Journaling 101 #1 What You Need

     Of late I'd been posting pictures of my journal on my Instagram stories and I've had a lot of people ask me tons of questions about starting and maintaining a journal. I've wanted to do something about that and now finally I am! Presenting to you, a new series on my blog - JOURNALING 101, where I'm going to be talking about how I journal and all the tips and tricks I've learnt over the past couple months!

     This first post, I'm going to talk about what you need to get started on journaling! Truth be told, all you need is a notebook and a pen and you can journal. But if you're like me and plan to make your journal aesthetically pleasing and look artsy, there are a couple more things you'll be needing!

     What you Need -

     1. A NOTEBOOK - 

     I personally love using dotted journals. But you could use a plain notebook or a checkered notebook. I'd personally advice against using ruled notebooks as it's hard to doodle or be artsy when there are lines across the page. But again, that's just my preference. The Leuchtturm journals that many use is honestly too expensive for me and I buy dotted journals from an Indian brand (MatrikaS) on amazonDOTin.

     2. WRITING TOOLS -

     ↠ Pens - I use Artline drawing system pens of sizes 0.2 (for drawing fine lines), 0.3 (for the regular journal writing) and 0.5 (for writing important stuff or headings and such)

     ↠ Brush Pens - Brush pens are the best for lettering and I know the Tombow ones are the best but if you're looking for less expensive alternatives, I always go for Sakura Koi brush pens. They have so many amazing colours and shades and the quality is awesome too.

     ↠ Pencils - Even though I've been journaling for about ten months now, I'm still scared to just go in with my pens on my first try. I draw up things faintly with my pencils and go in again with the pens.

     3. EMBELLISHMENTS - 

     ↠ Stickers - I buy a lot of pretty stickers from nearby stationary shops. I also get a lot of free stickers online. Jordan Clark has some pretty amazing collections up for free on her website and even more collections for low prices at her shop. They're among my favorite stickers for they're so whimsical and lovely.

     ↠ Photographs - I print out photos I click on cardstock and use them in my journal. If you're not quite sure about the photos you take, check out sites like Unsplash for amazing, royalty free photographs to print out and use in your journal.

     ↠ Washi Tape - Washi tape is the easiest way to jazz up that journal page without spending a fortune. I've been collecting washi tape ever since I started journaling and I love using bits and pieces in my layouts.

     ↠ Book Pages - I know many of you are looking at me all scandalized but let me explain. I buy extremely old worn out books from secondhand bookstores to use in my journal. They are cheap and not in a readable condition anyway. The browned, vintage-y old papers are perfect to use for journaling. You could also use pages from old dictionaries.

     ↠ Scrapbook Paper - They're easy to find at stationary shops as well as online. They come in so many themes and look cute added to your journal.

     4. OTHER STATIONARY ARTICLES-

     ↠ These include items like rulers and watercolours. I'll do a more detailed post about watercolours someday.

     5. THAT'S IT. That's basically all you need to get started with your journal!

     In the next post of this series, I'm going to be talking about the types of trackers you could put down in your journal.

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Do you journal? What kind of journal do you use?