Another Journal on Off the Wall Friday

 

 Is anybody out there just a glutton for cool stationary supplies?  Maybe it's because it's back to school time and the shelves are full of the coolest ones.  Or maybe it's because Cindi Gay has a whole series of lessons about journaling, but it got me in the mood to give journaling another try. 

 I have had several failed attempts.  Once I set one up for quilting.  Barely used it. I mean really, blogging about my quilting journey was plenty,   I did have pretty good success with the The Happy Planner series, mostly because it was a planner and not a journal.  Plus, they have a whole lot of stickers that you can buy with it.  (Does it say something about me that I still love stickers at 60?) But now with my phone on me all days, the calendar on it keeps me straight so that fell by the wayside.  

With this new venture into rug hooking though, I thought it was time to give it another go.  I really do wish I had a record of those early years of quilting. This way, I have another shot at getting all the ups and downs of a new art. So down the Bullet Journal (aka BuJo) rabbit hole, I fell...again.

This time though I knew what works for me and what doesn't.  I picked a quality journal with quality paper that didn't ghost or bleed through with whatever pen I used.  I also wanted all the materials of the journal to have a good texture.  (For me it's always about how does it feel in my hand).  With a little bit of investigation, I settled on the Scribbles That Matter Pro.  It has 160 gram paper weight and a nice soft vegan leather cover.  It's not too cutsy and had a lot of colors to choose from.  I settled on aubergine.  It has nice prenumbered pages, 4 big index pages, and little dot guides so you know where the center of the page is.   Oh and the pages are pure white - which apparently isn't the norm in journaling strangely enough.

Luckily, I had everything I needed...pens...stickers...rulers...templates.  But how to set it up?  I did some research, and shockingly, I couldn't find one for a "Maker" that used a journal just for their creative journey.  That seemed crazy to me.  I mean isn't there a video on anything you want to learn on YouTube?

I decided to just wing it.  I thought about how I wanted to use the journal and what purpose it would serve.  I wanted to keep it minimal, personal and low maintenance.  I don't want journalling to become a chore.  Things that I wanted to include in it where:

• An index
• To-Do List
• Blog Ideas List
• Books/Videos I like
• Names/Emails
• 2025-2026 hooking tracker
• A big section for Projects
• A big section for Class notes 
• A list of supplies I bought/where/how much

That didn't seem too difficult.  Also, I set up some rules for myself.  I wanted my journal to look well put together but not become a form of creative expression in itself.  I also wasn't going to worry about imperfections.  My handwriting wasn't good in school and it hasn't gotten any better after 30 years of keyboarding.  (But I can type about 90 wpm - just 'sayin').

I've sprinkled what the pages look like around the post.  Like I said nothing fancy, but still I like to have everything rug hooking in place.  I have a feeling that a big part of hooking is traveling to meet other hookers.  What better way to keep everything straight than a little journal?

I'll get to put that to the test because this weekend is my first Hook-In.  Don't worry, I'll take pictures and fill you next time!

Now for this week's . . .

Rug Watch

The pink grapes were hard again. I really think that part of the issue is that the pattern wasn't plainly drawn.   When I take pictures, I can see the lines well enough, but when you are hooking they all kinda jumble together.  Might be the age of the pattern.  I really am enjoying doing the grape leaves though! 

So, What Have You Been Up to Creatively? 

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Bullet Journaling for Quilters on Off the Wall Friday

You know I just noticed that  that should read BOOKS  :)

 I love journals.  I love the feel of them in my hands, the pretty pictures on them, the way they smell.  What I don't like is actually journaling.  Over the years I've  bought so many great journals with every intention to fill them up with my hopes, dreams, vents, etc etc.  But NOPE!  not a one gets past a few beginning pages.  

Well except for one...and that didn't even start as a journal.  You see, I have a very busy, social church.  With that busy church we are expected to serve. So I was on various committees and headed some big events.  With that came planning...a lot of planning...a ridiculous amount of planning.  So I started a nice sturdy composition notebook to keep it all straight.   Every time I had a meeting with notes, an event with to-do lists, a  list to call for volunteers it went into the notebook.  In fact you never saw me without it if I had anything remotely to do with church because there was always someone saying something about what needed to done next.  It was attached to me so much we ended up calling it the bible.  (I'm thinking my pastor would not have found that as funny as we all did but that's another blog post entirely!)  I referred to it time and time again.   It became my Go-To book for church year after year.

So why was this journal so handy and others I had not??  It's because it was all about function, not fashion.  What I needed was a journal that kept my projects, ideas, life in one orderly place!  What I didn't need was a place to write down my hopes and dreams and what I had for lunch.

Jump ahead to this last weekend.  Tessa and I decided to get out of the house and take a ride to Mentor, Ohio.  I love Mentor!  It has a Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, and Michaels all in a quarter mile radius.  Heaven right?   It was more a browsing day rather than a buying day but I did manage to buy a new journal.  Yes - insert groan here !  But this one was pretty and cheapie - like $2.61 cheapie.  And it came with a stencil.  And stickers.  And it said  EVERYTHING STARTS WITH AN IDEA.  Did I mention it was pink?  with sparkles.  

It was a bullet journal.  What the heck is a bullet journal?!  Its a blank journal that for the most part has little dots through out so you can customize it anyways you want.  (There are other forms with lines, blank, graph paper but you get the picture).  It can be used as a diary, a planner, notebook, list book.  Basically anything that will make your life more organized.  Of course, creative people can't just leave it there.  Over the last 5 years, people have made them into a big creative outlet where they used all forms of mix media to decorate the pages of them.  When I say a creative outlet, I mean they have taken bullet journaling to its own art form in itself.  

Maybe that's why I never thought of a bullet journaling was for me. I never wanted to scrapbook a pretty journal. I didn't want to play with great layouts with amazing lettering.  I could however use a book that had all my creative life in one place. With a little research I could see how it could work.

So  I spent one evening setting it up.  I didn't get crazy...just used markers and stickers.  I already use a Happy Planner so I have PLENTY of stickers.  In about three hours I had a useful  little journal that  is a little pretty and a lot functional.  Perfect!

How to Bullet Journal For Quilters 

There are no rules to bullet journaling.  Pick a notebook and pens/markers that you really like.  Keep an eye on if the markers will bleed through page.  But besides that...you're good to go.  The way I chose to use my journal might not be the way you chose to use it.  But let me get you started on how I did it.  

The way I decided that would work good for me is to have a front section of the journal for my main lists.  Some lists you might want to add are

• Table of Contents
• Master To-do list
• Important Dates
• Favorite Online Links, Blogs, Shops 
• Brainstorming Ideas
• UFO Progression Chart
• Gift Wants
• Favorite Fabric Lines
• Favorite Inspirational Quotes
• Monthly/Yearly Goals
• Bucket Lists for Online Classes/Conferences

If you belong to a guild or a Bee you can have a section for Guild notes, Swaps.  You can also add a section for quilt retreat/conference planning.  The nice thing about this section is that you can just keep adding onto it as you go.  If you run out of room, just write "Continued on Page XX" and go from there.

REMEMBER YOU'RE  THE QUEEN OF YOUR JOURNAL!

I personally left some pages between the front of the journal lists and the next section in case I want to add more lists.  The next section I called PROJECTS.    In this section I plan to name out myindividual  projects including things like inspiration, materials and techniques, and final critique.  I also am keeping a running time log on how long I work on the project just in case I need to do it again for a client.  Plus

it's fun to see how much time I spend on a project.  

With this type of journal I can keep a running section  on several projects at a time.  Plus with a journal staring you in the face it's hard to ignore projects that you keep saying, "Ohhhhh I really need to get back to that!"

The back of my personal journal, I'm keeping for class notes.  Right now they are scattered in sketchbooks that I take to classes which is okay but it would be a lot nicer to get have them all in a journal.  Also the pages set up like they are, they're perfect to sketch out ideas that jump in your head.

Now what I'm NOT going to do is use my journal as an everyday planner, lists pertaining to anything other than quilting, or a diary. Also I don't plan on using it as an art/meditative project in itself.   I have my Happy Planner for my everyday life stuff and I have this blog  as a running diary of my creative life.  And I don't really feel the need to look for another creative avenue in mixed media. 

So we'll see if I can manage to use this bullet journal like a bullet journal is suppose to be used.  If it works out as well as a "The Bible" than I'll be happy.  Between this blog and my new journal I should remember exactly what I need to do, how I did it and what's coming up next.

At least that's the plan.

So What are You Up to Creatively??

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