TNW-Nature Journal

I have been thinking about a nature journal swap for a while, and finally decided to give it a go! This is going to be a more time/labour/love intensive swap, and because we are swapping an actual journal it may be slightly more expensive to post. I really don’t want to put anyone off, but thought it a good idea to make that all clear right at the top!!

So, you are going to make a nature themed journal for your partner.

You should preferably make a journal, but shop bought would be acceptable. It should be approximately A5 size (15x21cm, 5.8x8.3 inches) this does not have to be exact, but it should not be much smaller.

You should decorate both the front and back covers in a nature related theme of your choice. Then you should create at least 10 themed pages based on the themes listed below. You can of course add more pages if you would like. Now for a small twist...... on at least 5 of the pages you should add some type of pocket, or envie and add a small item in the theme of the page. So if the page is flower themed, in the pocket you could put a small flower charm, or a dried flower, or a few stickers, some washi tape. Actual nature/found items are, of course, welcome (shells, pebbles) but you should check if there are any postal restrictions for the country you are sending to. If in any doubt, stick to the side of caution. The last thing we want is for all your hard work to fall into the hands of customs! Also, I can’t imagine that anyone in this group would do this, but absolutely no actual animal parts (I recently looked at Seahorse jewellery on Etsy and there were necklaces made of actual dried seahorses – it made me cry) On the back of each page you can add a short note as to your inspiration for the page, but that is not an actual swap requirement.

How you produce the pages is completely up to you - you could paint, draw, use digital images, magazine clippings, use stickers (minimal), collage, or a combination of all! The pages can have embellishments added, charms or dangles attached, fibres used etc.

Finally, make sure your journal is packaged securely, and post it off! As this is a fairly time intensive swap I am going to allow a bit more time, but if anyone feels that the timeframe is not long enough, please let me know before the swap sign up date, and I will consider extending it. Once partners have been assigned, the send by date will not be altered.

I think I have covered everything, but any questions please comment below or PM me.

The themes to choose from are;-

Trees

Woodland creatures

Birds

Birds of prey

Fungi

Constellations

The moon

Weather

Flowers

Sea creatures

Things you grow

Animals native to your country

Extinct creatures

Insects

Big cats

Reptiles

Invertebrates

Something with a horn

Dinosaurs

A page of your choice.

Some of the themes do cross over, but they can be interpreted differently (for example, dinosaurs have their own theme, but they also come under extinct creatures, so you could do a dinosaur page, but also a Great Auk for an extinct creature page – google it they were really cute!)

Wow, I think this is the longest swap description I have written!