The new season over at the Get Messy Art Journal community has just started and I have gracefully dived in headfirst. Today I have had nothing but ideas pouring out of my brain. I am not kidding when I say I am surrounded by index cards and scraps of paper with notes on them!

I had no intentions of gathering a pile of supplies together, but it organically happened so I didn’t argue. I may stick with them to make the first pages only, or I may use this base ‘kit’ through the whole season.

I have some vintage threads to sew photos and other ephemra into my journal along with some needles which are equally vintage. I like the idea of sewing stuff down and I have already done some machine stitching in my book, inspired by the wonderful Vanessa at Dans Mon Crâne.

I love vintage thread spools for the thread and the graphics on top of the wooden spool!

I made a new journal for this season and this one is a whopper at 18 inches tall! It is made in the ‘dos-à-dos’ style so it has two books in one. Inside it has watercolor paper, atlas paper and kraft paper.

Another supply I picked is Paynes Grey (in any) paint which I used to make these watercolor swatches (the paint pictured is acrylic, because my watercolor tube is teeny tiny!) I intend tearing these swatches and maybe stitching them in somewhere.

For the season of connections, how perfect are stamps!  I have a box of old stamps from an estate sale so I fished about until I got the dark blue ones to go with the Paynes grey.

For a pop of colour and also a connection to a lovely friend, I have gathered some copies of vintage cigarette cards to scatter about.  These are also a connection to my grandma who gave me her collection of cigarette cards when I was a teenager.

The first photo of an old National Geographic also has some vintage photos, a recipe card and a library card.  All connections waiting for me to explore and use.

I have started some pages in my journal but not completed any yet, so I am off to grab some paint and get going!

Happy Thursday x