IFJM Wrap-up

I’ve toyed with being a child for IFJM month several times, but always talked myself out of it – but the idea kept resurfacing.   It was so funny that my sister Joan decided to be a kid this year also.  As I stated before we began,  I haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up, so I thoroughly enjoyed being and thinking like a 10-year-old for a month.  Actually, the thinking wasn’t too difficult – I still think that  way a lot of the time.   And I really got into the dialogue – and the writing.  LOL!   I had a lot of fun tilting my letters  and misspelling words. 

I kept my goal simple – to enjoy myself.  I tend to start things and not follow through, so it had to be fun or I wouldn’t stick with it.  (10 year old thinking???) I knew from having 11 grandchildren that kids like to use markers, and as a rule, they jump right in without preparation or reference photos.  The real me sneaked in a few times and used some reference material, but I tried to keep it as natural and spontaneous as possible.  I liked using markers, and I think I will continue to use them occasionally.  They are simple and portable, and worked well in the Strathmore Visual  Journal with the Bristol pages.  I don’t remember having markers when I was a kid – I guess my childhood predated them. 

I wanted to keep a similar format for each page – and since kids sometimes stick to “rules”  the visiting artist in the first post showed them to “draw something, write stuff, and make a border”, and this is what I/she did.  

I only missed one day.  I had an emergency root canal, and was on pain meds that made me groggy.  I could have just made it up on another day, but…..chose not to. 

I loved following the other artists’ journals.  Such widely different, original, creative ideas, and they pulled them off so well.  I looked forward to seeing what they came up with each day.  This was my 7^th year participating in IFJM (I counted them, and I think it is 7 for you too, Joan),and it’s always a lot of fun, and sometimes a lot of work too.  Thanks, Roz, for “inventing” this fun yearly journaling party, and inviting us all to join in.

April 30

This is the last day of the 2017 IFJM journal.  I enjoyed being a 10 year-old, just as I knew I would.
This page was dedicated to my daughter, Karen, who ran her first marathon today.  I hope there were some smiling kids giving out water for her and her fellow runners. 

April 29

April 28

April 26 and 27

April 24

April 22 and 23

April 21

April 20

April 19

April 18

April 17

April 15 and 16

I did the tulip page with my 3 year old granddaughter, Mary, hanging on to my legs, borrowing my markers, and asking a lot of "why" questions.  ☺

April 12

April 11

Day 10

The first time I saw that Giant Blue Whale, I was about 4 or 5 years old.  It was the thing I remembered most from my museum visits.  So, of course, my young alter-ego would find it fascinating too. 

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 2

I just noticed that I already missed the detail that "yesterday" was Saturday, so Miss Jones would not have seen any misspellings yet.

Day 1 - A Big Step Back in Time - IFJM 2017

I just turned 72 a few days ago - but I've been known to say that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up yet.  Everyone laughs, but I'm not so sure that I'm joking.  So for IFJM this year, I'm becoming a 10-year-old.  I've noticed that my grandkids prefer using markers to the crayons that I grew up with, so (details) my medium will be markers, although who knows, maybe Crayolas will make an occasional appearance too.  I'm using a Strathmore Visual Journal.  My first choice was a typical lined student notebook (details), but it seems that markers leak through too much to the next page, and even as a 10-year-old I wouldn't have liked that.

Okay, let's play!