Wreck This Journal - Week Nine

For anyone who's new, you can catch the previous weeks here:

Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8

Last week one of the ways I wrecked my journal was to trace items from my purse. To make it more fun I offered a prize to whoever guessed the most items. However, only one person was brave enough to guess, and he was totally wrong, so I get to keep the prize for myself. :-)

Sometimes wrecking a page in my journal can be rather time consuming, other times it's . . . not. Usually I try to wreck at least two pages for posting. Last week was a busy week for me, but I still managed to wreck three pages in my journal.

The first page I picked, the instructions said: This page is for handprints or fingerprints. Get them dirty then press down.

I have to admit. That was kind of fun. :-)

And yes, the baby finger on my right hand is naturally that crooked. My oldest sister, who's a nurse, can tell you what it's called - I think it's Kirner's Deformity - and apparently both my sisters and I have it.

The next page I wrecked was pretty simple. I was told to: Tear strips, rip it up!

And even with such simple instructions I managed to mess it up. See the fourth strip from the right where I accidentally ripped it in half? LOL

Now the very next page said to: Glue, staple, or tape these pages together. Yeah, I know it meant the two facing pages, but I figured it would be more fun to deal with the tears. It's my journal, I can wreck it however I want! ;-)

And that's it for this week. Join me here next week to see what new ways I can find to wreck my journal. :-)

Wreck This Journal - Week Eight

For anyone who's new, you can catch the previous weeks here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4
Week 5, Week 6, Week 7,

I was in a doodling mood on the weekend, so I managed to wreck a couple more pages of my journal.

The first page I was instructed to Use This As a Test Page for Pens, Paints, Markers, Or Art Supplies. While I do have a large stash of art supplies, I chose to use it instead as a test page for the pens and markers on and in my desk.

I have quite the assortment, don't I? What can I say, I like coloured pens! And markers. :-D

The other page I did told me to Trace the Things in Your Bag (or Pockets). Let the lines overlap. To make it easier to see I used a different colour for each item.

Then I got the bright idea to number them objects. As you can see, there are 12 of them. I challenge you to try and figure out what these items are. You can leave your guesses in the comments, or if you're shy you can email them to me at carolrward(at)gmail(dot)com. You can also request a better copy of the picture to make it easier for guessing.

If I get enough people guessing, I'm even willing to cough up a prize for the person who gets the most right. :-D

Join me here next week to see how I've wrecked my journal. And I'll include the list of objects from my purse.

Wreck This Journal - Week Seven

For anyone who's new, you can catch the previous weeks here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4
Week 5, Week 6,

It's been a while since I've done any journal wrecking, and I only managed two pages, but they were fun pages. :-D

The first page was divided into strips with instructions to make a paper chain. On the other side of the page is the one I'm collecting fruit stickers on, and since I didn't want to ruin my collection I opted to use other paper for my paper chain and just stick it on the page.

The other page I chose simply said: .drawkcab etirW or Write backward. And you know me, I couldn't just do a couple of sentences, I did a whole story. And while I'll be the first to admit it was kind of fun, it was also incredibly time consuming. And I couldn't believe I fit the entire story on the two pages.

I apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I had a really good one saved to a folder on my lap top and it disappeared. It was there yesterday afternoon, and when I went to insert it into this post it was gone. Poof! Vanished. So I had to rush a bit to get the new picture. And just because I'm a nice person, I'm posting the backwards story below, followed by the frontwards version. :-D

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ?sasnaK ot yaw eht em llet enoyna nac ,woN

.ma I ereh dna ,ecived gnikcart a dna gnihtolc elbatius htiw dettiftuo saw I .ydob reh ni enob suorutnevda na evah t’nseod ohw ,eM .meht eveirter ot eciohc lacigol eht saw I – sreppils ybur eht dna – sehctiw owt tub ,eno ton tsol ew tluaf ym saw ti yllacinhcet ecniS

.yawateg remmus a sa ydnah ni emoc evah dluow ti ,yllaer emahs a si hcihw ,eltsac s’hctiwtseW fo erac koot sekauqhtrae seires A .seerged net tuoba deppord evah tsum erutarepmet ehT .noisnemid ruo tfel sreppils eht tnemom eht ,esruoc fo ,wenk eW

.seil lla ,seiL ?sreppils eht fo rewop eht tuoba reh dlot ohw eno eht saw I taht ruomur tahT .ytiC dlaremE eht ni kcab saw lrig eht dna nworht neeb ydaerla dah retaw ehT .etal oot saw I tub enevretni ot deirt I .esrow srettam gnikam tsuj ,flesreh sreppils eht eveirter ot deirt dna ,seod yllausu ehs hcihw ,tneitapmi tog hctiwtseW esruoc fO

?seippop fo dleif eht rof sngis eht ees yeht t’ndiD .elbuort rof stengam erew yeht ekil saw ti dnA .tseW tub yaw hcihw yreve levart ot demees yehT .lamsyba saw sdneirf reh dna lrig eht fo noitcerid fo esnes ehT

.ssecorp noitceles eht fo tuo tfel neeb d’eh tespu tsuj saw eh kniht I .tseuq cihtym fo dnik emos otni ti denrut tooc dlo eht ,renwo lufthgir rieht ot sreppils ybur eht reviled ot reh gnillet fo daetsnI .trapa llaf ot detrats lla yllaer ti erehw s’tahT .lrig eht htiw gnola meht tnes eh yhw ylbaborp si hcihw ,sraey rof ssa s’draziw eht ni niap a neeb dah meht fo eerht ehT .noil ygnam a dna ,nam nit ytsur a ,worceracs dlo yttar a – evisserpminu ytterp erew yeht tub ,egaruotne reh pu dekcip lrig eht ,yltcaxe ,nehw wonk t’nod I

.tseW lrig eht dnes draziw eht evah tsuj ot tseisae demees ti os ,ygrene no wol elttil a erew su fo tser ehT .sreppils eht evah dluohs ehs dna tfel hctiw lufrewop tsom eht saw hctiwtseW eht taht dediced saw ti yllanif tub ,slairt dna stset eht hguorht teg ot elihw a su koot tI .eb ot saw renwo wen eht ohw tuo derugif ew elihw elbuort fo tuo reh peek d’eh gnikniht ,ecalp tsrif eht ni ytiC dlaremE eht fo egrahc ni tup neeb evah reven dluohs ohw ,draziw loof taht ot reh tnes neht dna teef s’dlihc eht evael t’ndluoc sreppils eht dedneterp I oS

.meht dellortnoc evah dluoc yeht yaw on saw ereht ,ylf a taws ot rewop hguone esiar t’ndluoc yeht meht fo tol eht neewteb dnA .meht fo yna tif d’yeht hguoht sa ton s’tI ?sreppils ybur eht devresed yeht kniht yeht dluoc woH !snikhcnum eht dnA .ecalp tsrif eht ni ereht gnidnats neeb evah t’ndluow ehs ,snikhcnum yksep esoht gnisaet neeb t’ndah hctiwtsaE fi ,yllaer thgir reh devres tI .dednal esuoh eht nehw )draziw tnetepmocni eno dna( sehctiw evif ot nwod ydaerla erew eW

.lliw ruo ot meht dneb ot ,meht lortnoc ot rewop fo laed taerg a sekat ti dna nwo rieht fo lliw a evah yehT .tneitnes er’yeht – sreppils ybur eht fo terces eht s’ereH .meht gniraew hctiw tsegnorts eht eb ot sah ti dnA .sreppils ybur eht gniraew si ruof eht fo eno fi ylno tub ,ruof htiw enod eb nac tI .gniog zO peek ot sehctiw xis fo rewop eht sekat tI

.flesym fo daeha gnitteg m’I tuB .reh htiw emoh sreppils esoht koot ehs nehw dniheb tfel ehs soahc eht ot derapmoc gnihton si dlrow reh ni detaerc sah dlihc taht soahc ehT .sehctiw ew era emit fo htgnel yna rof meht raew ylefas nac ohw seno ylno ehT .slatrom erem rof tnaem reven erew yehT .sreppils ybur eht tuoba gnihtemos dnatsrednu ot evah uoY

.meht tirehni ot saw ohw no detov su fo tser eht elihw meht raew reh tel ot refas saw ti thguoht tsuj I .emit thgir eht ta ecalp thgir eht ni eb ot deneppah tsuj ehs ,su fo eno saw ehs hguoht sa ton s’tI .meht peek ot tnaem reven saw ehs tub egavlas fo thgir yb sreh erew yehT

tseuQ ehT

The Quest

They were hers by right of salvage but she was never meant to keep them. It’s not as though she was one of us, she just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I just thought it was safer to let her wear them while the rest of us voted on who was to inherit them.

You have to understand something about the ruby slippers. They were never meant for mere mortals. The only ones who can safely wear them for any length of time are we witches. The chaos that child has created in her world is nothing compared to the chaos she left behind when she took those slippers home with her. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It takes the power of six witches to keep Oz going. It can be done with four, but only if one of the four is wearing the ruby slippers. And it has to be the strongest witch wearing them. Here’s the secret of the ruby slippers – they’re sentient. They have a will of their own and it takes a great deal of power to control them, to bend them to our will.

We were already down to five witches (and one incompetent wizard) when the house landed. It served her right really, if Eastwitch hadn’t been teasing those pesky munchkins, she wouldn’t have been standing there in the first place. And the munchkins! How could they think they deserved the ruby slippers? It’s not as though they’d fit any of them. And between the lot of them they couldn’t raise enough power to swat a fly, there was no way they could have controlled them.

So I pretended the slippers couldn’t leave the child’s feet and then sent her to that fool wizard, who should never have been put in charge of the Emerald City in the first place, thinking he’d keep her out of trouble while we figured out who the new owner was to be. It took us a while to get through the tests and trials, but finally it was decided that the Westwitch was the most powerful witch left and she should have the slippers. The rest of us were a little low on energy, so it seemed easiest to just have the wizard send the girl West.

I don’t know when, exactly, the girl picked up her entourage, but they were pretty unimpressive – a ratty old scarecrow, a rusty tin man, and a mangy lion. The three of them had been a pain in the wizard’s ass for years, which is probably why he sent them along with the girl. That’s where it really all started to fall apart. Instead of telling her to deliver the ruby slippers to their rightful owner, the old coot turned it into some kind of mythic quest. I think he was just upset he’d been left out of the selection process.

The sense of direction of the girl and her friends was abysmal. They seemed to travel every which way but West. And it was like they were magnets for trouble. Didn’t they see the signs for the field of poppies?

Of course Westwitch got impatient, which she usually does, and tried to retrieve the slippers herself, just making matters worse. I tried to intervene but I was too late. The water had already been thrown and the girl was back in the Emerald City. That rumour that I was the one who told her about the power of the slippers? Lies, all lies.

We knew, of course, the moment the slippers left our dimension. The temperature must have dropped about ten degrees. A series earthquakes took care of Westwitch’s castle, which is a shame really, it would have come in handy as a summer getaway.

Since technically it was my fault we lost not one, but two witches – and the ruby slippers – I was the logical choice to retrieve them. Me, who doesn’t have an adventurous bone in her body. I was outfitted with suitable clothing and a tracking device, and here I am.

Now, can anyone tell me the way to Kansas?

Wreck This Journal - Week Six

For anyone who's new, you can catch the previous weeks here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4
Week 5

Wrecking a journal can be fun, but it can also be time consuming. I was a little short on time this week, so I picked some easy ones.

First, I found this page:

I didn't want to just rip the page out, that would make it too easy. So I used a craft knife to carefully remove just the cup form, then, as instructed, used some tape to stick it together. You might need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see that I really did fill it with water. It wasn't the most water-tight of vessels, which is why it's sitting propped up in a glass.

This next one was even simpler:

Pretty straight forward, eh? In this next picture my lovely assistance Dante is showing how much fun paper balls can be:

And finally, we come to the last of the easy ones:

Had I thought of it at the time, instead of ripping the page out and making a paper airplane, I should have used different colours of paper and made a bunch of them, then glued them to the page. But I didn't, so I'm stuck with just the one plane. And once again Dante deigned to pose for me. Doesn't he look thrilled?

I don't know if it was the quality of the paper or the design, but this plane is one of the best I've ever flown. :-)

Why not give it a try yourself? Here's a LINK to a website with a bunch of different designs for paper airplanes.

Join me here next week to see how I continue to wreck my journal!

Wreck This Journal - Week Five

For anyone who's new, you can catch the previous weeks here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

As I continue my wrecking journey with my journal, I can't help but notice some of these pages have instructions that are a little hard to document. This one, for instance:

There are all kinds of ways I could pick up my journal without using my hands - use my forearms only, put it on the floor and use my feet, nudge it to the edge of the table and use my mouth - but they don't exactly leave a mark.

And this one:

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of ways to wear my journal - using it as a hat is the most obvious, or put it on a string and wear it like a necklace or as part of a belt. But again, it's not like it's going to leave any evidence, unless I wear it like a hat and get my hair stuck in it. ;-)

And then there's this:

Okay, while I could probably talk someone to take pity on me and buy my journal page, once they've bought it, it's gone.

Obviously these pages are going to require a little more consideration. And I'm open to suggestions - leave me a comment if you can think of anything, please!

All righty then. Next I did a couple of easy pages. The first one I was instructed to glue a random page from a newspaper on it. So I randomly chose a page from the comics.

And another easy one was a page where I was to include my grocery lists. I've been pretty good at throwing them out once I'm done with them lately, so I could only find three of them:

And finally, I came to a page that I was supposed to cover in tape. As you can see, I have some pretty tape available to me, but much to my chagrin it was really, really hard to cut into shapes. Especially the duct tape. It kept sticking to the scissors and leaving a residue behind. So while the picture is sort of like I wanted, the execution left a lot to be desired.

And that's it for this week. Join me next week as I continue to wreck my journal.

Wreck This Journal - Week 4

For anyone who's new, you can catch the previous weeks here:
Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

As fun as it is to wreck a journal, it's also a little time consuming. So I only managed three pages this week.

First I was instructed to trace my toes. Sounded simple enough, but I found it really hard to get the pen between my baby toes. And then I wanted to be a little more creative, but it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted.

The next page I did, I was instructed to do some rubbings with a pencil. It didn't specify that it had to be a lead pencil, so I used pencil crayons instead. The first thing I learned was, the pages of this journal are a little too thick to use for effective rubbings. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have used a lighter weight paper and then glued it into the book. Oh well.

The purple rubbing is of carved box I have on my dresser. While you can definitely see that it's a rubbing, the thickness of the paper makes the image a little hard to make out. It's supposed to be two dragons facing each other, but it doesn't really show up well in the rubbing. The dragons are a little hard to make out on the box itself, so it's no wonder it didn't translate well.

The other rubbing I did using a small candy tin I have on one of my bookcases that's full of white sand from a beach in the Bahamas. You can sort of make out the ship from it. The water below it turned out really well. For that I rubbed over the scales of one of my dragons. It was a little awkward, but it worked.

And finally, I was instructed to drip something on the page and then close the book to make a print. I decided paint would make the best print, and I dribbled a pretty design but apparently I was a little heavy handed on the metallic paint because it turned out a little blobby.

Once again, hindsight is 20/20. I should have added another colour or two to spiff it up.

That's it for this week. Join me next week as I continue to wreck my journal. :-D

Wreck This Journal - Week Three

It was pointed out to me last week that I was mistaken. I thought you were supposed to wreck the pages in order, but apparently the order doesn't matter. This makes it a little more fun 'cause now I get to pick and choose. ;-)

So . . . last week I mentioned that I tried the page where you're supposed to stand on the page, or wipe your feet on it or jump up and down on it, and it didn't really work out well for me. So this week I had the bright idea of painting the sole of my shoe first. It left a great print, but what wasn't so great was getting the paint off my shoe afterwards. Oops!

The next page I tried was kind of fun. There were a half dozen large dots scattered over two pages and the instructions were for me to close my eyes and connect them from memory. I didn't do too badly either. Well, all except for that last one. LOL

Another fun page to do was to create a nonstop line over two pages. If you squint you can see the places where I had to stop and sharpen my pencil.

And finally, I came to a page where I was instructed to doodle all over it. I think I'm going to have to pick up a set of coloured pens for pages like this because the pencil crayon doesn't show up very well.

Join me here next week as I continue to wreck my journal!

Wreck This Journal - Week Two

If you missed the beginning of this series, you can find it HERE.

Nowhere in the instructions for this journal does it mention how often you're supposed to wreck a page, so I've actually only been working in it a couple of times a week. And although I'm trying to do these pages in order, I did miss one for this week's post. The instructions were to step on or jump up and down on the page, and I did do this, but because we've got so much snow my shoes were only wet, not dirty, so it didn't really show up well. So I'm going to try something else with it this week to post next week. :-D

So, first up, you can probably read the instructions on the page yourself, but they were to Pour, spill, drip, spit, fling your coffee here. So I dipped my fingers in my coffee and dribbled it over the pages, then I set my mug down on the pages where it left one satisfying ring and one kind of faint ring.

The other page I did instructed me to poke holes in it.

But honestly, that made for a boring page, so I decided to get a little creative and turned the holes into flowers.

Okay, so maybe I'm not a great artist, but at least it's a little more colourful. :-D

And that's it for this week. I'll be back next Wednesday with more wrecked pages from my journal.

Wreck This Journal - Week One

As I mentioned in my post on Monday, I bought my daughter and I copies of Wreck This Journal for Valentine's Day. And then I decided to share the fun I have with mine on my Wednesday posts. So first, we'll start with a picture of the journal, just so we have a record of what it looks like as I start:

There's a lot of fun instructions inside this thing and one of the first things it tells you is that you don't have to follow the instructions in order.

I have to admit, since I only got this journal on the weekend, I haven't got very far in it. So far I've done this page:

and these pages:

And let me tell you, cracking the spine on this thing was not an easy task for me. First of all, it was the principle of the thing. I do not crack the spines of my books. Ever. I have books I've read that look like they're still brand new because their spines are intact.

The second reason this was not an easy task for me was . . . it was not an easy task. I don't know what they used to glue this book together, but it's pretty darned solid. But I did manage one good crack right down the middle. I may have shed a little tear when I did so. ;-)

I can't wait to see what the journal has in store for me this week!