Journal Writing Wednesday: 20 pages

Tags

christmas, christmas journal, lamy al-star

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Executive Journal, the Seven Seas Writer, and the Franklin Christoph Notebook. And for the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I’m also using my Christmas Journal.

Total pages written since this post (Dec 24): 20

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 1443

Total pages written in 2015: 603 (Not a bad total for the year but not as good as 2014: 685)

I will be continuing the pen of the month into 2016, and the pen for January is my Lamy Al-Star.

Purchases: I treated myself to an amazing online Boxing Day deal which I will talk about when the item arrives. I did go shopping this week but didn’t buy anything pen or journal related. Last Sunday I wrote about my Christmas Journal and this Sunday I will probably write about some beautiful journals I received for Christmas. Or maybe I will talk about the books I read in 2015 and an update to my reading journal.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• I’ve been working in my Christmas Journal, recording time spent with family and friends. I’ve been really enjoying it and I don’t want the season to end! But it’s something to look forward to for next year, just like the whole Christmas ritual itself.

Until next post, happy writing!

My Christmas Journal

Tags

celtic colours, christmas, journal prompts, journaling

In my December 9th post I mentioned One Book December and how it has inspired me to start a Christmas Journal. I’ve been working on it and I wanted to share my progress so far.

I did end up using my Celtic Colours journal. I decided to fill up the TWSBI with Waterman Absolute Brown to use as my primary pen for this journal.

Here’s the first page. The paper seems super absorbent because the TWSBI usually puts down a thicker line. But the brown ink looks amazing on the tan paper.

Here’s the contents page and I left an extra blank page for all of the entries. So far I have written about making our traditional tourtiere with my father, exchanging gifts with friends, my family’s Christmas celebration this year, some samples of wrapping paper from the gifts this year, and some Christmas journaling prompts.

I really like this page. I love wrapping paper and in the past I have put pieces in my everyday journals over the Christmas season. So I definitely wanted to capture that in this dedicated Christmas journal. I think it adds some much needed colour to otherwise boring brown pages of writing.

On this page, for the journaling prompts, I decided to change up the ink a little bit, incorporating some red and green.

I’m only up to page 14 and have lots of ideas for this journal. I want to talk about family traditions and treasured memories of past Christmases. I thought I might take photos of my favorite ornaments and paste them in. Even though it would make the journal bulky I might include some favorite Christmas cards too.

I’ve been conscious of having an audience for this journal some day, so there are recipes and observations and facts, details of family celebrations and gifts exchanged. Not a lot of emotion in these pages but that’s ok, I have my every day journal for that. I wanted this book to be a positive memory keeper for myself and for others who might read it down the road. We have so much to be grateful for and I hope my writing reflects that sentiment. Merry Christmas everyone.

Journal Writing Wednesday…on Thursday: 6 pages

Tags

christmas

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Executive Journal, the Seven Seas Writer, and the Franklin Christoph Notebook.

Total pages written since this post (Dec 16): 6

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 1423

Total pages written in 2015: 583

Haven’t used the Delta much this week but also haven’t journalled much. Christmas is tomorrow ya know. I will announce the pen for January on December 30.

Purchases: I wrote about my Hobonichi last week, and I’m still loving it. Nothing purchased for myself this week.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• Christmas!! I’ve just been preparing for Christmas really, and not writing very much at all. Work is now over and the big day is tomorrow so everything will be done by tomorrow night and then I plan to read and write and relax for a solid week. That’s the plan anyway!
• My wish for everyone reading this is a very Merry Christmas and a wonder-filled New Year!

Until next post, happy writing!

Monday Miscellany

Tags

christmas, journal ceo, journal prompts, nanami paper, scribblings of a storyteller, seaweed kisses, seven seas writer, the journal diaries

If you love beautiful writing, take a moment to read Ratika’s blog, Scribblings of a Storyteller. She writes with an intense honesty I find addicting. Thank you for sharing your soul Ratika.

I stumbled upon this post on The Journal Diaries category of the Seaweed Kisses blog and I was really taken with the double columns and ink/pen changes by the author, Ellina. And she uses a Seven Seas Writer from Nanami Paper! Of course she does. Just amazing visuals, of her pens and her journal.

And finally here are some fun Christmas Journal Prompts from the Journal CEO on YouTube:

Until next post, happy writing!

 

 

Journal Writing Wednesday: 28 pages

Tags

birthdays, calgary home and design show, christmas, crowne plaza portland, franklin christoph, letters, oregon, portland, vineyard burgundy, vintage trouble, visconti rembrandt, wonder pens, zenscapes by emily

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Executive Journal, the Believe In Yourself journal and the Seven Seas Writer.

Total pages written since this post (Sept 16): 28

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 1260

Total pages written in 2015: 420

So today I say goodbye to the Cadence pen and say hello to the October pen: my Visconti Rembrandt in red. Yay!! I haven’t used that pen for a long time and I want to try my new Vineyard Burgundy ink in it.

I will choose the pen for November on Oct 28.

Purchases: My packages from Wonder Pens and Franklin-Christoph have arrived so I will be writing posts about those goodies very soon. I have not made any other purchases since Portland.

Some points covered this week (and last) in my journals:

• I have started my Christmas shopping. Each year I try to finish completely by December 1 so I can avoid December crowds. Some years are better than others for achieving this, so I start early. I wanted to buy a bottle of ink as a gift and of course I have to do that well in advance of the snow. So that at least is done.
• I’ve started writing letters again. HUGE apologies to those of you I owe a letter to; please forgive me. I blitzed out 5 letters in 2 days and that has made a small dent in my enormous Reply To pile. And the letters were replies to letters from LAST MARCH! Goodness it’s a wonder anyone continues to write to me. I will try to do better this fall, honest. 🙂
• Birthday time again for me. I am getting less and less enthusiastic about celebrating. Getting older is depressing but when you consider the alternative…
• Went to the Calgary Home and Design Show. My niece Emily’s company, Zencapes by Emily, had her “official” debut with her handcrafted miniature gardens. She’s on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, and probably other places her old aunt (me) hasn’t heard of. Check out her magical creations – you will fall in love!
• Our trip to Portland, Oregon was magical. We crammed three days’ worth of stuff into 24 hours. The hotel, the Crowne Plaza Portland, was amazing. The shopping, food and people were awesome. And Vintage Trouble were fantastic. We got to meet them and they are the nicest guys around. The drummer hugged me and the guitar player asked us how they sounded! And then proceeded to fist pump David and wish him a happy birthday. They have an unbelievable connection with their fans that they work hard to maintain. An experience we will NEVER forget. Check out the Vintage Trouble website and buy their stuff. You will not be disappointed.

Journal Writing Wednesday: 0 pages

Tags

christmas

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Leather Journal and the Believe In Yourself journal

Total pages written since last JWW post (Dec 3): 12

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 714

Total pages written in 2014: 659

Total number of notebooks/pens/ink bought since self-imposed spending freeze observation experiment (it’s not much of a freeze these days!) (Jan 1/14): 55

• 1 pen + 1 bottle of ink = 2 items in a gift set on Jan 14
  
• 1 bottle of KoninginneNach-Blauw from Akkerman on Feb 5
• 1 Visconti Rembrandt Calligraphy set in Red = 2 items (pen and ink bottle) from Goldspot on May 15
• 1 bottle of J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche from Goldspot on May 15
• 1 bottle of De Atramentis Heather Violet from Goldspot on May 15
• 5 pens, 4 notebooks, 3 tins of ink cartridges from Reid’s on June 14
• 1 Jinhao X450 from ebay; received on June 19
• 1 bottle of De Atramentis William Shakespeare ink from Goulet Pens; received on June 25
• 1 Winnable Leather Notebook on July 10
• 1 Wreck This Journal on Aug 2
• 2 ink samples from Private Reserve: Avacado (sic) and DC Supershow Blue from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 2 Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks, grid and lined from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 1 Kaweco Sport Ink Roller Demonstrator from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 1 Leaf Binder from eBay
• 1 Alphabet Journal from Suzi Q
• 1 Dragonfly Journal, 1 Wooden Fountain Pen, and 1 Zebra V-301 Fountain pen in September
• 1 Pilot Metropolitan pen from Amazon on Nov 7 to celebrate Fountain Pen Day
• 1 limited edition purple Pilot Metropolitan in Leopard and 1 Leuchtturm 17 purple Jotbook on Nov 15 at Reid’s Stationers
• 1 Monteverde Prima in green from Goulet Pens on Nov 22 (see the blog post here)
• 13 (gasp!) 10 ml bottles of J. Herbin ink in assorted colours from JetPens on Nov 22
• 1 Monteverde Artista Clear Demonstrator, 1 Pilot Plumix in purple, 2 Platinum Preppies in blue and green and 1 Rhodia leather notebook from Scottsdale Pen and Knife on Nov 25

Yes it’s true – no journal writing this week! Heavens. I’ve been busy with work and getting ready for Christmas. I’m working on Christmas cards this week as I’m quite behind.

The cards are by Peter Pauper Press, one of my fave sources for journals. Sorry for the slight blurriness; this lot was sent out today. Almost there!