'Ya Don't Tug on Superman's Cape ...'

'ya don't spit into the wind
ya don't pull the mask off the Ole Lone Ranger,
& ya don't mess around with Jim'.
**Jim Croce, of course**

Heard this song coming home from work last night, wrote it in my journal, then dreamed it, so while it has veritably nothing to do with this post, I wanted to share. Do you all have it in your brain now? (Hey, it could be worse, I coulda done like Double BB does to me, waking me up with TV theme songs, especially Green Acres -- then I go about humming the thing all day!!)

Yes, of COURSE I've been journaling since I got back -- started a brand new journal, in fact, upon my return -- talk about grand timing there! What will all the England picture posting (and I'm not done yet), journal backgrounds kinda got pushed to the side. I've missed posting them, though, and since I'm under an entire barrage of new ideas/influences/techniques, I decided to make them my focus this morning. Later this morning, My Lovely Mother and I are going gallivanting - our first escapade since our return -- moseying through such as Pottery Barn and Borders, lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and much much kvetching about jobs (mine AND hers). We've both 'had a week' and she called a lunch forum. From Anthropologie -- this photo kicked off my call for kitchen pics - just wanted to share. Many many pages done like this in the last few weeks, under the 'England' influence, using my own photos as the basis and accents. Does everyone else already know about this blog? Be ... Dream ... Play ... because I didn't, until I saw it linked on Beth's sidebar and went exploring. Elizabeth Bunsen is her name, EB; she is my new journal page inspiration of all inspirations -- she does exactly what I have been trying trying trying to do -- a delicious, colorful, exuberant melding of visuals with words, and photographs to make my CRY!!! with response ... all I can say is GO LOOK: here. and here. and here. So last night I did a serious attempt at modeling my layout after her pages. Side 2. Long way to go, but I GET it, how a single word or phrase is enough, just like in my travel journal from England. All images from an Anthropologie catalog. Glue down images, sand entire page, then Bombay ink color washes. Love the etched, aged feeling I get doing that. My new obsession: color blocks, with an image peeking through. This is an exercise designed by Juliana Coles, to use 'repetition' in images (sizes, the image itself), to create visual journal pages reflective of somethin' goin' on in me. I used a few images of myself, and several others I already had punched out. Side 2, larger images but still repetitive in size. I did this exercise in my current journal, but I think I'll separate them into another book going forward.

I'm off to peruse EB's blog a WHOLE lot more/longer ... it's a place in which to get lost, true story!