Hello again! I am so happy to be back here at Or So She Says to share another creative idea with you all! Did you know that September 22 is “Dear Diary” day?? I’m sure you had your calendars marked, right? Today I hope to get you excited to bring out that journal again with these tip and tricks…
Journaling….. we all know that it’s good for us to get our thoughts and feeling out but sometimes we just get stuck and don’t know what to write about. I’ve come up with creative journaling tips to get you started. These prompts are perfect for any age and all you have to do is cut and paste them in your journal and start writing {or painting} your ideas…
My friend, Kim, introduced me to these awesome mixed media journals. They are perfect for trying all kinds of journaling from acrylic paint, markers, sharpies, decoupage and watercolor paint too. I use the smaller, 5 1/2 in x 8 in size, you can find one HERE
The idea is to buy a journal, any journal, but it has to be something you are actually willing to write in. I don’t know about you, but I have tons of pretty books that I have been too afraid to write in because I didn’t want to “mess them up”. That’s what I love about this type of creative journal, it’s inexpensive and it’s made for you to write, draw, or paint all of your ideas in… there is no messing up 😉
To get started, just cut and paste one of the prompts in your journal. The pages, to begin with, are so white and crisp they nearly beg for you to add some fun color! I love the prompt, “Today I am thankful for….”, it is always the easiest thing for me to write about and leaves me feeling so happy when I really get out all the great things, the blessings, I have in life.
The very act of keeping a journal, whether it’s to share with others one day or to keep just for ourselves, has been proven to relax us and help improve our mental health. Try this: cut out the prompt, “The last time I felt really relaxed was….” and paste it in your journal. Give yourself some time to think about it…. was it last week when you woke up before everyone else and had a quiet cup of coffee? Or maybe it was the day you got to lay by the pool with a good book with no one else to think about but yourself. For me it was a long weekend getaway the hubby and I took a few months ago. Just thinking about floating down the river in a canoe with no other sounds except the birds and the paddles skimming the water gives me all kinds of reasons to smile. Journaling about this instantly brings me right back to that relaxing time and guess what? It calms me all over again.
Have I gotten you excited about keeping a journal? I sure hope I have… trust the girl that named her business, “Creative Carmella”, we are all creative souls we just need to make time to find out what makes us creative. I promise you will find out more about yourself and the things that are unique just to you once you give yourself the time to get it all out 🙂 Share these creative journaling tips with the kids in your life too. My daughter is 10 and already knows the power of words and writing them all down. Since she has been old enough to hold a pencil there hasn’t been a day that I’ve not found her drawing and writing stories. The truth is we are all story tellers because we all have a story…. so go on and write yours down!
Thanks so much for reading, I feel so blessed to be about to share my ideas with all of you here! I’d love to hear from you too! You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, or {sometimes} on my blog too 🙂
Love this so much. I couldn’t wait for it to publish this week!
Thank you so much! I loved being able to share this with you all!
Very cool, Carmella! I’ve always love journaling, but never realized how important it really was until I started doing Family History work. I would love to have a journal from any of my ancestors! It definitely motivates me to keep up on mine, so one day they can be passed down.
I know just what you mean! What a beautiful gift to be able to pass on!
I love this post Carmella! By chance a few weeks ago I bought some visual diaries with good intentions but haven’t known where to start…now I have motivation!
And I must say I thought I was the only one who wastes money buying beautiful notebooks and yet never uses them as I am afraid of messing them up 🙂 It is always nice to know one is not alone in their foibles.
My mother and her father and uncle are artests who loves to paint and my brother draws and writes screen plays and does art design for movies and I can write draw and do speeches in public
Carmella Thanks for your helpful tips I’m doing great at everything I can do to write and draw in my journals I’m totally going to carry on doing so because I can keep myself from being bored all day and releases my trebles
Hello Carmella, Thank you for sharing this. Must say I find it most inspiring and have had a little smile or two as I see myself a few times ie always buying lovly note books but not starting for fear of ‘spoiling’ them! I have had writing lessons and various art lessons over many years but have yet to use what I’ve learnt. Now I feel inspired…again.
Hey There! I know this post is old but I just love writing so much! I advocate for others to keep a journal all the time. I linked this post in my self love challenge about journals as I wanted others to get an idea about a good way to journal!
Good for you, Shauna! What a great message to spread and great blog too. Keep it up!
The look of adding colors to things that are printed or hand drawn is so cool. Thanks for sharing this inspiration.
I’ve designed some family tree notebooks that can be used in mixed media. They’re meant to become heirloom gifts and are available online. Your welcome to take a look at FreshRetroGallery.