|
May be helpful... (Recovery Journal)
I don't really have substance abuse problems, I have occasionally in the past but my main thing is SH. I've recently made friends with a wonderful girl who is bipolar and also has substance abuse problems... I'm artistic and always create my own journals, so I put together a book for her. This not only will hopefully be helpful for her, but it also really helped as a good distraction for me in the evenings and had helped to keep me from harming myself.
So, even if you're not artistic, it doesn't matter. You can try this yourself if you think it is a good idea as a distraction and to help with progress and such!
I wish I had pictures of it, but didn't take any... I will ask her if she will mind me taking some pictures and then if she doesn't I will post them ;)
How to Make the Recovery Journal:
I started with two pieces of cardboard that are precut to 8 1/2 X 11 (standard paper size). If you can't find it, you can use a large cereal box and cut it into whatever size you'd like.
I painted with water colour paints (because that's all I have, but I suggest using oil based or acrylics because you won't get the same problem I did when I applied the water based glue!!). My friend is very bubbly and love rainbows, so I painted a rainbow on the back and front cover (ROY G BIV!). Of course, you can do whatever you want to decorate it! Be as creative as possible!
I wrote a bunch of inspirational quotes (some about substance abuse, others just about life and what not) and put them on different coloured paper and cut them out in different shapes and pasted them to the back cover. I also cut out a bunch of purple hearts and put them all over the back.
On the front I pasted a tag with my friends name on it (used different scrapbooking letters (stickers)). I also pasted on a large colourful flower my sister had made (she's also very crafty and always makes me odds and ends for scrapbooking). I sewed a big yellow button on the front near the edge.
To bind it I used duct tape, and then glued on different coloured plastic (if you have different coloured duct tape that would probably work better... but I only had gray).
Inside I used regular loose leaf paper for the blank pages but also made several other pages...
On the inside covers I glued scrapbooking paper that is purple with stars all over it. On the front inside cover I pasted an envelope that I had painted rainbow colours. This envelope is to keep stars in (she has gold stars she got with the intention to keep track of her sober days). I had made a small calendar on the computer and printed off for June - December. I pasted June on the inside cover and then there are several black cardstock pages that I pasted the other months on (two on each page). I decorated each page according to the time of year (lots of white and blue ribbon and some silver mesh stuff on November and December, etc.). At the back of the book I used more black cardstock and had printed off the big distraction list from RYL onto label stickers. I made sure they were really colourful and stuck them to the pages sporadically (they took up two pages - one double sided and one side of another.) I then put a bunch of blank labels on the other side of the last page and put a note for her to write her own distractions in it!
Next I printed off some silly pictures from LOLcats (my friend loves cats!) - also on the labels so this creates a scattered and artistic look to the pictures) and put them over a few pages on the black cardstock.
The last page I had taken a picture from my friends Facebook and edited it in Photoshop so that it stands out more and the outsides fade to black to match the black cardstock. I pasted this in the center of the page and cut out letters at the top to spell out "I Am". I printed more labels and made them match the rainbow theme and scattered them around the picture of my friend (so that they're coming out of the picture basically). I made a little note for her to write positive things about herself, and started her off with "Beautiful" "Charismatic" and "Kind".
The inside of the back page I took the cover from a bunch of Thank You cards I have that have a picture of a dog holding a sign that says "Thank You"... I stuck a sticker (scrapbooking; I have TONS of dog related scrapbooking stuff...) that says "To err is human; to forgive is canine" on the bottom of the card. I glued the inside of the card (which is blank) below it and wrote "I am thankful for..." and left the rest blank for her to fill out.
I used heavy, colourful thread and a thick needle and sewed all the pages and cover together to bind it.
Last finishing touch was a piece of rainbow cloth from a sock that I glued the edges to prevent fraying and sewed one end onto the back and cut a hole in the other end so that the button on the front page fits in to keep the book closed.
Of course, you can do WHATEVER you want in it! These are just some ideas and an example. Be as creative as possible in making your Recovery Progress Journal!
I'd love to see what other people can make!
I'm also thinking of making one for myself, for my SH. But may wait a bit because my boyfriend is enjoying being able to eat at the dining room table again without being covered in crafts LOL
|
