Friday, November 14, 2008

"Out of the Darkness" Notebook

Last night, I spent a couple hours doing something I haven't done in over a year -- I collaged a notebook for myself. Although I won't be selling it in my shop, I wanted to share pics of it, because I love it sooooo much.

I'm hoping to go to a couple of NaNoWriMo write-ins this month, and I wanted something new and groovy to write in while I'm there. I watched The Princess Bride last weekend, and while I watched it, I remembered I had clipped an ad for the special edition dvd once. If I'm tossing a magazine, I go through it and cut out everything I think I might want to use in a collage someday. That way I don't have to keep a closetful of magazines around, but I don't lose cool pictures or words.

So I got out my clipped pictures and a fresh notebook and got started. I decided to make the words on the Princess Bride ad the theme for my collage, and found other movie couples to go with it, like Roux and Vianne from Chocolat, Paula and Charles from Random Harvest, Satine and Christian from Moulin Rouge!, and Rudolph Valentino by himself, just because he's Rudolph Valentino and I lurve him. And really, he's still a pretty major symbol of love, eighty-two years after his death.

I continued the theme on the back, with the quintessential movie lovers, Rick and Ilsa from Casablanca, taking center stage. I added Inman and Ada from Cold Mountain and Jane and Eddie from Someone Like You, and then I started searching for some words for the back. Words can make or break a collage, and I narrowed it down to four possibilities from my clippings before I finally decided on the phrase "Out of the Darkness." I like it because it works on lots of levels -- finding love can bring people out of their own personal darkness; movie images come at us out of the darkness of the movie theater; we create stories out of the dark nothing of our imaginations.

So there you have it, my new favorite notebook. Sorry I won't be offering it for sale, but if you really like it, you can contact me here or on my shop and we can discuss me collaging something similar for you. I can't wait to start using mine -- hopefully at the write-in tomorrow!

Oh, and if you're wondering what NaNoWriMo is, or what a write-in is, I'll explain quickly. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, a world-wide challenge to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. Write-ins are get-togethers for participants in specific areas to meet up in a public place and write together. For more info, visit my writing blog and NaNoWriMo.org.

11 comments:

  1. What a wonderful blog! I love notebooks and journals!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! I'm glad you dig it :-) And I agree -- I can never have enough notebooks and journals!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post! I love your pictures, especially Casablanca and Princess Bride (two of my favorite movies).

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this one! Who can resist Johnny Depp? Very romantic. Have fun at your write ins.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Lissa! And yeah, those are two of the greatest movies evah!

    And thanks to you too, Knitsational! I did make it to the write-in last week, though only got to stay briefly cuz I had to take Daniel along and he was antsy. But I'm hoping to do one more yet this month. As for His Johnnyness... thanks for introducing me to him oh so long ago!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh I love your notebook...how creative! :)

    Can you make me one all covered with Dana Andrews? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, Ginger, I'm not sure I have enough pictures of Dana to cover a notebook... I used to have a bunch, but I used most of them on a journal I gave Deborah Koren a couple years ago.

    But if you'd like, I could make you a Classic Hollywood journal, using any pics of Dana I have left, and then stuff from other classic films. If you're interested, let me know here or contact me at my shop.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ah, I should have known...if anyone else in the world requested a Dana Andrews journal, of course it was dKoren. ;)

    Do the photos have to be physical photos you own, or can they start out as digital? If the latter, I could always replenish your stock of Dana.

    But now that my little obsession with him is kinda over, it wouldn't have to be a Dana journal exclusively: how about one of just 'Ginger's sexy leading men in general'? :)

    Either way, it can wait til after Christmas. By then, who knows what men I'll be in love with! ;)

    Plus with a kid, I know you must be busy. I'll remind you after New Years. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hee, DKoren didn't request it, it was a birthday present from me -- I'm somewhat responsible for her discovering her love for Dana.

    I do have lots and lots of pics of Dana on my computer (I've got a thang for him myself), but I've found that if I print a picture out on paper and then glue it to something, it turns slightly pink. No clue why it does that.

    How about you send me a list of your fave classic Hollywood guys, and I see who all I have pics of in my files. Then we can discuss what size journal you want, if you want any particular themes depending on what pics I dig up, etc. Once I have pics to choose from, and maybe a theme of some sort, it shouldn't take too long to make the collages. Sound good?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sounds good! :)

    I'll set you up with a list soon...

    What all sizes do you have?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ginger, I have four journal/notebook sizes right now:

    Mini-notebooks, which would be 4 1/2" x 3 1/2", with 80 ruled sheets (160 pages) inside. (Example: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16976784). $5 + $2 S&H.

    Thread-bound journals, which are 7" x 5", with 60 unlined sheets (120 pages) inside. (Example: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18407788) $12 + $3 S&H.

    Regular-bound journals, which are 7" x 4 1/2", with 50 lined sheets (100 pages) inside. $12 + $3 S&H.

    Composition-style notebooks, with a rounded binding (not spiral), which are 9 3/4" x 7 1/2", with 90 ruled sheets (180 pages) inside. $18 + $5 S&H.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! Stay and chat, won't you?