Unusual Things

This is the reason I was wide awake at 3 a.m., and up and working before 5.

I'm doing another Swap Bot journal, this one a book of "unusual things."  The instructions were that the journal was to include:

1 page introducing yourself and explaining why you wanted to join this swap.
10 lists/pages of top 10 (topics are your choice)
10 pages of some type of art form - drawing, photos, painting, collage-ish etc.
5-10 pages of some type of paper fun stuff - think receipts, used movie/concert/transportation tickets
10 pages of diary type entries detailing your day, your thoughts, your feelings...
5-10 pages of Wreck this Journal type entries

I had no idea what "Wreck this Journal" meant, but googled it and discovered the w-i-d-e variety of ways to wreck a page, from pouring substances on it, to punching holes in it, to burning part of the page, tearing the page....the possibilities are endless.  I got this idea of pouring wine on a page and found a chianti bottle to use as a graphic and then dripped wax down the side of it...it wasn't quite what I wanted, but it was OK.  Then last night I poured wine on the page and liked the effect, but it needed something more.  I thought about it while I was going to sleep and decided to google "glass spilling wine" and found the perfect graphic, which I downloaded at 4 a.m., doing some PhotoShop editing of the color of the wine and then pasting it on the page,  If I were more clever, the page would look better, but I'm happy with how it came out.

I'm always interested in journal prompts that suggest using "used movie tickets," since I have an endless supply of tickets from shows that we have attended, plus a lot of old programs (though most of the programs I throw away after writing the review).  But I had fun putting together this journal.  This page has become a favorite of mine to add to these journals.

Depending on which state the recipient is in, I wonder what the response will be.  Marijuana is legal in California, so ads like this are common, as are billboards.  But I don't know how it will be received in Ohio, where I think medicinal marijuana is legal, but recreational is not.  The News and Review (for which I write reviews) has a wide section each week dedicated to ads for pot merchants and it makes a great collage.

Another page I always include is one about Compassion.

I've done the pages several ways but I think this is my favorite so far.

The contents of my purse is always good for a miscellaneous collage

I wanted to do something interesting for a cover page and googled "unusual things."  Amazing what you find when you do that.  There were lots of choices, but this one made me giggle and so I decided to go with this.

You gotta admit this is pretty unusual!  

So the book is finished and off to the post office and now I have another one to make in the next month.  It's called a "Randomness Journal."  The instructions for this one say "For this journal swap, you will fill your journal with whatever strikes your fancy which means this is all YOU. Take a composition notebook (9.75in x 7.5in journal size) or as close as you can get and fill it up completely from front to back. Every page (front & back) should have something on it. You DO NOT have to completely cover each page. Decorate the cover in some way so it is not plain."

I'm glad I have a month to do this because it's going to take some time to get junk to collect in my purse again!

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My life used to be so interesting.  Read "The Mama Caper, Part II"  Priscilla was a woman with AIDS that I used to drive to get her methadone injections once or twice a week, when I was doing transport for "Breaking Barriers."