YardGirl Creations

I have a friend who teaches yoga and meditation. He is a huge advocate of journaling as a form of self care.

I created a custom journal for him as a thank you for his support during a time of stress and uncertainty for both of us as federal workers.

I used envelopes of various sizes that have been sitting on my shelf for years. I also sewed on a faux leather cover from my fabric stash using a decorative stitch.

This project is a continuation of my Scrap Busting Series, as I try to minimize my ridiculously large stash of fabrics and art supplies.

This type of journal would be considered a “junk journal” because it’s made from bits and pieces of materials found, or not in use for any other purpose.

As I learn more about junk journals and the various uses for them it seems that they are mostly utilized be women, many times with a vintage theme.

I will reserve my thoughts on this “vintage” theme for another time.

I wanted to ensure that this journal reflected the recipient. This meant that I would need to select more “masculine” materials instead of the lace frills or stars and heart embellishments that I’ve seen all over YouTube.

I also had to seek out very specific images relating to yoga and meditation. I wanted to ensure that I used images of men as well as imagery that reflected our shared Buddhist practice.

I was able to find many images on Unsplash.com. This is an excellent sources of free, royalty free images.

You can see more on my flip through video below.

My friend has a mantra that he repeats every time I see him, “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready”. This is a lesson that I know is important and yet part of me seems to rail against regularly. Even as I ignore the valuable lesson his message nags at me like sage advice from an elder. It’s good to have friends that keep it real even when you are determined to keep your head buried in the ground. I hope he will use the many tags stashed in the journal to record some of his favorite sayings and lessons.

He is not expecting to get this gift and will be finding out about it when it goes live on YouTube. I hope it will be a pleasant surprise.

I enjoyed this craft project and will create more junk journals in various layouts and styles to sell on my Etsy Shop. I will work on a small collection of them prior to releasing them. Follow me on YardGirlCreations.com to see when these products are released. Remember that everything I create is unique and one of a kind. There will only be one so if you see something you like order it fast.