Once in a while I come across something that makes me drop everything and think "How I have not seen this before?". For the last few weeks I have been feeling, for lack of a perfect word, restless. Not unhappy, not frustrated, not overwhelmed... just an under-it-all sense of something missing. Last week for my birthday I gave myself an art journal book, a grown up coloring book and a watercolor kit looking for some inspiration. I spent a morning making a collage journal cover out of an old file folder, pages from a Connecting Threads magazine and Mod Podge just because I wanted to play. The inside has pockets made from folding the edges back and gluing them down. Nothing fancy... just fun! Sunday night I was watching some videos on YouTube when THIS popped into my suggested viewing list. I had no idea what a Fauxbonichi was but I clicked on it and about halfway in I was hooked. As in joining her Facebook group, finding a notebook to use and staying up until 2:30 AM watching more videos, reading blog posts and watching that same video again (and again!). First thing Monday morning I added washi tape around the edges of my journal cover for reinforcement and threaded some elastic to hold my Moleskine large size cahier notebook in place inside. And I decided that as a part of doing my daily pages I would add an item to my cover each day until it feels "done". Then I will give it a couple more coats of Mod Podge to seal it. Of course I chose one of my Elsa look-alike stickers! Then I turned my attention to the inside. Basically this will be my play journal with a quote, a sketch/doodle, a journal prompt, a gratitude section and what ever I feel like doing with the large section on the left. So far I'm playing with some stamps, washi tape and my colored pen & marker collection. I tend to buy this stuff with great intentions but let it sit unused so I'm challenging myself to let loose and have fun with this book. I laid out a weeks worth of pages so I can just open it up and get to it. I look forward to seeing how my pages evolve as I start to change things up over time. Here's what my cover looks like as of today and my page in progress is below. Tonight or tomorrow morning I'll fill in the rest. I'm going to be backing each page with scrapbook paper to cover any marker or stamping that bleeds through. I'll be able to do extra journaling or collage some items there as well. I used to keep diaries and at various times I've kept a journal. I have a sense that my life right now is at a point where I have the most ME time I might ever have again. The kids are out east, my husband is 3-4 years away from retiring and my parents are (knock on wood) healthy. I have a bad habit of pushing things off until "Someday". I also have been feeling very nostalgic since the kids moved away and would like to capture some memories of our lives. Someday seems to be NOW, especially as the days fly by. So this is my start and I'm loving it!