It's time to get journaling about my health

I'm excited to show you my latest art journal work. Well actually, it's not so much a page as it is the journal itself. I've been meaning to alter a composition notebook that I got at the dollar store for a while now. I didn't know what I wanted to journal in it, but I wanted to make it pretty. Then Samie Kira Harding gave me something to journal. 

She's offering a mini-course called Art Journal Diary, and I'm really excited about it. For a while now, I've been trying to figure out how to journal my food, sleep, pain, and daily activities in one journal. It's become very important to me to track these things, to get a better handle on my fibromyalgia. Her course is all about how to journal your health, or daily activities. So far I love it. It comes with a PDF with examples of simple journal pages, tags, etc that you can use. So I decided that it was time to get to that composition notebook and get started on my art journal diary.

Additionally, Paula Phillips has started a Facebook group about arting your weight loss, so I figured that this would go hand in hand.

I used the Prima Song Bird collection, which was a Scrap'n with Flair kit, and it is so gorgeous and easy to work with! Of course it's hard to go wrong with Prima. So I covered the front and back covers with a pretty page, that already had some text on washi tape in the corner. I covered the seam with washi tape that I got at Desserres. Then I went for my stamps. I used the stamps that are part of the collection, and a Tim Holtz text stamp that I thought was appropriate. It says "Live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering."

Altered composition notebook

That's what I want to do, live in the moment, to handle my stress better, and also enjoy the days when I am feeling good.

Cluster closeup

I used some of the chipboard pieces - this one says "Be free", and I clustered some Prima flowers around it, with a swallow charm, and some bling - also from Prima.

Corner flowers - don't you love Prima's flowers?

I clustered some more flowers in the upper corner to balance the page. I thought it was kind of cool how the peach leaves look like they belong to the flowers.

Long-suffering - this is what this journal is about

And then down in the corner, I placed another chipboard piece - this time a bird with the word "long-suffering" on it - and some flowers, with a bit of bling as well.

I love how it came together, and I'm really looking forward to working in it now. Since this notebook is going to be used almost like a Smash Book, I'm not too worried about smashing the flowers or anything, because most of my journaling will be put onto tags, journal spots, photos, etc. and then pasted into the book afterwards. I want it to be a real diary, and with it being a pretty one, it will be a pleasure to pick up every night before heading to bed.

I hope you get a chance to take Samie's course and try altering a book or composition notebook so that you get excited about journaling your day. Link me up to your altered book so that I can admire your work. And have a great weekend!