My Joy Journal is Here

Back in March, Cherie (long time blogging buddy and member of the Secret Society of Barn Builders, the gallery quilt makers from my 2016 book), shared this post on her blog (photo from Cherie's blog).

I was so taken with her joy journal made by MaryAnn of Joyful Puttering, that I scrolled until I found MaryAnn's original post and contacted her to see if she was still accepting "bits and bobs" for my own joy journal.  

Her answer was YES so I sent her a mailer filled with all sorts of random pieces including some of Young Man's preschool artwork that I'd never been able to cut into.  You can read MaryAnn's introductory post for my Joy Journal HERE.

Last week, my Joy Journal arrived  (photo by MaryAnn) and I've been enjoying it ever since.  You can read MaryAnn's post about the finished journal HERE.

I spent some time late last week adding more long-saved pieces like this set of nested hearts on a post it into the pockets and tuck spots MaryAnn created.

Or this capybara sticker as a reminder of our Secret Santa role in making sure Santa's delivery of capybara stuffies was in place when the family returned home.

I was thrilled with the way MaryAnn turned the long saved page of YM's early cursive letters into a "zine" on the left facing page.  And I finally managed to cut into some of the other saved papers with YM's much younger printing to personalize the small folded paper tucked in the Love Stamp pocket.  

I was delighted that MaryAnn included one of Cherie's labels in my journal - especially knowing that Cherie had sent one of my Build a Barn cards for her journal.

I thought the way MaryAnn backed this cut-out drawing from preschool days using fabric (especially a KF fabric from her stash that I have in mine) was very clever.  And she made such good use of the fabric snippet strip I sent (and now that it has been used, I need to make another one . . . )

The crayon box was cut out from a thrifted Pete the Cat book.  

MaryAnn used all the scraps from YM's early artwork in so many fun ways . . . I really need to add more stitching to my future journals.

Finally, I borrowed her idea of fusing cut out art elements to backing (in my case colorful paper) and now this colorful vehicle lives tucked under the back cover's belly band.

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MaryAnn makes and gifts these journals because they bring her joy.  

Her joy also resides within the pages of the journals and I can feel it every time I look at or flip through my journal.  

THANK YOU, MaryAnn!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Joy multiplies when it is shared."

Paulo Coelho