Whenever I visit an antique shop or estate sale I am always on the lookout for old photos, books and ledgers as well as any interesting papers from days gone by which I can use in art journals as collage or inspiration. Sometimes there will be a box of photos to sift through but in my eyes, the real finds are the albums still full of ancient black and white images often with written descriptions on the back or front of the photos and on the album pages.

I love to see the names, the date and often a little description of the image. Just look at the poses and the joy in the page of photos from 1916 shown above!

I consequently have a lot of old pictures and I use them in my journals some, but I want to use more. One per page at least to and fill my journal with photos and the imagined stories that accompany these people and their clothes and cars and locations.

A happy coincidence that the next Get Messy Art Journal season is almost upon us and it is the Season of Story!  Where better to include stories inspired by all of these people from history and adorn my art journal with their grace and poise. I am going to use this season to find stories and let them find me, some may be my own and some will be imagined.

Now, I also need a journal to use for this new season. I had made a sketchbook a few weeks ago from an antique photo album which was falling apart but the spine and covers were in great shape, perfect for this project.

It is a lovely chunky journal with hot press watercolour paper which I buy in big sheets and tear down to size.  Some pages fold out to give me more space and I have seven signatures each with six pages.  Plenty to work with!

If you are interested in making your own sketchbook, I recommend the Get Messy bookbinding class which got me started making books in the first place, the book ‘How to Make Books‘ by Esther K Smith or videos by Kiala Givehand over at YouTube.

If you are interested in Get Messy, the Season of Story and seeing what it is all about and of course joining us in some art making and art journaling maybe you are interested in a season pass?  The pass will introduce you to the world of Get Messy and will hopefully give you enough time to decide if you want more!  As a creative team member I am obviously biased, but I love every minute that I am making art and involved in the Get Messy community. Click here for more info and to sign up if you fancy. This is an affiliate link which means that I receive compensation at no extra cost to you if you sign up, which means I can buy art supplies!

More details –

• When you sign up for a Get Messy Season Pass you get access only to the Get Messy Season of Story posts between June 1st – July 31st.
• Season Pass members have access to the Season of Story posts, the GM private facebook group, the Get Messy forums and the discounted member shop.
• You can pay using Paypal or your debit/credit card. The payment is a one time fee and is not recurring.
• You can only purchase the pass between June 1-7. 

Happy Monday x

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