Journaling – The Paper Journal

Rebinding a Composition Notebook with Coptic Stitch

J. Lewis — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 19:45:04 +0000

I have had this beat up old composition notebook collecting dust for years. The cover design was meh. I didn’t want to waste the book though so I decided to try something new and rebind it with a Coptic stitch. The benefit of the Coptic stitch is that the book will lay completely flat when opened. I also love the look of the open spine. The first step is to deconstruct the notebook.

Source

Collaging Your Journal Cover

J. Lewis — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:23:17 +0000

In my last post I wrote about using collage in your journals. For this post, I thought I would walk you through my process of actually using the collage method on a journal cover. This is a journal I did last year and one of my favorites visually. I started with a word. Saudade. I forget how exactly I came across this word. I suppose I was feeling a bit nostalgic and melancholic at the…

Source

Collaging in Journals

J. Lewis — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 03:10:12 +0000

Collage is one of my favorite ways to decorate my journal covers and pages. Magazines usually have the best images to use. You can even get your collage materials from old books, mail, trash found on the street, food wrappers, you name it. I get the majority of my images from magazines in the free bin from the library. My absolute favorite source is National Geographic. During the pandemic…

Source

How to Make an Ephemera Pocket for Your Journal

J. Lewis — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 00:37:28 +0000

Unless your journal is something like a Moleskine then it most likely doesn’t have a pocket to hold ephemera. Ephemera pockets are a must for my own journaling practice so I add them to all my journals. My favorite way to do it is to use a manila envelope. Here’s how I do it: Step One: Find your envelope. Step two: Trim the flap and fold it in half. Step Three: Cut to the fold and trim.

Source

Travel Journaling: Be at Tourist in Your Own Hometown

J. Lewis — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 06:13:26 +0000

So, you’ve got the travel bug. You fantasize about filling your journal up with travelogues but you can’t afford to go trekking around the world. What can you do? Become a tourist in your own hometown. I’m a huge fan of this. It’s the perfect way to satisfy your wanderlust if you can’t do any extensive travelling. It’s a free or relatively cheap option to world travelling. You may say to yourself…

Source

Write, Rinse, Repeat: Repetitive Journal Entries

J. Lewis — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 22:30:48 +0000

One of the biggest problems in journaling are repetitive entries. You know these types of entries where each seems to be a carbon copy of the one before it. I’ve been journaling for over 30 years now and found it is almost impossible to not write repetitive entries. Our brains are wired that way and can easily get hung up on a thought. I think it is important to not beat yourself up over it.

Source

Journal Aesthetics: Themes

J. Lewis — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 22:24:09 +0000

I think most of us have this desire to have journals that look “cool.” When you see journals like Jose Naranja’s journals you can’t help but want something like that for yourself. My current series of journals was inspired by the journals of fashion photographer Peter Beard. I came across one small photograph in a magazine of one of his journals. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever…

Source

Why Should You Journal?

J. Lewis — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 17:38:18 +0000

There are myriad reasons why you should take up the practice of journaling. This post is only going to touch on a few reasons why. I could go on and on about the benefits of the practice but for simplicity’s sake I’m going to stick to these three reasons. Your journal is a tool for self-improvement. Yes, you’ll write regular diary entries for the most part. In between those entries you…

Source

Ask the Hard Questions

J. Lewis — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:08:00 +0000

Often, when you are journaling you may wonder what to write about. What do you write about if you are not writing about your immediate surroundings or events of your day.? This is a perfect time to put your journal to work for you and ask the hard questions. What are the hard questions? These questions can be any questions that challenge you to be honest with yourself.

Source

How long should you write for?

J. Lewis — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 20:19:19 +0000

I’ve come to think of my journal as more of a workbook/playbook/brain dump. It doesn’t have to be perfect because nothing is ever perfect anyway. So, some entries are quick and short and over within seconds. Others and long and detailed and take much more time. So, as you can see, the length of time that I write varies quite a bit. Yours can too. How long should you write for? That’s really up…

Source