We love Journals

Journals 101

Journals are portable, private, affordable, and continuous spaces for creativity.

Journal, Diary, Sketchbook. Whatever you call it, we love a little book you can carry around. In this post, I will talk about why I love them and what I recommend for getting started.

• Portable

• Private

• Affordable

• Continuity

First, a fundamental premise of our shop is that everyone needs a creative outlet. One of the reasons we love a journal is that it provides a portable creative outlet. Journals come in a variety of sizes, but mostly are intended to be small enough to easily carry with you. Your journal can be a private thing you keep to yourself, or a piece of yourself you publish for the world to see. You don’t need to spend a fortune to get started. Keeping a journal allows you to see how your creativity, and you as a person, change and grow over the course of time. Can you believe you get all that from a little notebook you carry about in a pocket or bag?

Journal page using gel plate printing and marker

Why and Wherefore?

Journals can come in a wide array of sizes, but generally between the size of a large book to a small pocket size. This means you can choose one with the portability to suit your needs. This portability means you can create where ever inspiration strikes. Grabbing a coffee and have a sudden idea for the next best seller? Jot it in your journal. Taking the ferry to the city? While the time away with a fun doodle. Traveling? Take a journal and a glue stick and paste all your ticket stubs and receipts together to remember your trip later. Where ever you are, your journal can go with you.

A journal can be as private or public as you’d like. If you want somewhere to express your innermost thoughts or to explore new ways of making art, no one else has to see it. It can be kept in a drawer or a bag and never shared with anyone. Or, you can take pictures of your favorite pages and post them to the internet for the world to admire. There is no expectation for you to share your journal if you don’t want to , making it an excellent place to freely express or explore without worrying about what anyone else will think.

You do not need to spend a fortune to get started with journaling. A basic notebook can be as inexpensive as $3-5, add a pencil or pen and you’re in business. For less than $20, you can get a 100 pages of possibility, a pen, and a set of colored pencils. Yes, you can get the thick mixed media pages that will stand up to all the paint or glue your heart could hope for. You can get mountains of washi tape, and a full 180 count of brush markers, but you don’t need it, especially to get started.

Because a journal holds these pages together, you can see how your creativity changes over time. Does your journaling style change? Does your art start to look more like you want it to? Holding all that creativity in one place that you can look back over, lets you see your own growth over time.

Tangle inspired pen doodle

Recommendations

Don’t know where to start or what kind of journaling you might like? We recommend a simple plain or dot grid journal with a pen in a color you find satisfying. Whether you are writing out your daily thoughts or sketching your favorite imaginary creatures, this is an excellent place to start.

If you know you enjoy adding splashes of color to your journal, maybe consider a mixed media journal. The thick pages can stand up to paint, glue, markers, and ink. Add your favorite form of color (markers, pencils, paints) and a bold pen that will stand out among the colors and you have a great journaling kit.

For travel journaling, I like to add a glue stick or roll of washi tape to my standard journaling kit. This lets me stick in those ticket stubs from the bus tour or the cover of a fun brochure from my trip.

Journal page with watercolor wash, stamps, and colored pencil

Conclusion

Remember, your journal is yours. It is your safe space to create, express, and be utterly you. There is no wrong way to journal.