My New Journal Dedicated to My Dad

My girlfriend Alice has asked me to bind up some journals for her. She is making up a number of "gemmed" journals to sell at a Greek Festival she is involved in. I have really enjoyed binding them up and it has gotten me excited for making my own. This is my third gemmed journal. The gems I chose for this one came out of a tin box my Mom gave me with a number of different items that my Dad collected while metal detecting. He passed away in 1994 so the items I used meant alot to me. I have a 15 year Union pin that my Dad received from his work. Somes rings and earrings and chains etc. I used red and black buttons to accent the journal as well because to me they represented my Dad's blood, his life lived I guess. The other half I painted yellow to represent where my Dad is now - Heaven. I also put a heavy chain around the outside of the front cover and a thick heart attached to the chain that represented to me the addictions my Dad had in his life to alcohol and smoking, yet the heart represents the overcoming of these addictions during certain periods of time through his life. I also used some other items that meant something to me in different areas of my life... a pin from my sister that says "sister" with an angel. My hubby's tie clip, a little ring my son gave me from a vending machine. I also included some keys; diary, bike and apartment keys from my teen years; some necklaces that I had been given from friends and other miscellaneous items. I chose the items very specifically and colors were important to me because I wanted it overall to represent life and death, but death as a hope to new life through Jesus.
It is much darker than my other journals but I think it will inspire me to draw and journal.
The first entry was inspired from the back of an Archie Comic. I saw this bird and it made me think of how busy people are. So I started by drawing the bird and then journaled around the bird. It looks like a bird going after it's prey and that made me think of what really 'busy' people look like. They are so busy minded and physically busy going from one place to another... but in the end what do they accomplish? ... are they happy? ... do they have peace? What has all their busyness achieved for themselves? I think we can get much too busy and it is so easy to lose track of what really matters. This thought occurs alot with me ~ maybe God is trying to tell me that I need to slow down and appreciate my blessings.


Happy Creating everyone!