Micro Journaling and why it’s so satisfying

Last week I showed you my little micro sized gel print journal and thought it would be cute in the leather cover I’ve had for a while now.

Already bursting at the seams and even with half the contents emptied out, it was still far too small for my little journal. So the only thing to do was to make a brand new one.

The extra pink bit came about simply because the piece of leather I wanted to use was too short to wrap around the front when all of my journals were inside. I added the fancy edge to it to stop it looking a bit like an after thought!

This little journal which is no bigger than a fat cheese sandwich (or doorstop), with its pre-printed backgrounds, is the perfect place for a quick art fix or to try out a new purchase. Its size makes it far less intimidating to work with as the pages are the same size as an ATC. More to the point the whole journal and cover is just too darn cute on my shelf and takes a great photo.

Creating a journal from pre-printed pages or mop up papers gives me an instant place to start from. This page just grew as I was trying out these Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks from Paper Pen and Plan.

This little page was completed in a few short minutes as the background was already there.

This little journal will grow and grow I think and before long I’ll need to make a few new inserts.

Have a good weekend

Jaine xx

Does Size Really Matter?

It seems in notebook and planner terms it really does, especially when travelling with art and craft supplies, when you need to justify every inch!

I’ll admit it takes me a long time to warm up to something and I’m quite sceptical about most things in the craft industry, putting them down to fads and phases. Micro and tiny sized travelers notebooks are nothing new but have been something I’ve wanted to explore for a while now and a recent flood of pictures on social media recently of cute mini tn’s had me longing to make one of my own!

Yesterday the weather was so awful, gardening was off the menu, so I was forced to spend the day in the basement studio making scrapbooks for my up coming KUKI stand. The materials were all out on the table and a little pile of discarded leather pieces sat looking at me so I decided to cut a micro sized piece just to see how it looked. Of course one thing led to another and I had to make inserts too otherwise how else would I be able to test it out? An hour later I had my micro and four inserts made from scrap papers and sketch paper.

I have a book of sketch paper, one made from mop up and scrap papers, one in watercolour paper and a fourth, the blue backgrounds all from a large piece of pre ink sprayed paper.  So plenty of choice of backgrounds depending on my mood and where I am and this little chunky will travel with me when I’m away this Summer.

Using scrap papers and my ready made background papers makes it already feel familiar to me so I won’t have any trouble filling it.

Here you can clearly see the progression in sizes, from my Carpe Diem by Simple Stories at the bottom which is my every day planner, Prima Jet Setter for journaling in, Prima Misty Rose for my hand bag planner and now the micro for on the go journaling. Simple Stories and Prima are found at Paperpenandplan on Etsy as well as the planner accessories.

Have a good weekend

Jaine x