in this week’s newsletter: geeking out about stationery, sharing my 2023 journal line up, and on taking a break from writing
dear penpals -
around this time of year, family and friends start asking me what are some of the things i like, with the hopes of getting me something on my list for the holidays. and although i love stationery, each year i have to tell them to please not get me any. why? because i am the world’s nit-pickiest person when it comes to stationery.
so it’s no surprise that i have spent the past 3 months doing extensive research, watching videos, reading reviews, and painstakingly writing a pros and cons list of what journals and journaling system i’ll be using for 2023. and since i’ve gotten a few messages about what stationery items i’m using, i thought i’d share with you my collection for what i hope will be the start of a productive and creative journaling year!
thanks for geeking out about stationery with me, or (if you have zero interest in stationery) thanks for letting me geek out.
productive and creative journaling
one of the things that was not working in this year’s journaling system was not having the right amount of balance between productive and creative journaling. over the years of bullet journaling (explanation of what that is here!) i’ve found myself shifting away from planning and organizing my tasks, to simply adding fun and random doodles… which has lead to me missing appointments, forgetting important deadlines, and feeling overwhelmed with not knowing what to do.
so i’ve re-vamped my journaling system and trying to go back to the basics of bullet journaling. my archer and olive journal will be used as a study and task organizer, habit and mood tracker, and all around productivity journal. and my notebook therapy journal will continue to be part of the ‘japan travel journal’ series that i really need to update… another worry for another day.
my ‘every day carry’ journal
one of my newest favourite addition to my 2023 journal line up is bringing the ‘every day carry’ journaling system to life! an every day carry journal system, like what the name suggests, it’s a journal that you carry with you at all times. if you move, it moves. wherever you go, there it will be with you. and this year i’m finally committing to the traveler’s company brand and have created my own customized journal!
my current passport notebook insert system:
2023 diary (weekly) - daily gratitude and 1 sketch a day archive
kraft paper folder - safe-keeping any travel journal ephemeras
dot grid paper 01 - personal thoughts / reflections
dot grid paper 02 - birthday and address book
my hope is by carrying these inserts with me, it will ease the need to carry a bunch of different notebooks at once to better have an ‘at home’ and ‘in public’ journaling system (and hopefully lightening the weight on my shoulders with no longer having to carry 2+ notebooks at once!)
journaling accessories
the hardest part of being a stationery lover, is never having a big enough pencil case to hold all your stationery materials in one place! i could pretty much write a whole separate newsletter about markers, but i’ll spare you the pain and just highlight some of the MVP stationery materials when it comes to colouring and writing.
zebra mildliner highlighters (that doubles as a colouring marker)
crayola supertip markers (yes, the same ones you bought and used in the first grade! the classics never fail)
sakura pigma micron 0.4 pen (for all your outlining needs)
tombow fudenosuke (hard tip) brush pen (for all your calligraphy needs!)
i also often get asked questions about the specific kinds of stationery i use more so for creative journaling that i wanted to include here! i don’t carry these with me every day, but more so when i want to do some creative journaling - i can’t live without these when i travel or memory journal!
the two photo printers i use (not instant cameras) are the kodak step for smaller (and flatter) photos and the fujifilm instax mini link specifically to print polaroid photos. i tend to use both printers to give the journal variety in terms of photos, depth, and quality… but also because of price. polaroid photo printing isn’t cheap!
in terms of adhesives, tiny glue sticks are always a good idea, but if you want to invest in something, i’d recommend the tombow mono glue tape! it’s a cleaner, messy-free way of glueing things into your journal that comes in very handy!
can’t mention journaling accessories without mentioning stickers, washi tapes, and alphabet stamps! these are not necessary to journal, but they definitely make things really fun!
if you’ve made it this far, you must be a stationery lover (or just love me enough to read each newsletter hahah), but i’m glad that this space is for me to share things that bring me joy. and yes, there’s still a lot of japan content that i need to catch up on, but i found joy in this moment. to geek out about stationery and to write. not for an audience, not for recognition, but to simply write for me.
so thank you for sticking around.
as i end this newsletter, i am going to take a break from writing for a few weeks. as much as i love these weekly updates, i want to give myself the space to catch up on video content, rest during the holidays, and spend some much needed time reflecting on this past year and all the joys that it brought as we prepare for a new one.
so from me to you, happy holidays and happy new year! sending you love wherever life finds you journeying on in this great and beautiful world.
until we chat again.
Wow, I learned so much about your methodology and tools, Mina! I have always been curious about how you create some of your works. Definitely many good ideas here!
I’m definitely a stationery nerd so I loved hearing about what you’ll be using next year! I love watching/reading everyone’s techo kaigi. Congratulations on adding in your edc in a passport traveler’s notebook!! A friend of mine mentioned that the camel leather is the softest cover. :) I hope you have a restful and reflective rest of the year. 🤗 Enjoy kfc, mochi and ozoni and hope to hear from you in 2023!