Don't Panic

As promised yesterday, here is my CJ entry for my Circle Journal on Defining Songs. My defining song is Don't Panic by Coldplay - if you haven't heard it, type it into Youtube, its a great tune. Their album parachutes was out in my first year at Warwick University in 2000 and everyone loved it. However the first song on the album particularly spoke to me at the time with its message that we all have somebody to turn to even when it feels like the world is closing in on you. In your first few months away from home, despite the excitement, it can sometimes feel really overwhelming with just too much happening at once. When I felt like this, I used to sit in my dorm room and put this song on and it kind of reminded me that I wasn't alone - I had all my friends and family on the other end of the phone.

I decided to use Basic Grey Gypsy papers for this one. I had picked up a couple of sheets at a class last week and I especially like the Hippy paper because you can cut out all sorts of stylised flowers from it to decorate your pages. It also has quite a busy feel which was appropriate to my theme.

I wanted to make the entry a bit interactive so I decided to make two wavy flaps to lift up. Underneath is most of the journalling and a collage of all sorts of images that remind me of my first year at university. These include posters I had on my wall, films I saw, music I was listening to and even a few photos of me and my friends. I haven't really done this sort of thing since I was younger and working on my Design Technology GCSE! So it was great that the Circle Journal gave me an opportunity to do something a bit different from a traditional layout. The lettering on the flaps is handcut using Georgia font from another piece of the Gypsy paper.

Now I have to post my journal to the next recipient, Coventry Ann. Its going to be quite hard to let it go after all the work I have put in but I am already looking forward to getting it back with all the entries in in 10 months time. And in the next few days I should be receiving someone else's book to work on too, so plenty to keep me occupied.