While we're talking about journaling...

Here are some examples of beautiful journals...

My favourite journal is leather-bound and hand-made. It smells like leather, it feels like real paper and has texture, it's embossed, it looks... simply beautiful.

Mine is from Salamanca Market, Hobart Tasmania, chosen for me by hubbie. (Travellers can read more about Salamanca Market here.)

There are lots of places to buy them online, however. For example...

Etsy is a great place for hand-made journals... (images are all linked)

...like this one by Julie Boyles...

And there are many other fabulous sites...

Taj Mahal, perhaps?

Or one of many Celtic designs...

And a little more exotic in the choice of leather...

This one's kangaroo leather!

inscription...

The Family Journal, a modern take on the Family Bible!

Snakeskin journals... check out the Barramundi skin journals too!

and the classic "Little Black Book"

Not into leather journals? Here are some other suggestions...


From CafePress.co.uk

This is the Tree of Life Journal... they have lots of others!

For the artist...

Watercolour print journals from Bookseed...

Handmade paper...

For travellers, perhaps...

Travellers-Tales.co.uk

And for nature lovers...

So there you go, a few lovely journals to lust after! Just in case, from time to time, longhand journalling beckons!

Enjoy,
Kylie

Stuck for journaling ideas?

Sometimes I find that I'm lacking inspiration for a new layout. I can't find just the right photo or kit to work with, or I have a great photo but don't quite know what to put with it.

Do you have the same problem at times? Fear not, there are many wonderful creative sites which are there to help!

I thought today I'd profile a few sites which have lots of journaling ideas and layout prompts, and I'll look at some of the commercial products in a future post.

• Friday Letters - This is a lovely blog which asks a question of the week, and tells a short story to accompany it. Bev, the writer, encourages you to write the answer as a letter to a child, a friend, or even yourself. Some might like to add to their letter with photographs. For example, this week's question asks: Do you believe we are always given what we need?
•  Creativity Portal is an awesome site with an Imagination Prompt Generator (can you accept yourself as you are? Why did you...?), seasonal and holiday prompts (eg for Spring: When winter ends and spring begins, do you really notice the transformation of life happening all around you? What do you notice the most?), photo prompts including adventure,  daily photo prompts, and others.
• Daydreaming on Paper - Random questions for inspiration, such as "list 10 things that simply bore you to tears" and "what is the worst thing you have ever done to your hair?" (warning - site's popups are a bit slow)
• Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online - Another list of lots of journaling prompts, including ideas for lists to create, confessions, quotes, "3 things".
• How about journal prompts for the fearless? for giving thanks? for getting inspired? for tickling your funny bone? You'll find these and many others at Writing Forward.
• At JournalingPrompts.com, click on a star, any star, for a journaling prompt. Similarly, at CreativeWritingPrompts.com, click on a number for a prompt.
• Creative Writing Now - What would be the guest list at your dream party? What would the various guests talk about? And lots of other questions.
• Illustrated Watercolour Journals might provide some inspiration for jotting down daily happenings... in either digital scrapping or painting.
• The Journal is journaling software which includes prompts. There's also a list of some prompts here. There are some articles too, such as a baby journal,  "do I already know the answer to this?", and gratitude journals.
• Pixylin's Journal Prompts has a staggering 728 prompts in one list, ranging from #1 What is your interpretation of one of your recent dreams? through to #728 Which do you prefer, inside or outside? Why?
• You can create a Nature Journal following the information Donna provides on her site.
• And if you like the ideas of drawing as part of journalling, you can also work on your own drawing journal at Squidoo with some fabulous drawing prompts.

There you go! There must be a couple of thousand ideas here! Hopefully one or another of these sites will help pull you through those uninspired days.

Kylie