Journals & Heart Portraits

These 5x5 art journals are so easy to personalize! I covered this with various patterns of Polka Dots and Paisley designer papers. The spiral punch allowed me to easily get the paper around the holes and to the very edge of the chipboard.

I am going to give this one to my daughter, Madeline, for us to pass back and forth with notes to each other. I got this idea from some book on mothering, I'm sure, but can't remember which one. The idea is to have an outlet for "safe" communication--writing back and forth to each other. When I have a message for her, I will write in it and leave it on her pillow, and vice versa. Then we can respond to each other and give the book back. Do you think it will work? It's worth a try!


You can also add pages if you have the spiral punch. Here I've added a page of the yellow patterned paper, which will be light enough to write on, if we want. Maybe it will end up holding a quote or special Bible verse. I punched out tabs from the designer papers also--I love how the whole project comes together with the coordinating colors! (All materials Stampin' Up! (C) 1995-2007).





Heart Portraits.....Here is another idea for these little journals. A friend's mom used to write daily notes about their family life and then they were printed in the newspaper. They ran from 1958 through 1963 and were about farm life in Eastern Montana. In 1983 the mom, Emeline Henderson, compiled all the columns into a book called Little Lifts in Living. It has been relaxing and amusing to read a weeks worth of comments and observations before I go to bed each night! Especially as I read about my friend as a 5 year old, and her older siblings, some of whom I know.

She has "heart portraits" interspersed throughout~little scenes that occur in the day-to-day, that make her mother's heart smile. Here are a couple of examples: from July 1958, "Arlene and Billie standing in the doorway between our kitchen and dining room, holding Joyce (the 5 year old) and loving her for all they are worth. It looks like an octopus, there is such a tangle of arms. Joyce is enjoying it very much, but, ah, I am enjoying it more!"

Here's another: "Cleaning our car on a bright Sunday morning--Willie is rubbing on the polish, Elaine and Arlene are rubbing it off, Billie is doing the wheels, and I am washing the windows. Dear little Joyce has her tricycle parked beside the car. She dips her little rag in my pan of suds, and scrubs diligently on the spokes of her trike. It's a family portrait I'd like to frame."

Some of these moments pass before we can "run to get the camera", so keeping a little book handy just to jot down the scene--what a treasure a book of "Heart Portraits" would be!