Wreck This Journal...Part Two!

Hey guys! Some of you may remember a previous post I did a little while ago about my beloved Wreck This Journal. Well, it's back, and it's more wrecked than ever. Once thing I noticed right off the bat is how drastically the journal changes over time. I had to hurry up and take pictures before it evolved into a completely different creature again!

  Needless to say I've been working with my WTJ a lot lately. It's become my new "busy project" that I do during my idle time (very similar to my boobs piece, now that I think of it!) I feel like I have the freedom to work on more than one page at once, so that keeps things interesting for me. I'm constantly doodling and doing weird mini craft projects now.

Thanks for the idea, Patrick.

One thing I finally finished up was cover and spine of my book. I had a problem with my book trying to "shed its skin" so instead of letting the entire cover peel off, I went ahead and glued down the remaining pieces and colored the spine with crayons. I think it looks wicked now, like a rainbow is trying to burst through the page seams or something.

 I also recently finished the copyright and dedication pages. I tried to insert cryptic secret messages in by highlighting certain words and letters.

I didn't mention this page the first time I wrote about my Wreck this Journal, but I should have. I added my own table of contents and it really got me passionate about using my journal for some reason. Possibly because it's easier to pick a page to work on when they're all listed out in front of you!

Blue Bats Galore.. The instructions page is definitely one of my favorite pages now. I used highlighter, crayons, and a little bit of india ink. "Work against your better judgement" is the only instruction I need to keep in mind.

Another one of the classic pages, "Poke holes using a pencil." The first page is watercolor and india ink while the second page is colored pencil. On the second image, I gouged the outline into the paper with pen so that the other side has a cool embossed texture to it. I totally love that kind of stuff. 

Whenever my hands got especially dirty, I made a point to press them down on this page before I washed them. It's scary how cruddy the paper is now.

This is another one of my favorite pages. My boyfriend gave me a bunch of flowers, so I dried them out and glued them in my book. I really enjoy using flowers in my work, their colors are beautiful and they can have a very paper-like texture.

Speaking of my boyfriend, he especially wanted to "help me" do this page for some reason. I can't imagine why! Afterwards, I added some of my troll face stickers, they'll be good for future targets.

Dirt creature!

In the spirit of recklessness, I challenged myself to get more people involved in the process of my book. I got a great opportunity to do this when I went over to my relatives house for this past Easter. I have a lot of little cousins running around that literally jumped at the chance to help mess up my WTJ. They were already playing outside in the yard, so it was the perfect setting to complete some pages which involved getting your hands (or feet) dirty. I definitely got what I wished for, and was soon overwhelmed by piles of dirt clods and patches of dried grass that were donated by my little cousins to put in my book. I have to give them credit for not only their enthusiasm but their creativity aswell. At one point they were just using the dirt clod chunks as crude coloring untensils... brilliant. Wreck this Journal was made for kids, they have such a free spirit when it comes to art.

"Rub here with dirt"

Stand here and wipe your feet.  Drawing out where your feet should go first helps.

Tie a string to the journal and go for a walk..
but where are you going??

These two pages demand that I physically throw the book around. I haven't worked up the gall to do that yet, but I did start decorating those pages instead!

Two of my more stylish pages. Instead of making paper chains, I decided to make paper braids. I also added some laminated bananas to my fruit stickers page...There's five of them I think, and they're super cute. I was going to make them into bookmarks but I like them better this way.  Oh and also, if you didn't notice, I whip my hair back and fourth.

"Sew this page" so far... Umm I think I'm doing it wrong. Still a work in progress..
I will write more about this mysterious creature later.

I added some water color and blue ballpoint pen to my free'd fishies page.

"Color Outside the Lines"Pt. 1

"Color Outside the Lines" Pt. 2

This one's a two-fer. I decided to be a little different when it came to my interpretation of the "color outside the lines" page. Instead of coloring outside the lines, I cut along the lines. In result, I was able to do this cool peep hole effect. I used good ol' reliable crayons, pens and sharpies for the colors and detail.

Another one still in process. Trace your hand. In my case, I traced several.

Magic's in the makeup! So I put makeup all over the back cover of my Journal. Now it's beautiful.

I am no where near finished with my Wreck this Journal, but I'm savoring it while it lasts. It's been a very inspiring experience so far, and I can't wait to get into even more zany journaling adventures. Expect even more updates from me in the future about this subject. There are still so many pages to go until my goal of completely filling up the book...

In the mean time, is there anyone else out there that's in the process of wrecking their own journals? I'd love to see your techniques and interpretations of the directions.

P.S If you don't have a WTJ yet, go out there and get one! It's a great exercise for big and little kids alike.

My Journey With Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal 

1) The Beginning.....
2) WTJ Part Two
3) WTJ Part Three - Vengeance 
4) WTJ Part Four - The Reckoning
5) WTJ Part Five - Return of the Journal (Final)