Tag: Journals

Categories
General Notebooks Stationery Stationery Tutorial

How to turn your blank journal into a diary

New year, new diary

So, you’ve got a blank-paged journal and would like to use it as a diary… what do you do? Where do you start? All those empty pages can feel quite daunting!

I’ve put together a quick guide with some ideas to help you out. 

If you’re looking to turn your blank journal into a diary, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got enough pages to last the year. My journals are 128 pages (sides) – here’s an idea of how you could use them.

If you create weekly spreads and do each one over 2 pages, it would make up 104 of the pages (see above image, created in an A6 journal). You could then allocate 1 page per month for a monthly spread, creating it at the start of each set of weeks.

You’ll need more weeks in some months; if you have each monthly layout on a right-hand page, the the next 4 or 5 sets of double pages can be weekly spreads for that month (you’d then end up with a spare blank left-hand page, opposite the next month).

To do the monthly layout, start with a 7×5 grid (days of the week x weeks in the month; it’s easiest to do 5 weeks for all months, because of how the dates fall). 

For an A6 journal, make the grid from squares that are roughly 1.5 x 1.5 cm; for A5 they can be around 2 x 2 cm (it might be a good idea to make a template to copy/trace every month). Write the days above the grid, then add the dates in the boxes.

Add a title for the month at the top of the page, as fancy as you like – make it into a banner, flag, or decorate the word. Here are some ideas:

That’s the main structure taken care of… what else will you need? Maybe a title page at the start, or a couple of pages for a yearly outlook? A page to list birthdays/important dates? You could have ideas/note pages each month, or have a few blank pages at the end for jotting things down. 

You can create your diary however you want, with whatever pages you’d like to add, but hopefully I’ve given you some ideas for a way to start it off. 

Happy journaling!

Don’t forget, you can shop my range of blank handmade journals and notebooks in my Etsy shop 👇

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Categories
Craft Craft fairs Notebooks Stationery

Updates, diary dates: Changes and news from The Craft Fantastic

Hi 👋🏻 Thought I’d do a quick little re-introduction for anyway finding me for the first time.

Firstly, thanks so much for being here! I’m Jenni, Captain of The Craft Fantastic; I run a small business from my home in Northampton making journals, notebooks, stationery cases and bookish things by hand – often using leather rescued from shoe factories and furniture.

An update about my local stockists:

  • I’ll no longer be selling at The Emporium in Wellingborough. 
  • You can still shop my range at Margo & Evie and the gift shop at Northampton Shoe Museum…
  • Plus, you can currently find me in a pop-up space at Love Local Hub in Centre MK!

Don’t live in the Northamptonshire area? Don’t worry; you can find me on Etsy. 

Dates for your diary:

Sun 17th September – Made in Northants fair at Northampton Active, Bedford Road, 11am-3pm

Sat 25th November – Meet The Makers Merry Market at St Matthew’s Church Rooms, Northampton, 11am-5pm

⭐️ COMING SOON ⭐️ Part 2 of using your handmade journals. Next up I’ll be looking at using colour 🌈 

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Categories
Lunchtime Lusting Stationery

Lunchtime Lusting – Spring Stationery

Hey stationery fans! Thinking about spring-cleaning your desk/hoard? Then you’ll need some shiny new products. I’ve been searching the internet for the best new stationery for the new season.

High Street Finds

Over the past few years, high street shops have upped their game in the fun stationery stakes. Unicorns everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Which is fine, because who doesn’t love a unicorn? I’m starting off in Paperchase with the all important storage.

Look at all those compartments ?? For £10 you get a pretty home for sooooo many pens and pencils. If you don’t have desk space for something this size, you’re going to need an epic pencil case. WHSmith has the answer.

Squee! Bit too ott for you? They have plenty of subtler options to suit.

Ok, time for the filling!

£12 for a set of 12 coloured pencils (Paperchase), with a different mood or emotion stamped on the bottom, associated with that particular colour. You even get a little booklet on the psychology of colour.

For perfectly pretty pastel pens, head to John Lewis and check out the kikki.K range.

 

Marvellous, if you simple HAVE TO peruse your stationery in real life; but this brand has a pretty awesome website – trust me, you’ll love it. And with that, let’s head online for the…

Best of the Web (OK, Etsy)

As always, I began my search over on Etsy, and to be honest after much searching elsewhere, I headed back and stayed there. Being a maker and seller myself, I know how much hard work people put into their creations and love to buy handmade. If you weren’t aware, you can now purchase as a guest, so you don’t have to sign up for an account. Huzzah! You’ll have to click the links to see these beauties.

Is that enough to keep you going? I hope so! Don’t forget, you can head over to The Craft Fantastic Etsy shop for hand bound notebook and journals to go with all your new stuff.

 

Categories
Books Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

Upcycling & reusing materials = Unique & One of a Kind Binds

When it comes to making notebooks and journals, I’m a huge fan of using upcycled materials for a number of reasons, which I’ll share below.

Take this map-cover book, for example. The cover paper is taken from an old map of Brussels. The map made a couple of A5 notebooks and there’s some left over to make smaller books; and every book is different. Sure, I could get specific maps of places of interest/print maps off and get consistent covers, making bigger batches of each book. But I don’t want that. I love that every single one of my map books is different- one of the reasons I love handmade is that you’re getting something unique!

Even if I’ve got more of a certain material, I still like to work in small batches, making a couple of each different book. I get inspired by the materials on hand, and having just a little of a lot of different materials really gets my creative brain going. The spine of the above book is has been upcycled from an old leather jacket; using it for just the spine allows the material to go further and enables me to use all those thinner, smaller sections of materials. Sure, I could buy new leather in bulk and make bigger batches of notebooks that were all the same; but the way I work means you really are getting something pretty unique!

Also, I like to use as many of the little scraps as I can. The above pocket book was made from an off-cut of soft grey leather; it had small slits all down the sides, but because I made small A7 books from it, it works fine for me! See the thin leather strap? That’s an off-cut from the same leather jacket used for the spine of the key print book. If I’ve got scraps left, I try and think how I can use them. Mostly they make my mini books:

I’ve put together a short video on this subject and you can find it over on The Craft Fantastic YouTube channel, or watch below. I’m still getting used to doing videos and this is less than perfect; but perfection’s overrated, right? Listen out for me getting my words the wrong way round towards the end 😀

To see my selection of hand bound notebooks, bullet journals, travel journals and more head over to my etsy store.

Categories
Craft Inspiration Notebooks Stationery

An introduction to bullet journals

Hand bound good ideas notebook

If there’s such thing as a natural bullet journaler, I am one. Long have I been a lover of lists; a maker of orginised notes; an extravagant underliner; a margin doodler.

What is a bullet journal? Well, it’s pretty much whatever you want to make it. Start with a notebook, something to write with, and get creative. A completely blank notebook is my personal favourite, as it’s the most versatile; however some people prefer gridded or lined paper.

Leather spine key bullet journal

Though it may have started that way, it’s actually not just lists of bullet points. There’s a trend for people using notebooks to create a personal space for them to write and draw and catalogue. Layouts and doodles. Headers, banners and frames. The best thing to do is to try a few things out – just get going and you’ll soon get a feel for how you want to go and what you’ll use your journal for. A few bullet-pointed lists and a few doodles to go with them. Take inspiration, but have a go at making your own systems so that they work for you. What to put in it? Lists, logs, plans, charts, dreams, goals… I actually started with a list of the lists I wanted to make.

Bullet Journal list of lists

Leaving enough space for bigger projects is essential, so think about what you need in advance. A new one for me this year is a garden plan; I’ve laid it out so that I’ve got space for each month, and within that month space for a list of jobs that need doing and things that need planting. I’ve a small garden, so I didn’t need a huge amount of space:

Bullet Journal garden plan

 What else is there? Pens? There are so many! Sharpies are good for bold, solid lives. Stabilo fineliners are my favourites for a wide choice of colours and a slim line. And the Uniball Eye in black is the best I’ve found for your everyday black pen.

Stabilo set

As for blank notebooks, head on over to my etsy store to browse handmade notebooks, sketchbooks or journals in a selection of covers and sizes – there’s bound to be something to fit your bullet journal needs, and if not, email me for a custom order!

Blue floral coptic main