Today Kara is going to share a beautiful art journal that captures one of the beautiful things about her hometown. Enjoy...

I live in a rainy, rainy city (Portland, Oregon) and I wanted a way to record all these lovely (and not so lovely) rainy days. So, I created a Rain Diary. The idea is simple.... Find a piece of scrap paper, run out into the rain, and capture a few droplets. Journal a few thoughts, date it, and you are now on your way toward having a Rain Diary! Here is a tutorial on how I created the book that holds my rain collection.

Now let's put the book together! 1. I decided to use an Instax Wide picture on my cover, so I hand-cut a few rain drops from Hambly Screenprints paper and taped them to my wall before snapping a picture. The photo was a little more boring than I wanted, so I decided to draw the edges on with a pen and scribble over the white parts with a Prismacolor marker. 2. I began by collecting rain on pieces of paper. I used a random, extra notebook I had on hand. 3. I then I ripped about 10 pages out of an extra-large Moleskine cahier journal and folded them in half. 4. I then fed the papers through my sewing machine and sewed along the folded seam to create a binding. Sew back and forth on the beginning and edge like you would on fabric to "tie a knot".5. Collect the materials you would like to use in your book. I recommend choosing several different elements, but repeating them throughout your book to create a consistency. I used record covers and a floral ribbon through my book and I think it helps it feel much more unified. 6. Since the book is already wrinkly because of the rain and the type of paper I chose to use, I like to add even more texture to the mini-book! I used masking tape folded over the edges and trimmed them later.