Saturday, January 2, 2021

 Happy New Year!

Yes, it's been over three years since my last post.  It's not that I've stopped creating or journaling, quite the opposite.  I've filled several journals over the last three years and I continue to create my own planners (at least for my personal planning).  It's always a challenge when you have several social media accounts and you're trying to keep up with posting, commenting, and replying.  And then I got overwhelmed - being a teacher again after many years of being a mom, trying to create and journal everyday, helping my children prepare for life after high school, it was too much.  I also got discouraged - I wasn't getting new followers (did I really try to promote myself?), my art didn't sell, and I felt that I was really wasting time.

These are all excuses, I know.  And until I found the right motivation, I simply didn't want to connect.  There were times when I tried to start blogging again, but the funny thing was, I forgot how and I couldn't figure out how to access this blog.  In fact, I had to get my son to help me revive this blog.  LOL.

I'm not going to over-analyze myself here and try to fully explain my absence.  I just felt the need to blog again.  So I will continue, hopefully every two weeks, if not every week.




In 2020, I discovered the Traveler's Notebook system.  Basically, it's a bunch of smaller notebooks put together in one binding system.  I actually liked the size of the standard TN so I had several of my journals (Stalogy and Seven Seas Crossfield) but to the standard size.  

For 2021, I'm still using the TN system, but I'm using it like it was intended, with various inserts that you put together in one binding system.



The one on the left is my school planner.  The middle is a Prima TN that serves as my wallet as well as my monthly pages and memory keeping.  And the right is my main traveler's notebook that has my planner and my art journal.

Here's a quick video I did of my art journal pages from the last two months and a quick peek of my 2021 art journal.



Here are the first two pages of my art journal!  The new journal uses the new Tomoe River paper which has mixed reviews from the fountain pen world.  So far, I'm enjoying the paper as it wrinkles less and it takes less time for pen and watercolor paints to dry.  I will do another review once I've had more time to play with it.  I am still using Daniel Smith Watercolors for the most part.  Perhaps I will do a supplies post next time.



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