Yummy new background papers

Since I'm getting close to finishing my first art journal, I figured it's not too early to start thinking about journal #2. At first I assumed I'd just start another composition notebook, but the flimsy paper is a little bit limiting. So I thought I'd try making my own. Yesterday, I stopped at Kinko's to find some highly recommended Wausau 140# exact index cardstock (in fact, it's the ONLY paper that Kelly Kilmer uses for her journals!) Others have said they were able to get it at their local Kinko's, but the employees here had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Didn't even recognize the Wausau name ... which doesn't really make sense to me since lots of varieties of Wausau paper are available through their website, so I would think they'd have at least heard of it (but what do I know, I'm just a customer, right?)

Anyways, since I was there, I browsed through their paper sample book and chose to get 10 sheets of another nice cardstock (roughly 90# I think) to play with. I bought the 11x17 size because I was originally planning to fold them and bind them into a journal, but on the way home I started thinking again (dangerous, I know!) I usually work in 2-page spreads, but I want to challenge myself to work with single pages and not worry about whether the facing pages "go together". So I decided to cut them in half and journal on the single pages (I plan to have them bound after they are done). So after dinner, I cut them up and got ready to play with my 40 new pages!

I got my paints out and started doing the paint scraping technique ... just doing page after page until it was time to get the kids to bed (they had fun helping me pick out color combos to try for the next one, and the next one ....) All told, I did 11 pages this way. Then this morning, I took several more page and played with my watercolor crayons, and I also did the backside of several of the paint scraped ones. Fun, fun, fun!!

Next I plan to paint a few backgrounds with a paintbrush (I love the texture of paint strokes). My goal is to have each piece of paper have each side done with a different technique ... I'd like to have a couple more background techniques to use for even more variety, but not sure what else to do. I'm thinking about a technique Nance describes in her archives (using crayons and colored pencils), but I can't tell if this can be written on. I think I'll go to her blog after this post is finished and ask. If you have any other ideas for backgrounds for my journal, please leave a comment (and if there's a tutorial out there, too, a link would be awesome!)

Oh, and another thought I had ... since I will be working with loose sheets of paper, I will also start another composition notebook for when I'm out and about ... I love having a journal with me for those unexpected moments of free time. Yes, it is OKAY to have more than one journal going at a time LOL! Maybe I'll name them Thing 1 and Thing 2 ....