besottment by paper relics

My Journaling Staples: Volume 2

Since this post about my journaling staples back in 2010 seems to be really popular at the moment, I decided to do an updated version. I hope you find it helpful!

Left hand side from top:

• New and old letters... I use old paper/cardboard anagram sets (from the 1800's and early 1900's), Alpha Stickers - (my favourites are still ones by Jenni Bowlin in assorted styles). I also use a vintage label maker and words cut out from 1800's children's primers.
• Vintage labels from estate sales and ebay, my collection has grown since 2010!
• Finger Pointing rubber stamp from Besotted Brand.
• Fashion magazines from the 1800's. I love working with original images, not photo copies. If you came to my studio and saw how many issues of 1800's magazines I had you would think I was crazy.
• Die cut shapes from my Sizzix machine , I love the Crests and Banner.
• Paper punched shapes - still loving the Martha Stewart pointed circle and Stampin' up curly label.

Right hand side from top:

• Assorted tags - I love these, and these.
• Victorian scrap from the 1800's from etsy and ebay.
• Pretty Tape - I love striped japanese masking tape that I get from various places - you can find it almost anywhere now (but I still prefer the MT brand, it sticks the best). I still love stripes the best, but use polka dots quite a bit now too.
• Cupcake liners and coffee filters - dyed in pinks, browns and creams
• White paper doilies - I get them new at the craft store, on Amazon or search for vintage ones on ebay
• Vintage gold seals from etsy or ebay
• Gold starburst stickers 
• Gold star stickers

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• Moleskine notebook  (cahier style, lined).
• Old paper. Always, old paper. I have tons and offer some on occasion (email me if interested).
• My fave marker, that I used in this spread is a rose red Copic marker
• Quotes - quotes are a journaling staple for me all the time - I use the Nostalgic Musings iPhone app to find what I want quickly while working.

Here are some close ups:

The original post from July 2010 is recreated below so you can see my Journaling staples from then (and how much has remained the same).

Moleskine notebook

Left hand side clockwise from top:

• Alpha Stickers - my favourites are these Jenni Bowlin Circle Alpha Stickers in assorted colors
• Pretty Tape - I love striped japanese masking tape.
• Cupcake liners and coffee filters - dyed in pinks, browns and creams
• White paper doilies - I get them at the craft store, or search for vintage ones on ebay

Right Hand side clockwise from top:

• Vintage labels from estate sales and ebay
• Die cut shapes from my Sizzix machine , I love the Crests and Banner
• Old paper - I have tons and offer some on occasion (email me if interested).
• More pretty striped tape
• Vintage gold seals
• Martha Stewart pointed circle paper punched shapes
• Stampin' up curly label paper punched shapes
• Gold starburst stickers

What are your journaling staples?

Journaling: Advice on Where to Start

I get a lot of emails asking me where to start with journaling, or wondering which of my e-courses is the best to start with. I thought I would address these inquires in a post with some resources, links and thoughts to help one get started. I hope you find it helpful!

My first bit of advice to you is to just try! You do not have to share it with anyone, or even keep it (although I suggest putting it out of sight for sometime rather than tossing it!). Just try a spread and see where it takes you. The one thing I have learned is even when I create a spread and am not happy with it at the time - when I look back at it months or years later, the things I was unhappy with do not even show themselves, all I see is the memory and part of myself that I recorded at that moment.

Below are some things to help you try...

Guest Posts

I have written some guest posts for Carolyn Rubenstein and I think the following would be helpful (you can see the full list of articles HERE):

The Power of Quotes A great place to get started - I answer the question - "how do you know what to journal about" (and checkout my iPhone app for quotes!)

How to Cultivate Your Own Style A post about how to find your own journaling style.

Overcoming your Journaling Fears To help those that let fear keep them from starting.

Tutorials

Right now there are 3 tutorials I have blogged, all of them a fun place to get your journaling juices flowing. Check them out below:

Little Frame	Quick + Easy Journaling Bit	Mini Souvenir Journal

Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks

I have a category on my blog for tips and tricks, but below are the best to check out as a new journaler:

Pens and Bleeding Issues

Journaling Question & Answer

My Journaling Staples

My E-Courses

Out of all the e-courses I offer, there are two I recommend most to the novice journaler (although both can benefit seasoned journalers as well):

Nostalgic Musings (for journaling) and To the Letter (for lettering)

Nostalgic Musings offers the following which is helpful to beginners:

- A tips and resources PDF
- Two Journal Spread Step by Step PDFs
(these walkthroughs are especially good if you are sacred of facing a blank page)
- Images that you can print to use in the two step by step spreads - the same images I used in mine.
- 4 Journaling prompts and 4 mini prompts, along with my spreads of the same prompts - photographed, and videos showing how I create them.
- A post on different types of journals
- A post on my favourite markers
- And more, see the full list (and sign up) HERE, the above is just what I think is best for beginners.

To the Letter offers the following which is helpful to beginners:

This e-course can help you with your lettering, offering the following:

- video of me lettering and a walkthrough of how I letter
- my thoughts and advice on lettering
- Video tour of my practice books
- a couple fun exercises to get you practicing 
- books I recommend to help you
- Sign up HERE.

You can see all the e-course I offer by clicking HERE.

Seek Inspiration

There are a lot of wonderful art journalers out there. Start a Pinterest board with images that inspire you. HERE is my Inspiring Journals board.

Bookmark or follow your favourite art journalers blogs and visit them often.

Feel free to peek into my Journal Gallery , or if you want to see all the journal spreads I have posted on the blog over the years, take a peek HERE.

But most of all... enjoy it! No matter what, enjoy the process of creating and documenting.

Journalers Gift Guide 2012

I love seeing all the gift guides on the blogs I read this time of year and thought that I would try my hand at one myself... of course... geared around journaling. I hope you enjoy it!

Clockwise from top: 1 I love this Forest Bound Pouch to carry a small journal and pens on the go. 2 Fabriano Medioevalis Folded Cards are great to have on hand to make small stitched journals - each card is an already scored high-quality water paper page (I learned this from my friend Stacie). 3 A fun colored MMMG planner is a great gift for someone who wants to start a daily journal. 4 There are quite a few Besotted Brand rubber stamps that work great in art journals - I especially love this Silhouette stamp (but this vintage pointer finger stamp us a fave too).

Clockwise from top: 5 A copy of 1,000 Artist Journal Pages Book to inspire and motivate. 6 A Monogrammed Mug makes a fun place store your pens and markers in (I have several). 7 Jet Pens stocks these amazing Kaweco Fountain Pens that I have been eyeing for ages. 8 A Field Notes notebook to keep in your purse to jot down ideas as they strike. 9 Nostalgic Musings iPhone app for great quotes to journal.

Clockwise from top: 10 Rubber stamp Sets from my friend Pam's creative mind are great to use in your journals. 11 7 Gypsies Paper Tape adds charm to any project. 12 Caran d'Ache Watercolor Crayon Sets are always a great gift to give and receive, 13 as are Copic Markers.

Quick + Easy Souvenir Travel Journal (Seattle 2012)

I am about to head out on a last minute trip to see a dear friend in Seattle for a few days. My visit is a present to her from her husband (how sweet is that). While I am there we will be working on her website a bit too and I hope to share that with you soon.

With the Summer issue of Souvenir going live this month, and all the client work I have on my plate, I really did not have much time to make a souvenir travel journal for this trip. So I made a quick one - not even taking 5 minutes!

I used the following items:

1. Moleskine Kraft Note Card (part of their new Moleskine messages)  2. Uchida square paper punch (mine is 1 3/4 inch) 3. Austin Press Sweet Memory Tag (sans envelope, but I must note how wonderful Austin Press envelopes are so it is safely in my journaling stash for another project).

Here are the easy-peasy steps to put it together :

• Punch a square hole near the top - perfect to slip a photo in while away. 
• Used my favourite double sided tape on the tag and cut out loesly around the design.
• Adhered the cut out under the square.

Now I have something to fill with ephemera and memories while visiting (and of course, share with you upon my return!).

 

Journaling Tip: Pens + Bleeding Issues

I get a lot of questions about journaling (I answered a bunch here a while back) - so I decided to add a new section - you will notice a Journaling Tips and Tricks button (shown above as well) on the sidebar now, clicking it will bring you to the archive page for posts that I create about journaling how-to's... like this one...

The number one question I get on a regular basis is about what pens I use and if I have issues with them bleeding through my pages. So, as I was sitting here the other night watching my recent guilty/embarassing pleasure (pretty little liars - I have to send a special thanks to my friend and her 14 year old daughter who go me hooked) - I started doodling, and thought I would share it with you to point out a couple things...

First, I wanted you to see that I literally journal the rubbish that pops into my head to practice my writing, or even just when I am in the mood to journal but not think too deep.

And then, to address my most asked question ... my pen choices and bleeding issues...

My favourite pens are Pilot V Razor Point Extra Fine - in black. They are not art store pens, I get them in a back of 5 at my local staples (but here is a link to them in assorted colors on Amazon ). I use Faber Castell PITT Artist Brush Pens - In this example I used a grey one.

The paper I most often use (and is seen in the photo) is Moleskine lined pages which are their grid and blank are the same). As you can see from the photo of the back of my page - there is slight bleeding though... you can see that there is something written on the other side, but hard to make it out. I made sure to do different things, some heavy strokes, light strokes, colored in - so you can see how it looks on the flip side.

I write over it - I do it all the time and do not even think twice now. If you look back at my moleskine journals - you can see the lettering faintly coming through from the other side.

Anyway - I hope this helps - if you have a favourite pen you would like to share I would love to know! Leave a comment!