Hello friends,
We’ve been thinking about sharing some journaling ideas with you. If you’re new to journaling everything may seem a bit overwhelming and if you’ve been doing it for a bit and are struggling to find your style, don’t worry about it, just have fun you’ll find your groove along the way. So… in our attempt to share this glorious creative art form called journaling , I’m talking to @sarahlimcreates about her process. Read on into the world of this journaling enthusiast.
A peek into her journal entry for last week
Sarah’s chosen journal for 2018 is a brown regular size Travelers Notebook. She prefers the vertical weekly layout as she ‘can’t think horizontally!’
Her style is eclectic in a neat structured way and she loves using happy colours. Usually she writes her titles in calligraphy and sometimes, when time permits she writes a quote to inspire her during the week.
Here’s what Sarah has to say:
I started journaling when things got busy in my work life after Uni and I wanted a simple way to record the highlights and even the mundane knowing that in 2 seconds I’d forget. I picked an Olive TN at first but as the green started to turn muddy, I switched to this brown one (which I love). For the insert, I prefer the weekly vertical; the weekly memo option left me with a big blank page on the right, and while others work it beautifully a s a feature page , I’m at a loss at the sight of a blank page . Some people can write and write but for me , I prefer to just enter the highlights.
I don’t have a whole load of stuff , just a muji drawer set sitting on my tiny desk at home, with my faves and a basket of washi. Thankfully I am able to say no to the unending choices and also fortunately, I work in a stationery store and have access to err, quite a lot of stationery. Still, I do have a small stash. 😬
I would say if you’re a beginner, don’t go crazy. I enjoy using a few botanical stamps that I own again and again. And these LDV girl stickers. People may say, ‘that again!!’ but I don’t really care. after all, your journal is a record of the moments in your life , so it should make you happy not everyone else.
So I start with the last week (sometimes I only manage to do a week layout a few weeks later, and i think that’s cool, cos “real life, right?’ To be honest, I have quite a few blank weeks 🙈. I would suggest that you just move on to the current week or the week that just passed and go back to the empty pages later. If you think you can’t remember , here’s what i do, stick the ephemera (movie ticket, pharmacy bill…) with washi and write a short note in pencil so when you go back later you’ll see and maybe remember better that 3 weeks ago you went to the movies with XYZ because bla bla…
La Dolce Vita girl stickers, MU Print On Stickers, Distress Ink are all staples in her collection
I sometimes write a quote or titles first, no rules here, then stick in some stickers and washi. Then the journaling , With whatever space I have left I stamp. I favour botanical stamps and stamps with words, phrases or numbers. Here I use Chamil 5th anniversary number stamps and botanical stamps. (find them here) I also like little critters, insects, doggoes , summiko and oh yeah, if I was an artist who made stickers I’d definitely want to be Bofa who created these beautiful girl stickers which, by the way I want to have 3 tins of each ( I don’t) And…lately Mu Lifestyle print on stickers have got me under their spell. The leafy one I used here looks like it’s been painted in watercolour by a highly skilled watercolorist. Heehee. 🙊
How do you say no to these?
So yeah, after the journaling/ writing I added the MU print on (could be your own sketch or other sticker and that little bee stamp. For the colour pops under the number stamps I used ranger distress. I do that quite a bit.
It took me about an hour and a bit to do this layout. I think it’s possible to do it in bits, start, then continue later in the day but ideally, you would plan to do this and set aside an hour. There are weeks when it seems a bit like work to make a layout but , trust me, when you look back on your past weeks and have book that’s filled with memories of your life, you’ll be super happy with yourself and patting yourself on your back.
Ok, ready, set, now it’s your turn. Show me your week and tag us @smidapapercompany or @sarahlimcreates, I would truly love if you shared your journaling journey with me. I’ll try to get it together and share my actual work planner with you sometime soon. until then xoxo!
So there you go, thanks Sarah for sharing your thoughts. We’ll be back soon with more interesting journal stories.
Loving this unique rubber stamp by Stempel Jazz
Love
Smidapaper Team