I told my husband I wouldn’t be buying any more books this month (of course he laughed) and I swear not a day later I bought some books. But I couldn’t help it, I found two Anita Brookner bargain books at the library (50 cents each). I had to have them and in case you are wondering, no I didn’t check out any books from the library. I’m still on my library ban this summer so I can read more from my stacks.

I got Dolly and A Private View. I’ve only read two Brookner novels but somehow have been collecting her books and now own about 10. I just “know” I’ll like her books. Do you do that with certain authors?

The other books I bought I couldn’t resist either because Barnes & Noble was having their Classics sale so I bought two and got another free, plus I still had a bit of birthday money left and so got three books for $6. Talk about a bargain! I got:

• Persuasion by Jane Austen. That’s the only Austen novel I didn’t have on my shelves yet and I am telling myself that this Summer I must read another Austen.
• Time Machine & The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. If it hadn’t been for the Slaves of Golconda I wouldn’t have read anything by H.G. Wells (we read the Island of Dr. Moreau) and am so glad I read the book. I couldn’t believe how much I kept thinking about that novel after finishing it. It was so disturbing and just a great story.
• Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Loved Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol so looking forward to this tale.

So, do you think I can go the rest of the month without book buying? I don’t know, it’ll be hard and so I’m keeping my mouth shut this time.

I’ve been keeping a journal since I was a little girl and over the years, along with the journal where I spill out all of my thoughts and feelings, I’ve started other journals. I’ve got one for poetry where I write favorite poems and similarly I’ve got a quote journal. I’ve been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling and so my travel journals are always fun for me to revisit and remember places I’ve been to and adventures I’ve had.

But in the past couple of years, the idea of visual journaling is something that has been really calling out to me. I don’t draw but I enjoy creating collages, using rubber stamps and just playing with paint. My journals sometimes have a page here and there where I add visual elements but that’s about it. So with the help of True Vision by L.K. Ludwig (which was a book I got for Christmas) I’ve decided to set aside one journal just for visual journaling.

Here’s my first page. I wanted to do something to celebrate my first year of having an Etsy shop. So I thought why not use scraps of papers which I’ve used for the books that have appeared in my shop.

In case you are wondering what book I’m using. I started a Moleskine journal because the pages are thick enough for paint, gesso and other mediums. I need to make my own journal but didn’t want to put this off any longer so I just used whatever I had on hand.

I made some borders, I glued down paper circles and finally drew in lines for my writing. Here’s the end result:

It’s fun to see so many of the papers I’ve used. I really enjoyed doing this and am looking forward to how this book will turn out. How will my journaling change, if at all, what will I learn and on and on.

How about you? Do you do any visual journaling?