"Happy Girl with a lot of Secrets" (2012 About Me Journal)

I am embracing my 2012 new year's resolution already and over the weekend began my "About Me" Journal, using prompts that were shared on the "blissfully_art_journaling" yahoo egroup.  I am using an altered book, chosen for its construction, not it's content.  The content will come from within me. 

With this journal I hope to explore all facets of me, the good, the bad, the old, the new and in doing so get to know myself on a deeper level.  Time will tell if this journal is something I'll want to share with others (either through my blog or with my family).  For now it is something I want to share with myself. 

I'm off to a great start, having already created two 2-page spreads.  One is disclaimer to anyone who happens to read this journal and the other is a loving reminder to myelf that as I churn up some of the gunk that has settled (or I've compacted) over the years, I need to continue living one day at a time--today. 

Close up of the first page "Happy Girl with a lot of Secrets"

Full 2-page spread, including journaling.  This is a first for me.  I typically only share the artsy parts of my journal or a mixed media art piece that I've created based on the artsy parts of my journal.

This is the second spread in my journal.  The image on the right was the inspiration for these two pages.  It was many of 100s of advertisement photos/images in a book I found at my favorite thrift store.  I wish I would have kept the name of the book so I could see if others exist.  I don't recall what the original image was used for, but in this context it really appeals to me...sort of a healing of past hurts and filling in the gaps to make the self whole again.