Make an envelope for your PRIVATE THOUGHTS to glue into your personal journal
At age 16, I began keeping journals filled with art, poems, pockets, and envelopes. I realized part of what makes journaling fun is when your journal becomes a place to express your creativity. Even then I loved the idea or writing on pages with beautiful handmade borders or writing over a piece of art I created.
Embellish your journal with envelopes, pockets, and stickers
Try embellishing your journal with envelopes, pockets, and stickers. Envelopes and pockets can be great places for private thoughts— those you don’t want to share. You can find an envelope and paint it and then write on top PRIVATE THOUGHTS. Inside you can put all your private thoughts or notes to yourself of things you don’t want to share or are not ready to share. Author, Flannery O’Connor said, “ I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” It is true—sometimes I realize that I don’t know what I feel until I see what I said.
There are some great art materials that will make creating pockets fun and will also make it look really cool too. You can use new envelopes, or old envelopes you collage or paint over. Try colored or metallic Sharpies or sparkle gel pens on colored or envelopes you paint yourself. You can also make your own envelope or pocket out of paper that you design and glue into your journal to save private or cherished items.
If you run out of space on the page that you are writing you can continue writing on a separate sheet of paper and put it into a pocket that you create inside your journal.
For ideas on DIY envelopes and pockets, please watch this.
Read Rose’s Story to learn what brought her to coauthor Digging Deep.
Rose Offner, MFA, is an accomplished author in the field of journal writing whose titles in addition to Digging Deep include Journal to the Soul, Journal to the Soul for Teenagers, Letters to the Soul, and Journal to Intimacy. She takes children, teens, and adults on creative inner journeys to discover their story through writing, art, and sharing. www.mindblossoming.com