December 7, 2021 – The giggleFritz and Co. “Wreck This Journal” Project

Hello, Everyone! I have been working on a few sewing projects intermingled with decorating for Christmas and day-to-day chores. Why not throw one more project into the mix?

This year, on Black Friday, we ventured out to breakfast at a decent hour. Afterwards, we stopped at a few stores: not so much for hardcore shopping, but mostly to entertain some Christmas Spirit. We picked up some seasonal Starbucks Holiday Drinks and headed to Target. Why Target? For all of the obvious reasons AND they still have a Book section!

We browsed the $1 section in the front of the store, women’s clothes, movies, and then we finally hit the books. The book and movie section is much smaller than in past years, but it was still nice to browse. And then, I saw IT. Way on the bottom in the righthand corner of the shelf, was this book:

“Wreck This Journal”, by Keri Smith

I know I have seen this book before, but never paid much attention to it. The first printing was 2007 and it has been reprinted and expanded since then. I’ve also seen Smash Journals and Junk Journaling. I have looked into junk journaling and watched a few YouTube videos. It looks interesting, but never enough to get into it myself. It feels like there is no real purpose for what you are making, so why make it? It takes a lot of thinking outside the box, making a mess, and making a lot of mistakes or imperfections. The things I see people making aren’t “good”, they miss the mark. This thinking of mine actually bothers me something fierce. The reason you do this kind of journaling is to flex your creative muscles: try something different, expand on the ideas you are working on. It’s all very uncomfortable, yet rewarding when you see it through.

I think it would be great to take a class on collage, or if they have a “junk journal” class. I took a journal class at the library a few years ago. It introduced us to all of the supplies and types of journals, but it didn’t go deep enough. So, when I saw this book I wanted to know what it meant to, “wreck this journal”. It’s pretty cool!

Each page gives you something to do: draw circles, “wrap something with this page”, “color this entire page”. Some of the things I don’t want to do, but others are really interesting. I almost didn’t buy this book because I thought it doesn’t seem too creative to have someone telling you what to do. But, I am so inconsistent and lazy in my sketching and journaling, I need a bit of structure to get anything done.

Wreck This Journal: “Fill This Page with Circles”

I have been working on a few of the pages and feel good that I did them. But, my pages feel boring or I just didn’t put enough thought or time into them. Because of this, I went looking on the internet to see if other people had shared their work done in this book. The answer is YES! They sure did! If you search for the reviews on this book on Amazon, you will find pictures of peoples creations. There are also Pinterest boards dedicated to ideas for this book, and there are web sites with prompts for Children as well:

Today, I am sharing my “Fill this Page with Circles” page with you. It is looking like it needs some color or texture or something. I will fix it up and share it again later, I think.

Do you have a “Wreck this Journal”? Did you fill the whole thing up? If you don’t have the book, you could make your own with a sketch book and check out the prompts on Pinterest or other web sites dedicated to the book. It’s a fun creative outlet!

I am off to work on some Christmas Sock Monkeys.

Have a Wonderful Tuesday!

Missie S.

Show and Tell Art Part 1: Ladybug Doodle

I love making new things.  Being creative and expressing yourself through the things you make is a joy, when you have made something that turned out the way you wanted it to, or better.  The mistakes are disappointing, but make you a better artist.

I think a lot people feel the same way, but it is hard to get into your craft when you are going through a busy time in your life or working full-time every day.  You may daydream at work how you would love to do more quilting, card making, or painting.  But when you have a few spare minutes or hours you just don’t want to pull out all the materials to have to put them away again.  Or, maybe you just don’t feel like it at the end of the day.

That has always been me.  I would love to walk through craft stores and window shop the materials, but never buy anything.  I would love the idea of crafting and sewing, but didn’t have the time for the actual task.  Or, I would buy a few small things like embroidery floss and never do anything with them.  I got back into sewing a few years ago because I wanted to make my daughter some doll clothes for Christmas.  I slowly made other things: a baby blanket and a tote bag from an old pair of pants.  When I started making things, especially useful things, I wanted to do more.  I would daydream at work about creating things for a living and I did research on how other people do it.  That is how giggleFritz and Co. was born!

I am now about 8 weeks away from delivering our little girl.  It is hard to make anything new for our family or selling.  However, I am still going to try to create something new each day, even if is only a doodle or drawing.  My goal is to create SOMETHING new every day.  I will remind myself, it doesn’t need to be an elaborate craft.  I don’t have to pull out a big pile of materials, or even take hours and hours to make something.  I may even color a picture from the internet! I will post a picture to show you what I make.

Today’s Art

Title: Lady Bug Stroll with Daisy

Artist: Missie Schachtschneider

Ladybug Stroll with Daisy – by Missie Schachtschneider

Simple, yet, made.  Not stuck in my head meekly wanting to come out.

Does anyone else do this?  Do you have an art journal that you work in each day?  How does it make you feel to gather an archive of your projects and art?  Do you feel proud of how you have grown as an artist when you look back?  If you haven’t already done this, would you like to start an art journal with me?  You could work in your journal each day and check out what is ending up in mine here on my blog.  Think about it.  It could be so much fun! 🙂