Scrapbooking.

I have so many lovely memories connected to scrapbooking. At first, I made cards and decorated photo albums with scrapbooking treasures. Later, I used the tools to add to my journals.

I remember the joy of wet ink pads and tiny dolls with pinafores on rubber stamps. Burst of stars, favorite words, fairies, and more were mine to put anywhere, over and over. Mom and I colored stamps with brush-tip markers.

My Nanna would take me to scrapbooking stores with walls of rubber stamps and giant rolls of stickers. I collected hearts and stars. I wish more of those stores still existed.

I cut sheets of cardstock in half and then cut the edges with patterned scissors. I added stickers and silver ink to make love letters.

Sakura's Gelly Roll pens have made me so happy since before high school. The pens come in metallic, glitter, neon, and gold and silver shades. I use them in my journals. My darling friend Melissa and I used the pens to take notes in class and to write long notes to each other. In Boone when I was an undergrad, I went to Cheap Joe's Art Stuff and bought pens from the mega display. Now, Charlotte has a Cheap Joe's, and even Michaels has a small selection of Gelly Rolls.

I used to make collages with patterned paper, magazine pictures and words, watercolors, glitter, rhinestones, paint swatches, stamps, and stickers.

I've never tired of stickers and wild inks.

Stamps and Stickers.

Some of my favorite memories are of shopping for stickers and rubber stamps with my Nanna. I'm not sure how old I was...10-14? Scrapbooking was so popular then, so a lot of related shops popped up. One shop we visited was in what seemed like a cute little retail village.

I think about those outings whenever I put stickers in my journal. The ones I bought (I remember saving up sometimes) or that Nanna gave me are long gone, following the narrative of my life through their corners on old journal pages. I do, however, still have a lot of stamps from that time. They live in a hot pink box and in a pink tin with black chandeliers on it.

Stickers are my favorite, but I do love stamps--beautiful, reusable. I even got some in my stocking last Christmas! And last night, I tried using stamps instead of stickers in a journal. Most of them turned out well.

I remember the wonder of all those designs. Nanna gave me another source of beauty and creativity, and my life has some more bright-bright spots because of it.

No Saving.

I like this idea of not saving. It makes sense because anything could happen before a person gets to use or enjoy something he or she had been saving for some future event or feeling.

I do quite a bit of misguided saving. For tomorrow, for when I'm ready, for when conditions are perfect. I could lose my chance. But I'm also just depriving myself of joy when in fact, more joys will follow.

Some of these are especially silly.

• Stickers. Sometimes, I find myself not using the prettiest ones. I buy stickers to use in my journals, so I should use them! I have plenty (though I'm always watching for more!).
• Bubble bath and such. I save my favorite scents, but I should just jump in and enjoy them.
• Journals. I save the best for some more appropriate time. Silly.
• Books. I do this less often now, but I've almost unconsciously saved the most delicious-seeming books for some future self. 

My future self will find and create more joy and more beauty. 

Fun Journaling Tips.

• I love to use stickers in my journals. Before I use a journal, I add stickers to every second spread. Usually, they have some connection to the journal's theme or colors. It's fun to see which sticker is next, and it makes me want to keep filling and turning pages.
• Each day, I switch to a new pen in a new color. This may reflect my mood, and it keeps the days distinct in case I look for something later.
• I use all kinds of pens--whatever I feel like using that day: all colors, fine-tipped markers, pens with multiple colors, glitter, metallic, fluorescent, fountain pen...I love getting any pen from someone (encouragement to write!), but something unique is especially fun even if I'm unmotivated.
• If I see words or come across images or ideas that strike me, I want to write about them. But I may not have the time or energy just then, so I write something at the top of a blank page in my journal. I call them prompts, and I come back to write about the topic later. It doesn't interrupt my other writing. Some of these prompts have become blog posts.
• I think of myself as a journal collector. I look for beautiful, unique, sturdy books to become my own. My collection is massive, but they are like buried treasure in two green, polka dot boxes under my bed. Selecting the next volume (gift? smooth pages? size? paper strength? beautiful cover?) is so fun. It feels like that great word: abundance. So having at least a few journal to choose from is great fun.