Journal Jar How-To

So I originally got the idea to make a Journal Jar from my friend Ashley, who made one for her grandmother. I honestly hadn't heard of the concept of making a jar for journaling, so I was pretty intrigued. A Journal Jar doesn't even have to be a jar, I suppose... It can be any sort of container or vessel that you use to hold questions and journal prompts that can be pulled out at random and used in a journal.

I thought this would be just the perfect gift for my grandmother! She will be able to use it to record her life story, and really anything additional she wants to add- photos, newspaper clippings, magazine articles... Whatever! It will also be such a treasure when she completes it.

I'd love to share the process of how I made the Journal Jar for my grandmother!



To begin, as with any project, I gathered all the supplies I would need. Scissors, Mod Podge, some scraps of paper, stamps, any random embellishments I thought I might use. Also, not pictured, I used a hot glue gun for securing the buttons to the jar. Oh, and most importantly, you will need to choose the container you would like to use. We have a plethora of old mason jars that I love, so I chose to use one for this project.


Then, I made a label for the jar. I chose a large-ish scrap of paper for the main piece. I then added the sort of imprinted waxy paper to the top using a glue stick. I played around with the design for the rest of the label, using some more paper scraps, stamping, and a few buttons. Be creative! There is no right or wrong method for this, really! =) You'll then need to attach your label to the jar. I used some Mod Podge and a paint brush for this.


To add a little more detail to the jar, I traced the inner part of the lid onto the same paper I used for the label and cut that part out.


I found this poem that is popular on a lot of the journal jars I have seen. It's just sort of an introduction to what the journaling process is all about. I punched a hole in the corner and attached it to the jar using some brown string.

Then, the most important part! You'll need to type up the questions and journal prompts with which you will fill your Journal Jar! I came up with a lot on my own, and did a search on Google to find more ideas. There are tons out there! You can just search for 'journal jar prompts', for example, or 'journal jar prompts for grandparents/parents/kids/etc...' The possibilities are endless! After you've typed them all up, you'll want to print them out. I just used standard printer paper for this and a good old pair of scissors. It took forever, but I just kept telling myself it was a labor of love! =) It might be a good idea to use a guillotine cutter or any other paper cutter you have to make the process a bit faster...




You'll also want to make or purchase a journal to go along with your Journal Jar! This was another fun part of the process, choosing a journal I thought would suit my grandmother well!

The prompts can either be pasted into the journal, or written in by hand. Whatever works for you or the person you are gifting this to!


Let me know if you decide to make a Journal Jar for yourself or for a gift! I would love to see what you do with this project!

hello, March

I think a selfie is a great way to start a month, so here's mine!


A note about each goal...

-I have sort of been in a creative rut for quite some time, and I am SO ready to get out of it. I am planning to surround myself in inspiration in order to do this! It's already working, which I could not be more excited about!

-Happiness is most certainly a choice, and I am definitely going to make it a point to think more positively!

-I have been taking a lot of photos on my iPhone lately, which is great. I am happy that I am taking photos at all, I just really want to bust out my big camera for more than just paid shoots again, ya know?

-I am SUCH a night owl. Seriously. I really need to make the effort to go to bed and wake up maybe at least an hour earlier each day? (Even though as of March 3 at 3:38 am this is not working... I guess I'm going to really need to work at this one! ;)

What are your goals for this lion and lamb month they call March? I'd love to hear about them in the comments! =)

Also, my 'picture taking' face is kind of hilarious. I never realized I got all scrunched on one side to take photos! Silly.

Project Life: Week Eight

So we have arrived at the end of week eight! Wow. Time has been flying!!

A super highlight for me this week was purchasing a new printer! In the past I printed my pictures at Walmart every Sunday and had to go pick them up... Not to mention the quality really isn't anything to write home about. It has been soo much easier to print my photos at home for this week!


This is the first week so far that I have added an extra insert between this week's layout pages. There were just too many good memories from the monster truck show we took my cousins to, so I really wanted to be able to showcase them all!


More monster truck memories, and of course our tickets! They were gifted to us by my aunt and uncle. We are so very blessed to have such loving family members!


Another note from my love! Wednesday was one of my best friend's birthdays, so I spent the day with her and her daughter. We had lunch at our favorite place, Applebee's, of course. Then we did some shopping. It really was a fun day, and I was really happy to be able to spend the day with them!

I snapped a photo of myself while driving, just for fun I suppose! I actually really like the way it came out.

Middle of the week date nights are always fun! Sometimes we are so busy doing our own things that we really don't have time to reconnect until the weekend, so this was a really nice treat. As you may be able to tell, I am loving the grid journaling cards! I used a red arrow sticker that also came in my PL kit and just wrote about our night on the card. I have been using Bic Mark It ultra fine point permanent markers for the vast majority of my journaling for this project. I love the fine point as opposed to a regular sized marker, but I also love that the line is thicker than a normal pen. For the picture of the movie, I snapped a shot of the cover and I just printed it out at the 3x4 size of the smaller slots in the page protector.

This is the first week that I did journaling on the actual photos, whether it be stapled, stickered, or even written directly on the photos... And I love love love it. I don't know why I didn't before. This is also the first week I have used photos in the smaller slots, and I think it's a great option! Love discovering new things!

Onto week NINE!

Want to try Project Life for yourself? You can find out more info here!

Project Life: Week Seven

Week seven has been full of friends, family, and love! (And food! Hahaha)

Anyways. We started the week off on Monday with our Valentines' date! We went on Monday because I had to work late on Tuesday. We ate a delicious meal at Olive Garden, and then saw The Vow. It was such a sweet movie! Although full of tear jerker moments for me! I highly recommend it! I love doing the photobooth at the movie theater, and Chris is always sweet enough to oblige me!


I absolutely adore when Chris leaves me little love notes, and I almost always save them! What better place to keep them than Project Life?? Friday was another dinner date at our favorite pub type place. I am head over heels for their Mediterranean Spinach Dip. If I only ate that and no dinner, my taste buds would be so content. Seriously.


I wanted to share a little bit about how I made this little Valentines' Day card. I wrote the words 'Happy Valentines' Day in red Sharpie on a grid journaling card from my PL kit. I then used my typewriter stamps to stamp out the word 'love'. I got the lighter word simply by stamping each stamp a second time. I added the date and 'be mine.' around the outer edge of the card using a fine tip Sharpie pen. Pretty simple, huh!


I have been adding these sort of caption cards to the end of each week in order to explain the photos, and while I've liked it so far, I'd like to try adding small amounts of journaling to the actual photos themselves and do away with the caption card altogether. So I think I will go ahead and do that for next week!

Want to try Project Life for yourself? You can find out more info here!

Project Life: Week Six

This week started out with a birthday party! Always a fun way to begin a week, I think!


I honestly didn't take a lot of pictures or do a lot of journaling, so I guess this week is kind of more a look at our weekend, and I think that is okay. =)



We had a pretty busy Friday, so I used some of the little 'fri' stickers from my kit and a grid journaling card to highlight that.


The week started on a sweet note, with cake, and ended on one, too! With chocolate covered strawberries!

Want to try Project Life for yourself? You can find out more info here!

Project Life: Week Five

We've been just hanging out at home this past week, just kind of getting into the routine of life together.


Our living room furniture didn't get delivered until the middle of the week, so we had our tv and everything set up in our bedroom. I even found my good old Super Nintendo in packing up my bedroom at my grandmother's house!! So we have been playing a lot of Mario and Donkey Kong around here! So fun.


Want to try project life for yourself? You can find out more info here!

Project Life: Week Four

Week four was moving week! We spent a lot of time sorting, packing, and loading up the vehicles for the move to our new apartment!


Even though we were super busy, we still took time to hang out with loved ones. We spent an afternoon with my little cousins and we treated them to milkshakes! We were all kind of bummed the shamrock shake hasn't come out yet at McDonald's... Oh well. Soon enough!

Our first dinner at the new place was... Wait for it... Fish fillets and french fries, both done in the oven. I know, I am such a gourmet! ;)

You can also see a view of our apartment! It's a ranch style, so it's one level, no upstairs or downstairs. We have our own private entry. And on the right there, you can see our little patio! Can't wait to spend time out there hanging out and grilling once it gets warmer!!


His timing is perfect. And it truly is! I have had a car ready to sell/be junked since like LAST YEAR. It has literally just been sitting around behind the garage at my grandmother's house. So finally I decide to call up the junk yard and take it in. It couldn't have been a more perfect time because we can definitely use the money for furniture in the new place! I journaled about that on the back of this card.


Wrote this after our first grocery shopping trip together... We were pretty surprised at how little we actually got for this amount. We are most definitely going to try a different grocery store next time!

On to Week FIVE!

Want to try Project Life for yourself? You can find out more info here!