include your name, email and mailing address on the inside cover or first page of your journal.
• Include your name somewhere on each page you add to every journal.
• Include with your journal a list of the partners you are assigned. It would be helpful if you alert (via email) the next person before you send the journal on - in case they are already working on someone else’s pages. In that case you can send it to a different partner. The list should not be attached to the journal - so we can check off our names and still know who needs to get the journal. Maybe we should also have a section in the back for 'Contributors' for us to tell about ourselves - like a guest book?
• Let the journal owner know when you are send the journal on - and to who - so we can keep track of where our ‘kids’ are.

Some helpful/inspirational websites: - http://anthology.typepad.com/anthology/2009/07/art-journal-swap.html - http://www.craftbits.com/project/altered-journal - http://www.teeshaslandofodd.com/1/temp.html

You can get started on your journals as soon as you sign up. Partners will be assigned September 1st and you can send your journals on their journey!

I am sure I have forgotten something - so please leave your questions here in the comments section! I am willing to modify the parameters if needed.