My "Scrapbook" Journal: An Overview

I love writing in my journal. I find the process itself calming and therapeutic. (And, a lot cheaper than actually going to therapy!) I also enjoy paging through old journals (of which I have piles and piles!) every now and then: both to reminisce, and to reflect on how I've grown. (The process also helps me identify patterns in my depression, which helps me deal with it.)

For the last few years, I found myself tucking in little bits and bobs into an envelope in the back of my journal (I used to use Typo Buffalo journals). Ticket stubs, receipts, the odd photo or letter. I'd never really tried my hand at "proper" scrapbooking, mostly because it takes far too much time and it can really get extraordinarily expensive! I was reminded about the journals I used to keep in high school. The ones where every little thing got glue-sticked in. Going back to the basics of scrapbooking - sticking all those little scraps in a book, plain and simple! So last year, in the middle of November, I did it.

Most of the things that get stuck in my journal are photos. Not the "important" ones that I make a point of getting printed properly so they can be framed or whatever. But the little ones. The daily snapshots. The ones that you are always taking, and then weeks later rediscover on your phone and can't quite remember why you took it. They all get printed (just on ordinary office paper on an ordinary office laser printer, one day I'd like to afford proper photo paper for this!) and stuck in. I add little bits of scrapbooking paper, small embellishments. I add the receipt from that fancy dinner, the screenshot of that whatsapp conversation that made me laugh, the business card my friend gave me. The odd post-it note. And I write, whether it's just a small caption about a photo, or pages of good old fashioned journal writing about everything that's on my mind.

These books are my life. The small details. The daily struggle. The little everyday things of beauty.

Obviously, a lot of what's in my journal contains personal information, either my own or others. So I've tried to photograph a selection of pages that I can show you, to give you an idea of what my journal looks like.

If you are interested in starting your own scrapbook journal, check out THIS blog post!