Art Journal Page - word toolbox

This is the first of this type of swap I’m doing, but I think they will be fun! I really love the idea of art journaling but it’s just to much for me to do a whole journal to swap and make it as nice as I would like, not to mention that once I’ve filled a whole journal with art it would be far to difficult to part with. So the plan for these swaps is to make individual art journaling pages and keep them clipped into a binder in protective sleeves, kind of like giant ATCs. That way we get a nice collection of art journaling from different artists and we get to flex our creative muscles to create pages for others.

The size of the page should be about 8 ½” x 11” so that it will fit inside one of those protective sleeves, you may even want to be extra nice and mail it to your partner already inside of one. This will also help to keep it safe in the mail. It should be mailed in a large flat mailer so that it does not have to be folded.

The theme for this page is a “Word Toolbox”. This is an art journaling activity that I found in the book Inner Excavation by Liz Lamoreux and I am pretty much going to copy the text from the book because I can’t describe it any better than she already has :) It is from page 19.

“Task: Gather words, and phrases, and create a word toolbox

How to create it: grab a book, or several books, off of your bookshelf. Open to random pages and write down a word or two from each page. It is a good idea to let your eyes jump from word to word to find the word that stands out to you. Write down at least twenty words. Look at your word list. Is it interesting to you? Do the words jump out? Do they make you think? Look for words that are juicy, beautiful, messy, sticky, solid. Look for words that invite images of action and stillness. Look for words that twirl around your tongue. Do not be afraid of words you do not know. “

Remember that this is art journaling so it shouldn’t be just a list of words scrawled on a piece of notebook paper, it should be a finished work when you are done that your partner will be thrilled to receive. Later I will either post a new swap, or a thread in the forum, on how you can use your word toolbox while you are journaling. There are some great exercises it can be used for! If you enjoy this exercise you can also make one for yourself so that you have more words and phrases to choose from! Since this is not profile based you can get started on it right away!!!