Advent Journal

Hello Friends,

I have never paid much attention to Advent. I basically thought it was something about a Santa Claus calendar with pop-out chocolates to keep kids from driving you crazy asking, "Is it Christmas yet?"

This year I am looking forward to exploring the true meaning of Advent. I don't know what that is yet, but I think it means drawing close to Jesus in anticipation of.... what remains to be seen. I hope you will join me in this journey, which begins this Sunday, November 29, 2015 and continues to December 25 - Christmas Day. I can't promise to post every day, but I will try. The Advent posts at His Kingdom Come will surely help me along this wonderful journey.

In the meantime, here are some pics of my 2015 Advent journal, my first ever of its kind. I up-cycled a Kellogg's Bran Bar box (I eat a lot of those) for my cover. The picture and gold arch were clipped from used Christmas cards.

The front side of the spine cracked in one spot and I needed something to cover it up. I tried different things and finally decided on tying some jute twine around and into a bow. I really think it completes the design - serendipity for sure.

The most wonderful thing about mixed media is you just keep working it until it works out. I started with a coat of white Gesso to give to smooth box board tooth, then let it dry. Next I plopped on globs of acrylic paint - Liquitex Phthalocyanine Green, Primary Yellow and Artist's Loft Deep Red - and smooshed (technical term - wink) it around with a palette knife. As an afterthought, I tossed on some Spackle and mixed that in too. Then I pressed my Sizzix poinsettia embossing folder into the mess a few times and let it dry. The result was some nice texture, but a bit too dark for my taste. That is when I got out my gel medium mixed with gold mica powder. I dry-brushed it on with a Plaid Scruffy and it sprung to life. Here is the back of the journal, where you can really see all of the colour and texture. I love it.

I used a scrap of Christmas ribbon (on a gift last year) to make a bookmark for my journal.

And wrote Advent 2015 with my gold gel pen.

For the inside of my journal I used old Christmas cards. The front and back of the cover is 4 1/2 " by 5 1/2". I cut my Christmas card pages to 4 1/4" by 5 1/4".

Some of the cards have personal, hand-written messages on them, like one from my sister who passed away in 2009. 

Many of them have beautiful artwork to inspire me as I write about each devotional thought throughout the 27 days of Advent.

One card had a matching envelope. I cut it down and reassembled it to match the page size and then inserted a tag that I had cut from another Christmas card, which was smaller than my standard size.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you will join me on my Advent journey, starting this Sunday, November 29. Sunday's Art Reflection posts will be on hold until the New Year, but I will continue with my Sunday's Little Blessing posts with free images each week.

Blessing hugs,
Teresa

Challenges:

Shopping our Stash - no stamping

Word Art Wednesday - ATG (anything goes)

Paint Party Friday - paint

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - ATG

Brown Sugar - ATG

CAS-ual Chic - Precious Metals

Creative Artiste - mixed media

Daring Card makers - anything but a card

Fun with Shapes - Advent

The Outlawz Twisted Thursday - ATG