If you’re getting started with journaling, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the inspiration and products online. This new Creative Journaling book by Renee Day is a great introduction with loads of fun ideas and tips that will help you find your style using basic supplies you’ll already own.
I admit I’ve not come across Renee Day before but she has a very popular Instagram and blog as thediyday. She doesn’t stick to one type of journaling in Creative Journaling but covers all the popular styles including dot grid/bullet journaling, junk journals, mixed media and travel journals.
The dot grid section is the biggest – and my favourite as it shows how to do lots of different layouts to help you organise your life. There’s plenty of fun week, month and year spreads, plus more specialised pages like habit/mood trackers, profile pages, bucket lists and cover pages.
I especially love how easy they all are to copy as there’s step by step photos to help you recreate them and most are made with just pens, ruler and washi tape, with ideas for paint and stamps too.
How clever is this reusable meal planner page with sticky notes you can swap around and replace each week?
If you’re more of a scrapbooker, junk journaling could be for you. It’s all about creating your own unique journal from scrap paper, mementos and, well, junk! There’s a few different ideas for how to bind and join your pages into a new or existing journal that are sure to inspire.
If the grids and tracking elements of bullet journaling makes you feel boxed in, try mixed media journaling. It’s more of an art project with no rules so you can get messy with your favourite materials. There’s tips on using stencils, tissue paper, paint and collage to really express yourself.
It also applies ideas from the last two sections for travel journals, creating cool pages and pockets that you can use to document a trip.
My second favourite section is DIY Accessories & Papers, which has quick DIYs and templates for things like page tabs, faux washi tape and lots of clips.
There’s also a section at the beginning with materials and techniques including some lettering, borders and washi tape edging styles to copy, plus lots of resources.
Overall, I was impressed by how much this book covers and that you can get started without spending a lot of money on supplies. it’s also great to have everything in a book on my iPad that I can refer to offline, instead of trying to remember things from videos and Instagram posts. I’ve been having trouble making a decision about how I want to journal and this book has given me lots of ideas to try.
Creative Journaling is released next week as a print book and ebook but you can pre-order it worldwide now from all the usual places including Amazon (USA / UK) and The Book Depository (with free shipping worldwide).
I received a digital review copy of this book from Netgalley but all words and opinions are my own.
Marceline is the co-founder and editor of Super Cute Kawaii and the author of The Super Cute Book of Kawaii. She lives by the seaside in Scotland in a flat full of kawaii, creating cute character goods as Asking For Trouble, working on endless craft projects and playing Nintendo.
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