Creative Journaling Tutorial

Necklace: Jasmine by Trendovy

Materials:

• Notebook (I use the Piccadilly Essential Large Notebook)
• Black Pen (I use the Rolling Ball Precise V5)
• Glue stick
• Old Magazines
• Washi Tape or Colorful Duct Tape
• Colored Pencils, Markers, and/or Gel Pens

Here is my go-to method for fast and easy, creative journaling. Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite tea, some old magazines and start looking through them. Rip out anything that catches your eye–keep this pile handy for future use.  Do not spend too much time looking through the magazines, 5-10 minutes max.  Open your notebook/ journal to a blank page.

1. Number your pages.  I usually pre-number 15-25 pages ahead of time and pre-number more pages as I go along.  Next, write the date–start with the day, month, and year.  I like writing the date in different font styles.  Don’t spend too much time agonizing over the fonts though. Have fun with it. Next, doodle around the date.

2.  Skim through your magazine clippings and find a focal image you like.  Paste the image down with a glue stick.  Make sure you burnish the image to the page really well to prevent any air bubbles or creases.  Then flip the page over and cut any excess paper that is hanging off the edge.

3.  Find some decorative Washi Tape or Duct Tape that brings out the colors of the focal image.  I choose yellow Duct Tape (I wanted red Duct Tape but mine was old and funky).  Personally,  I like Washi Tape better than Duct Tape, but I use both in my journals.  Duct Tape is really sticky, hard to cut, and gets my scissors all gunky (I use acetone to clean my scissors).

4.  Add even more decorative tape accents.  I put Washi Tape on top of the yellow Duct Tape.

5.  Have fun and doodle!

6.  Begin writing.  You can use prompts (an inspirational quote, song lyrics, etc.) or just free write whatever is on your mind.  I started this page with an affirmation centered on creativity–that’s my area of focus right now. More importantly, writing and developing this blog.  It seems to be working! 🙂 I really enjoy this specific affirmation and I repeat it in other journal entries.

7.  Add more Washi Tape to break up the page.  I layered three different types of Washi Tape on top of each other on the left side.  And I added the orange Washi Tape on top of the Duct Tape.  Get as creative as you want!

8.  Next, fill the entire page with writing.  Journal your thoughts, goals, ideas or take notes from your favorite book. Anything you feel like writing, get it down on paper!

9.  Finish the page by coloring in the date.  I used colored pencils and Sakura Glaze Gel Pens. Use whatever you like–colored pencils, markers, crayons, or gel pens.

Sometimes the hardest part is starting.  I like this method a lot. It only takes 10-15 min and it always looks nice.  The visual elements add a pop of color and make the page fun.  Not all my pages have pictures or color –some are very boring and ugly. When I look through my notebooks I always love these pages best though.

The most important thing is have fun!  Don’t stress about perfection.  Enjoy the process and learn as you go.

 

 

3 Types of Journals to Keep!

My Notebook Addiction!

Are you a lover of notebooks and journals?  Do you have some creative way of documenting your life? Maybe you scrapbook or have a colorful planner? Or you just like doodling on notepads or coloring with your kids. What about looking at other people’s sketchbooks and journals–finding inspiration on the how-to of keeping a visual journal?  I know, I love all of the above!  I’ve always been a lover of visual journals and notes.

I have shoe boxes full of old junior high notes written by friends (you know the kind that you fold into a triangle and pass to your friend secretly hoping not to get caught by your teacher.)  Most of these notes are pretty hilarious–details of my latest teenage crush, this changed weekly by the way, and cryptic notes written in a made-up version of “Pig Latin”. I even kept a scrapbook of my favorite boy band crushes using “Teen Beat” and “Bop” magazine cutouts.  This sounds so silly now, lol–but it was fun at the time.

In high school, I kept a highly secretive illustrated notebook with a friend where we doodled, colored, gossiped, and discussed our weekend plans, heartbreaks, and dating adventures.  Most of the “people” in the notebook have a secret nickname–some I can’t even decipher now.  What type of journals did you keep as a kid? Do you still have them?

It has taken years and years to finally figure out which notebooks I love and what form of journaling works best for me.  For years, I obsessed about having the “perfect” journal.  I even ripped out pages and pages of half-filled notebooks because the notebook wasn’t “right”, now these old written notes are kept in zip lock bags.  But at last, I have discovered what works for me!  These are the three types of journals I keep:

• Art Journal
• Creative Notebook
• Visual Inspiration Notebook

Art Journal:  This is where I practice collage techniques and get messy with art supplies.  I’m a little bit more sporadic and less strict about art journaling than I am with my creative notebook.  This is kind of a “junque journal” and a lot of incomplete painted pages. Some journals are homemade while others are in Moleskines, cheap Composition notebooks, or spiral bound sketchbooks.

I use wet materials like Modge Podge, acrylic paints, Gesso, Glimmer Mists, and watercolors. I layer collage and scraps of paper to build texture–mostly from magazine cutouts or decorative scrapbook paper. If the notebook paper is thin than I glue pages together.  Other materials I use are stencils, crayons, color pencils, markers, stickers, washi tape, die-cuts, bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard, and stamps.

Creative Notebook:  My creative notebook is my most beloved form of journaling.  I love the intimacy of this journal.  There is something satisfying about looking through the pages and seeing moments being recorded in sequence.  You see ideas unfold and certain reoccurring patterns.  I have a few rules with this notebook–this is my dry notebook.  I use glue sticks or decorative tape to paste down images from magazines, scraps of paper, and daily ephemera.   I always write the date, number the pages beforehand, decorate a cover page, only use a black rolling ball Precise V5 pen and a Piccadilly Essential Large Notebook for writing, and never tear out paper.

It’s a self-made planner and glorified journal all in one.  I doodle, draw, make vision boards, take notes from books, write about my goals, dreams, and list all of my creative ideas and plans for the future. I write affirmations, gratitude, quotes, and ramble about my frustrations and struggles.

Visual Inspiration Notebook:  This is my “gluebook” where I paste visual inspiration from magazine cutouts.  I randomly glue images down through out the notebook using a glue stick.  No wet glue like Modge Podge.  I doodle around the images and add washi tape.  I do not journal in this notebook–it’s only for visual inspiration to spark my creativity.  It’s very relaxing and fun looking through old magazines and ripping out pages that catch my eye to put in this notebook.  I use the Black n’ Red Hardcover Executive Notebook because I like the size of the notebook and thickness of the paper, it’s great for gluing down a full magazine page.

With all this journal talk I hope you are inspire to create!  Please share your journal ideas and pages with me!  What are your favorite notebooks and journal techniques?

 

 

 

It’s been far too long….

Life has been crazy!  I had a beautiful baby boy, 7 months ago.  That would explain why I haven’t had the time to post.  Taking care of a newborn and adjusting to everything is quiet exhausting but very fun and exciting at the same time.  Baby Jax is sleeping well through the night now, which might explain why I am feeling a little bit more energetic and eager to create all things artsy and focus on Trendovy.

Lately,  I’ve been itching to get back into blogging and focus on my creative endeavors.  At times, I get so overwhelmed not knowing where to even begin because I have so many ideas I want to share with you.  I’m at the point that I just need to hunker down and just DO IT.  Otherwise, years will pass and I would still be talking about having a blog that motivates women through art journaling and all things creative. Eeeekkk.

Right now,  I am switching my blog over from Shopify to a WordPress blog.  To be honest, I love Shopify for my jewelry shop but their blogging format kinda stinks.  So I’m super excited for this switch because WordPress is soo much easier.

I dont know about you but I love reading the early entries of some of my favorite bloggers to see how far they’ve come.  It’s very motivating to see how their blog has developed over the years.  It will be fun to see how my blog/website has transformed in the years to come.  I hope you all join me on this journey.