JOURNALING 101 💌 tools, tips & how I journal to manifest my dreams

[Music] I have always loved journaling whether it be writing about boys Petty High School drama Doodles in class or the genuine traumatic events I was living through journaling has been something that's brought me so much comfort but it's only been in the last 6 months or so that I've consistently journaled and I can truly say that it has changed my creative practice and general view on life in so many incredible ways I know a lot of you feel the same or want to feel the same with journaling scrapbooking and general craftiness being the fastest growing

trend on the internet at the moment every time I post a journal spread I get asked for tutorial and while this video isn't one as such I thought I would share with you how to journal or rather how I journal to inspire you to put your pen to paper and create why is it so daunting to open up a fresh journal and have the blank page staring right back at you why does it feel like everything has to be perfect or Perfectly Imperfect in this little book I totally understand this frustration so here's a reminder

pretend that what's inside your Journal is meant only for you I mean it's nice people are posting their journals online but it's really just for you and you only so I'm going to cut to the chase before I share any prompts or creative ideas or what cute stickers and stationary I recommend I'm going to tell you the secret to journaling and getting over this daunting block and there's only one step and that is to journal every single day okay don't click away just yet I know it sounds daunting it's confronting I get it and life

is busy but from experience I can say that this is truly the only way you can build the habit of journaling and I learned this by reading the artist's way in which the author Julia Cameron describes her everyday morning Pages as being the number one tool for Creative recovery and I gather that if you're watching this video If you clicked on this you're either in Creative recovery or you're a creative who is constantly battling with that every day and personally committing to journaling every day not only helped me to heal my anxious Tendencies but it

also gave me the opportunity to explore new ways of expressing myself on paper and this new found creativity bled into all aspects of my life and my business and is literally the reason I'm making this video for you today so don't skip your everyday Pages they're so magic okay before we get into it any further let's go into the tools what Journal am I using what pens am I using cuz I know you guys want to know that before I tell you I just want to say you do not need anything fancy to journal in

keeping with the journaling everyday basic rule all you need to journal is a pen and paper whatever you have around you a cier your lipstick literally anything but if you're like me and you find it really fun to go shopping for stationary supplies and all of the cute things I'll tell you guys what I use I'm literally about to finish my journal so I'm going to go and buy new one in the next couple days I think I'll vog that on my Tik Tok let me show you guys the journal that I've been using for

the past three journals now that I've fallen in love with so this is the L term or Lo term I'm not sure how you pronounce it 1917 A5 journal and I use a blank Journal now I'm kind of gone in between dotted or blank in the past I am definitely not a lines girly I'm not a grid girly it just depends on you what you prefer okay but let me take you through the specifications of this journal and why I like it so much because you might be thinking how is this different to you know

your regular mole skin Etc I mean it is pretty similar to a mole skin um but I will note that mole skin only does soft cover or hard cover this is technically hard cover but it has a bit of malleability to it which I really really enjoy like it just feels really nice and it's not like too hard and I don't know the m skin soft covers are just too soft for me I like my porridge just right and the other thing is is they have this little strap around the front so you're not losing

your bits and pieces that you keep inside they have a beautiful pocket at the back for you to keep little you know Bits of Paper stickers Etc inside and it's also fun to look back on your old journals and see what kinds of random stuff that you've kept the pages are numbered very subtly on the sides and the paper itself is a nice like creamy white but not too creamy it's just it's just perfect I'm not exactly sure of the GSM of these Pages they are quite thin I will say that but that's to be

expected however I do know that this brand has started doing journals with a higher GSF you prefer if you're using markers paint things like that they also come in some amazing colors which M skin just does not have the range of colors that L CRM has I've had this Lobster red this is my personal favorite pale pink I might honestly get another one of these um and then this gorgeous like Plum color which everyone has been loving he I know you're going to want me to talk about where I get my stickers and things that's

coming but we need to talk about pens first people have their preference on pens okay um but this is mine I just get my pens from Muji it is pretty simple kind of go through the size um but usually in between 0.7 and 0.5 depending on my mood I also make these pens in a dark brown which is really really nice another thing to mention about this brand of Journal is that they also sell these little um pen holders that you can stick into the back of your Journal which the Muji pen fits perfectly inside

so that's really nice these are a match made in heaven all of my other stationary like pens and stuff that I have I got in Japan and I keep it really simple guys honestly I just have these really cute mini scissors which have little s gashi on them mini glue stick you can get these and the little glue tapes I've run out of mine from Daiso this journal clip I got in Japan for when you need to hold your pages open but you can use any like bulldog clip that you have lying around the house

and then some other random colored markers but honestly I don't know I don't use these that much I keep it really really simple just with my standard Muji pen do not need to buy expensive markers or pencils or anything especially if you like um the style that I do for journaling which is that really sketchy playful childlike style do not go out and buy expensive markers and in terms of storage for all of my supplies I've got some fun bits to share with you guys this gorgeous glittery box here is from Kmart would you believe

it it was less than $10 and it opens up and it has a bunch of tears that I store um all of my little scrapbooking like journaling supplies and stickers then I have a couple of pencil cases this one here is what I use when I'm just you know at home um it's my estala Luna Mini case I'm obsessed with the little pink gingham interior is so cute and this fits so much and then for traveling I just have this mini thin pencil case which um I decorated with all of the pins that I bought

in Japan and I think that's perfect and something like this that's really like slim lined and Sleek is really good for traveling cuz you only want to be taking your Essentials with you okay stickers Etc let's get into it guys I know I get so many questions about this and I don't know most of you probably know the answer already but I get most of my stickers from Martina caly or Martina martian on Instagram she just has the cutest collection of stickers if you've been following along you would know that we actually released a little

collab sticker sheet together which I'm so proud of and it's still available up on my website I don't have that many left and once they're gone they're gone definitely check that one out I ship worldwide as well once I get back from Italy I can't wait to make my own little sticker sheets excited about that but in the meantime I actually created this print at home scrapbooking sheet which you can also get on my website it's just a downloadable link affordable and it means that you have this file that you can download and print off

as many times as you like and you might be thinking how does that work in my journal I like to print off the paper cut out the little drawings or paintings that I did and use them as makeshift stickers I don't want to go into it too much because this is a true basic how to journal video I don't want to overwhelm you guys with options because all you really need like I said is a penc and paper your imagination your creativity I hope that I can just get the creative juices flowing for you and

to keep you inspired I thought I'd share a couple of ways I like to train my brain to get excited about journaling number one being to romanticize it there's a reason we write like 18th century poets when describing the ordeal of crying in the club bathroom of the crummy Gemini who really never did like us that it just feels good and nobody has to know when you Journal you are the main character of your own story you can be as self-centered and self-serving as you like and boy is it cathartic to get it all out

so light candles put on your favorite chick flick some notable favorites of mine are LOL or Angus Thongs and Perfect snugging get your Journal out and write or doodle or Draw Stupid Love Parts with your crush's name in them no one will ever ever know so make it as cringe as possible because you know what it's just fun and on this train of thought my next tip is to take yourself out on a date we continuing this main character energy the second basic tool of the artist way is a weekly artist Daye and my favorite

kind of artist Daye is taking myself in my journal and hopping on my bike and going to a cafe sometimes you need to get outside in the Fresh Air and give yourself an a lotted time and space to write because you've come all this way it's harder to give up oh and pretend you're at a cafe in Paris or something people watching doodle what your coffee or matcha looks like make observations about the people around you or just vent out whatever's on your mind okay so bye now I hope you guys are inspired to start

journaling or to continue journaling and use it for a tool to broaden your creative practice so now I'll share with you guys the different ways that I like to journal someone who is really not organized in their journaling in any sense of the word but I do it consistently so it might seem like I'm organized I will let you guys know that I use one journal for everything for my to-do lists for my daily Pages for my mood boards scrapbooks you name it everything is messily in here and I like it that way it is

a snapshot of my life at that time to-do list and all like messy parts and all not every page looks beautiful like there are going to be empty pages there's going to be or at the back of this one there are just some some ugly pages that are just to-do lists but that's what makes a journal a journal it doesn't have to be perfect so the first way that I like to journal the way that kind of catapulted my social medias through my mood board journaling you guys might have seen some of my mood boards

before on your Instagram reals this journal is when I really started doing my little mood board and I actually started doing Journal mood boards as a response to prompts from the artist way which I spoke about earlier in this video as a way to kind of document and imagine my dream life things that I want to achieve the kind of vibe that I wanted to be feeling for that moment in time this was my first ever Journal post that I made and I was so so proud of it started something new for me so with

your Journal mood boards I mean there are no rules again whatsoever but I kind of like to focus on one theme whether it be what I want to be wearing this month who I want to be this month what I want to be feeling like inside in the next week I will print out some photos kind of do a combination of my own photos or photos from Pinterest but Pinterest is my number one friend when it comes to this and then I cut them out really haphazardly I've been really enjoying printing out some like um

fabric backgrounds um from Pinterest as well but you could scan and fabric in your printer just get creative with it and then I'll just start laying out all of my photos onto the page and you'll be surprised how easy it is to make them look good like you can cut them out haphazardly put them all together onto the page I also will then go in with little details like from this scrapbooking sheet for example or printing off little pictures off of Pinterest or stickers again and filling in the blanks on the page but you can

also just use a little pencil or a pen to do some little Doodles around the page and the the drawings as well I truly believe that these mood boards are the best way to manifest what you want in your life and manifest abundance positivity which is another big one just this conscious physical act of putting down these like curated beautiful images that you love and that inspire you really help you to go throughout your day to find snapshots of those same images throughout the way that you live your life and your days and you'll find

that you're just more creatively turned on and inspired I keep using that word but you're just switched on to find those pockets of Beauty in your everyday life so that is my moodboard journaling now let's get into the next way I like to journal which is through prompts which I know a lot of people love because it's a way that they don't have to think up how to fill the page think up what to write because it can feel daunting just to start writing onto a blank page with nothing and prompts are basically questions that

you answer they can be related to the month the day the future the past and it's another really nice way to reflect and be grateful and how I like to use prompts I don't use them every day because it honestly can to me sometimes feel like I'm back in high school again and I have to answer a question but they are really really helpful I do my monthly Reflections that was really hard to say I use them really really simply for example in my little March recap here I just have a prompt that is energy

givers and energy drainers so I know um you know what to bring into the new month and what to kind of leave behind and then best memories those are some really really simple prompts but then um I'm looking back on one of my old journals here and I know I had some more specific ones like what are three traits My Future Self will have or the person I'm becoming will experience more blank when I think about the person I'm becoming or I have the opportunity to be my future self when yeah so those are some

really interesting prompts if you want a more guided Journal practice and prompts there um are journals like no particular order out there which is just full of prompts or I highly highly highly recommend for you to get the artist way because it's basically just a bunch of prompts um that you have to complete each week and the final way that I like to journal is just my everyday dribble okay guys I don't know um you might not have this personality but I certainly do I could write about myself and my life for hours on end

your Journal is the one place that you can be completely self-serving okay nobody's going to know and in fact I encourage you to be um because it's like a form of therapy you get to get everything out there and onto the page I know I spoke about it a little bit earlier in the video so that's the majority of what my journal actually is which is just pages and pages of me writing about my days this is what bothered me today I don't know what I'm going to do today I'm bored and as the artist

way says doing this and writing this out especially in the mornings it helps remove those blocks for you and helps get you where you need to be without the overthinking because I don't know I really struggled with anxiety paralysis I'd be stuck in my bed and the thoughts were in my brain over and over and over what am I doing I can't do it instead of that just focus on writing that all down in your journal and you might be thinking this is so boring or like I don't want to just write in my journal

all this negative thoughts you you would be surprised how quickly from even one page to the next those negative thoughts and feelings end up turning into you pep talking yourself and giving yourself affirmations and by the end of your entry you might be sitting there going oh my God I actually feel a lot better now and if nothing else if nothing else if you feel completely terrible after that guess what you've written down something you have exed rest your feelings in a physical way onto the page and that is an achievement in itself so that's

everything I can think of my conclusive guide on how to journal for beginners Back to Basics Edition I hope I inspired you guys in some way to start journaling and I can honestly say that this is the thing that has truly changed my life that has got me to where I am today and it's so weird to think that it was just me starting to put some things down in these books if you have any questions at all none none are too big or too small because I really want this video to be a good

resource for people please put them in the comments below and I will answer all of your questions and if you want me to do a part two on this on something more in depth let me know as well I'll consider that this has been super fun and hopefully it'll be super fun to look back on um later on in my journey but I will see you guys in the next video stay tuned because the next next time you see me I'll be in Italy okay love you see you bye [Music]