Beyond Knitting
Eight Joyous Ways to Journal
Last time, I spoke about why we might want to record and celebrate our precious, ordinary days in our journals; today I’m exploring how.
Everything here is just a suggestion. Use what you can. It’s all shared to get you asking how you might cherish and document your everyday life in ways you find doable, enjoyable, and fun. That fit you and your life.
I’ve listed eight approaches with supplies beneath each one.
Minimalists might want to skip methods that involve investing in a lot of stuff; maximalists, get involved!
If you love routine, try picking one or two ideas and incorporating them into your daily life. If you are more of a journal-when-you-feel-like-it person, take a pick and mix approach. Make a ritual of journaling everyday, or just do it when you remember.
You cannot get it wrong. Anything you try records moments of your one precious life that may otherwise be forgotten.
One. List gratitudes/highlights. A great way to reframe days that were difficult or record the joy of days that were amazing. The idea is not to paper over our sadness, but to put a caring container of wonder and kindness around our hardest times. Or to just say thank you for the loveliest ones.
Supplies: pen + journal; (optional) THANK YOU rubber stamp + ink-pad.
Highlights of attending Yarningham
Two. Stick stuff in as you go! Found a lovely paper sticker on an old reel of thread? Stick it beside the day’s to-do list. Friend sent you a card decorated with a stunning array of washi-tape? Carefully peel it all off the envelope and stick it in.
Don’t wait for the perfect time or page: stick stuff in as you go!
Supplies: journal, sharp scissors, glue stick.
Clockwise from top left: tape from a letter, a pretty vintage thread spool sticker, a fish label from a working fishing boat; a sticker I bought as a joke to help manifest our house sale in 2023.
Three. Make collages as visual records of special or important days. Got stickers and washi tape? Special scraps of wrapping paper or things like old calendars or broken books? A mini photo sticker printer? It can be so therapeutic to sit with your supplies and arrange them to speak to your memories in collage. Include things like receipts or tickets.
Supplies: journal, sharp scissors, glue stick, collage stash of old calendars, magazines, wrapping paper; (optional) mini photo-printer, stickers, washi tape.
Journal collages remembering special days, friendships, people.
Four. Record life in color. For my Colour at Play course produced last year, I designed activities that can be incorporated into creative journaling, so color play can become a normal part of life.
For example, try taking an everyday color journey, in which you go anywhere—into your garden, round your kitchen, down your street—and pick out colors you notice. Draw them into your journal and write down where you saw them. This is a way of celebrating the fleeting moments of life through the medium of color and you can use it to record anything.
Supplies: journal, sharp scissors, glue stick, coloring pencils or watercolors.
Bulverhythe Beach Sunset Color Journal, January 22, 2024
Five. Carve your own rubber stamps commemorating special moments. See a seal? Make a stamp. See a whale? Make a stamp. Found some special shells? Make stamps. Got some lovely wrapping paper with a nice design? Make a stamp. Got friends or family visiting? Make stamps together.
Supplies: journal, ink-pads, erasers or speedy carve carving block/eraser stamp material, lino-cutting tools, cutting mat, exacto knife.
Hand-carved rubber stamps add a personal touch to your journal and commemorate special moments like seal sightings.
Six. Make a flier of your day! Inspired by the artist project Learning To Love You More, use the framework of a event flier to turn any day into a thing of joy. Use words, photos, to include all the main information you’d find on a flier: the what/when/where of your day.
You don’t have to photocopy the flier and distribute it! Just design it in your journal.
Supplies: pen + paper, (optional) felt-tip pens or markers, rubber stamps, stickers, washi tape, ephemera, sharp scissors, glue, paint, mini photo-printer
Fliers of my day, from 2020
Seven. Write just five lines. This small, everyday ritual of reflection and writing is actually inspired by two commenters on my last piece here. I love the simplicity and minimalism of this approach. It condenses every day down into just five lines, making a record that is readable over time.
Supplies: journal + pen.
Eight. Journal with a friend! Some of the best pages in my many KNITSONIK journals reflect time spent with a friend, where we sat down with our journals and our supplies and played together. These pages record the preciousness of time spent with loved ones directly on the page.
Supplies: journal + pen, friend; (optional) as many supplies as you have, pooled together and shared generously.
Pages documenting art lessons with my little niece, Scarlett during lockdown. Clockwise from top left, Yayoi Kusama dots, Geta Brătescu collage, and Georgia O’Keeffe closeups of leaves and skies
Please add your creative methods for joyous journaling in the comments, and let me know which of these you’ve tried or plan to try!
Come Shop With Us
Thank you, Felix, for the inspiring starters. I’m off to the basement to retrieve the box of stamps I know are there somewhere. The idea of making our own stamps is intriguing…perhaps a future class?
Hurrah for your basement box of stamps! Re: making our own stamps, I’m definitely exploring this idea as part of the membership I’m going to be offering in my online school this September. I did a two-hour workshop in-person here in St. Leonards-on-Sea and you can definitely make a great start in two hours!
Hi Felicity, love this article!
Can you recommend some nice journals to purchase? Thank you
Any dot-grid A5 notebook will work but I adore the Leuchtturm1917 A5, dot-grid hardback books. Everything you see in this post was created in a journal like this.
I got the special edition bullet journal once but confess that even though the paper is thinner, I prefer the basic ones that don’t have BULLET JOURNAL embossed on the front.
I like to get mine personalised – the extra money is worth it for the hit of joy every time I pick up my journal to use it.
Hope that helps!
Felix, your classes and posts always cheer and inspire. This – “ The idea is not to paper over our sadness, but to put a caring container of wonder and kindness around our hardest times.” – is brilliant and a reminder that we have agency over how we frame life’s challenges.
You are a treasure.
Yes! The caring container of kindness makes all the difference.
Thank you so much for picking up on that part and for your kind words – yes, I think it’s really import to differentiate between toxic positivity and leaning into gratitude to make the tough times feel kinder x
YES!
Thanx! I’ve been journaling for over 40 years, mostly art journaling, but I still learned new things from your post! I can’t wait to carve a stamp. It might just say, “Thank you”
TOP TIP: print out an alphabet in which all the letters are mirrored and carve your THANK YOU from right to left, as everything we print is in reverse!
Thank you for the many brilliant ideas, Felix. Things are much better organized around here since I started journaling last year (took your excellent online class!). And now I am ready for the next step—getting creative with stickers, stamps, washi tape, and whathaveyou. Let’s do it. It’s gonna be fun! Carving our own stamps? Yes, please! Count me in!!!!
Woohoo, I’m so glad you found the course helpful and can see a way forward to more playing and creativity on top of keeping life organised!
I’ve been journaling intermittently since I attended your MDK workshop–it’s been a calming and positive experience. I’m so grateful you taught the class!
Love love love. Felix gives the only journaling advice that DOESN’T make me feel like I’m not doing enough. A beautiful start to the day!
THIS RIGHT HERE
Great article! Your warmth and kindness come through, and I too love the phrase “the idea is not to paper over our sadness….”. I’ve written it down to keep nearby. Always glad to see your postings in MDK!
Love these ideas. I am a life long journaler and I especially like the newsletter idea. Also I recently tried Viviva paints which are cool for sticking in a travel journal.
An added bonus is that when I journal in the morning my day just seems to be better. Write on!
Inspiring, creative, permission-granting,
Thank you for this inspiring piece. I have been saving bits from events, ticket stubs, program notes, package stickers, buttons, a special paper napkin, ribbons, images torn from magazines, beautiful postage stamps—- just daily stuff, saved in an envelope until I have time to stick them in my journal. Now I’m off to do just that. Thank you for the kick in the pants to get it done!
Then, just five lines. I can do that!
Thank you Felix. Can’t wait for your new fall class!
Will be looking for colorful ink pads for the stamps next trip to the art supply store.
What Fall class? What will it be about? Thanks!
Thank you for your fine article. I’ve been journaling at the end of the day for over 40 years. They are gratitude journals that remind me of the good things that happened during the day and giving thanks for them. I used to keep a picture journal before starting the gratitude journaling. I would take magazines and cut out pictures of things or colors of things I liked. I’ve kept them, so I can go back and look at what things I still like. It’s a time of reflection, ease, and joy. You are right, we are not papering over our sadness. Joy and love can be found in the most astonishing places.
Love this!
Just the inspiration I need this morning. Thank you!
Such great ideas, thank you! I especially love the color one – I adore my watercolors but often get hung up because I can’t paint a “real thing” – capturing colors takes away that pressure. Another one I love to do (when I remember) is to list five, or seven (or whatever) images/visual snapshots from the day (like “older man sitting on the pool steps to cool off from the sauna”) – they can be as detailed or minimal as one likes. (I believe I got that one from Jami Attenberg 🙂 ). As always, thank you for the positivity and inspiration!!
Love all of these ideas! I have all the supplies to start journaling, but just never know how to start.
These are awesome ideas! I am always looking for ways to jazz up my journal shot I can’t wait to try these.
Journaling helps me so much. I actually have a few types of journal: one for my everyday highlights (the good things that happened or things I’m proud I accomplished), one to write my way out of things that are causing me anxiety and I can’t quite figure out, and one that I can draw or use colour in. But I like the idea of adding the colours of the day. That sounds so beautiful.
Also, I’m traveling in August and aiming to travel as light as I can (at least on the way to my destination, this will be a big souvenir yarn trip). Any recommendations for a super compact journal and pen/colours?
Making my own stamps are on my brain–I looked at a tutorial yesterday. I LOVE the two-step stamp you made–so simple but so beautiful. And the viscerality of the carving is so tempting.
I would definitely take your class in carving (and probably anything else you offer, really 🙂 )