5x7 journal pages: "same and different"

Sort of like the 'one of these things is not like the other' segment on Sesame Street, I analyzed the pages I included below and picked out their similarities and differences. 

Same: overall color scheme, yellow + pink. I've been using a lot of these colors in this journal, prompted both by the colors of the Dylusions spray inks I used on the backgrounds, and also by the bright colors of the Arizona summer landscape. 

sparrow journal page

Same: overall page construction = colored background + collaged paper + images (from the internet or magazine) + details. Most of my pages have this overall 'page scheme' to them; it's just a matter of degrees- either more or less of any one (or more than one) of these elements. I rarely use a white background, and I very rarely make a page without collaging at least something onto the page.

Same: all these pages have some sort of Sakura pen on: gelly roll, fluorescent, or glaze... I can't seem to make any pages right now without using them somewhere! darn you, Kelly Kilmer, for getting me addicted- lol!! (by the way, that link goes to Kelly's post on her pen list- great info!!)

yellow rose and graffiti flower-
facing pages in my 5x7 journal

Same: nature themed focal images. My overall 'journaling style' has moved away from using images of people (although I will occasionally still use an image of a person) to using focal images from nature, either birds, butterflies, plants, or flowers. I know some journalers use the 'person' image to represent themselves, but I never felt like that worked for me. Since I've always felt connected to nature, using these images on my pages is more my style.

Different: to me, the bird page has a calmer feel to it. The flower pages feel more 'energetic' to me, both because of the number of colors on the pages, but also the amount and type of patterns I put onto them- the graffiti flower page has quite a bit of scribble-type details on, as well as a more graphic pattern of paper (the zebra-ish pattern was a rug advertisement out of a home decor magazine). In addition, on the bird page I only used one type of black pen for the journaling, whereas on the other pages, there's more than one color / type of pen used. This difference depends on how I'm feeling when I make the pages (good mood or bad), and/or how much time I want- or have-to devote to the small details.

close-up look at the pen details on
the graffiti image from right-hand page-
white Signo pen and gelly roll pens

Different: the bird page is a bit simpler, with less layers overall. It's basically just  stenciled with two colors of spray ink, narrow strips of collaged paper on the edges, small patterned paper shapes (the circles) and the focal image. On the other hand, the two flower pages started with a much 'busier' background that included more colors, and even some gesso and stamping. Even though there's not really any more collaged onto the backgrounds of these pages, they have more pen details (which I consider another 'layer' on the page) including on the yellow rose and on the patterned paper medallions, the 'scribbled' frame on the right-hand page, on the blue deco tape, and in the graffiti flower focal image. (Again, this can depend on my mood and the amount of time I have available. But it also depends on just how 'finished' I think the page looks; it's hard to explain.)

Same: I'm still having fun with this journal! Right now, I really like the size: 5x7 is large enough to allow a decent amount of room for images and writing, but not large enough to be intimidating. Also, the paper it's made of can stand up to a decent amount of different media being used on it- so far, the only medium I haven't used in it yet is acrylic. (I guess I need to change that, and pull out my acrylic paints!) 
I'm close to completing this particular journal, and I'm getting excited at the prospect of actually completely 'finishing' a journal in such a short amount of time (I only started this book in late June)... and that means I'll have to choose which one to work in next!