Creative Ideas for Journals, Notebooks, etc…

Hi M,

We are lovers of paper here.  We use Moleskine for nature journals, sketching, watercolors, & storyboarding.  They are quite classic and seem to have something to fulfill every need.  My son picked an Eboo notebook for his book of mottoes.  We use a spiralbound heavy duty (plastic covered) notebook for BOC.  You can see what we use for our portfolio if you click thru to our blog – it is a simple cloth-bound 12×12 scrapbook with plastic sleeves for pages.   I also like Japanese watercolor sketchbooks that can be found at some art supply stores for home use but the Moleskines seem the handiest for travel/nature walks.

I hope you have fun picking your paper!

I truly enjoy a wonderful notebook. Like Richele, I’m a paper lover and Moleskine are a favorite of mine. And like DawnB, we’ve used Waldorf notebooks, and I am fond of them. What I especially like about the Waldorf notebooks for copywork is that they are thin and don’t have many pages. It’s doesn’t take long to fill them and have a feeling of accomplishment.

However, sometimes (many times, most of the time?) I simply grab a stash of unbound paper and a clipboard and use that for nature journals, artwork, copywork, etc.  The unbound paper might be drawing or watercolor paper, but often it’s just the paper I use in my printer.

I noticed I had a habit of “waiting” for the right supplies in order to begin, and that bothered me. Also, I think my kids were less intimidated by a plain piece of paper when they started their nature journals. And, it’s easier to handle one piece of paper than a notebook while you are drawing or painting, and it’s not frustrating if you don’t like your results and want to start over. Even for myself, I often prefer the plain paper in the field and then I paste it into a nice notebook after I get home, make a small homemade book with the drawings, paste them on notecards for stationary. I also rotate drawings in a set of frames we have on display in our living room, and sometimes I simply pin the most recent drawings on the kitchen bulletin board.

For the kids’ nature journal, for years I put their drawing in a photo album. The album accomodates any size of drawing, allows us to add things like text, ticket stubs, maps, etc. and it’s so easy to put pages together – no glue or coordination required (I often lack both!). Now that they are older, they might enjoy a nice notebook like I use for my own drawings…I’ll have to ask them.

While I truly have a passion for paper and supplies, usually we prefer the unbound sheets of paper. Whatever gets you and your kids drawing and doing copywork is the best material to use.