journaling together

It is funny how sometimes you get interested in a theme and then all of a sudden you see that theme everywhere.  Sort of like when you're pregnant and all of a sudden it seems like you only see pregnant people.  Perhaps it's where your attention is, or coincidence.

In any case, I re-dedicated myself to journaling again in December.  Since I have a terrible memory, I decided to write down a summary of every day (tedious as that may seem) so it will help me remember life in our family.
At New Year's we started a family journal.  For years we've written down our thoughts on the previous year and our hopes for the coming one, but this year we decided to take it a step further:

As in previous years we decided to begin with our thoughts on the past and the future.  We also decided that every weekend we would write a little about the previous week.

And of course it wouldn't be a family journal if it wasn't open to drawing and other contributions:

So as I was getting into my journaling groove, imagine my excitement when I came across Emily's blog and this post.  Coincidence much?  It just so happens our daughters are good friends but we hadn't talked since before the holidays.  And of course I love her 2012 journaling challenge, so I jumped right in.

Problem was I didn't have a journal on hand, so with instructions from this lovely book which I picked up at a book sale last year, I made one.  I've been wanting to learn how to make books for a few years now, so what an opportunity!  I really like the final result

I like how it came out.  I used a watercolor painting for the cover and just regular computer paper on the inside.   And here is my first entry, based on this prompt:

Journaling and sharing the journal with others is a new experience for me.  I look forward to learning from others and see all the creativity out there.  It should be a lot of fun!