New blog and update

Hi everyone,

Well, I’ve run out of space on this blog. I can’t upload any more photos – do’h!

Plus I haven’t been diligent in updating this as YouTube is taking up most of my time in terms of sharing my creations.

I don’t want to neglect writing, though, and so I’ve started a new blog to help me focus on writing a bit more regularly.

I’m also working on publishing a book about everything I’ve learnt from my journey with depression and anxiety. So I’ll be sharing my art, poems, and thoughts on this new blog.

Not sure how it what it will look like or if it will last, but will give it a go and see what works best.

Here is the link if you’re interested in continuing to follow my journey over there: Juni’s Journal

Feel free to help me out by subscribing, leaving a comment, etc. if you like what you see.

I’m still making journals and I’m working full time on Willowbound Journals. I’m just trying to keep up with my writing too. We’ll see how it goes.

Not sure what I’ll do with this blog. Any suggestions?

How you are all going and what are you up to?

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The new name for my blog/business

After going round in circles trying to think of a blog/business name, I was inspired to do a poll by Amy L Sauder’s post where she got people to vote for the title of her book.

She wrote about how the comments people wrote in response to possible titles helped her choose the title.

I thought this was a great idea, so I did a poll in three groups I’m part of. One is an international junk journal group, one is an Australian junk journal group, and one is my group of blog readers.

At first it was a bit confusing because each group had a majority vote for a different name. The international group liked Journal Heaven, the Aussie group like Junk Journal Treasures, and the blog group like Sapphire Slippers.

But across the three groups, Willow was the clear second winner. And when I read the comments, the people who chose Willow mentioned the vibe I was after and they resonated with my willow story.

This showed me Willow had to be in the name because it connected with these words I was after: magical, wonder, beauty, whimsical, special memories, home. This is what journals are all about for me.

Unfortunately, Willow was already taken. People gave me lots of suggestions. One that I really loved was Blue Willow but it was taken. As was Willow Pages and other variations.

But one lady came up with Willowbound and I loved it. I tested it out with the three groups via another poll, and 62 out of 83 people voted for it. Their comments also showed me it was the winner. One in particular was the clincher: ‘Willowbound gives me a unique feeling since it isn’t a real word. I like it, it opens the imagination.’

I wanted unique and I definitely wanted imagination. The willow I played under was a place where I dreamed up fantasy lands and became a princess acting out my own stories. It was a place of imagination and that’s what a journal is for me too. A journal can be anything you want it to be.

So Willowbound Journals it is – yay!!!!

I’ve changed my blog and social media accounts to Willowbound Journals and I’m getting ready for an official launch.

I’m in the process of designing a logo. Here’s a bit of an inside look at some designs I’ve been working on:

I’m going to have a simple wreath of willow leaves with a ‘W’ in the middle.

I was testing out lots of ways to write the letter. I showed them to the junk journal groups and they helped me decide.

The winning ‘W’  is the one in bold:

This is exciting because it’s actually a free font that is also available on WordPress. It’s Tangerine.

I may change it later, but for now this is just something simple I can put on a business card.

I’m going to play around with colours and styles and might do another poll for the logo.

Anyway, just wanted to keep you updated. The official launch will happen as soon as I get this logo done and do some things with my shop and blog.

I’d like to get a giveaway ready for the launch and put all my journals on sale to  help me get started. I also want to have some freebies available and just need to work out how I want to organise my blog with this new direction I’m taking.

As mentioned in a previous post, I want to start doing regular interviews, tutorials, giveaways, journal process posts, and general thoughts on writing, creating, and memory keeping.

I hope to create a blog space that is full of inspiration, beauty, creativity, and encouragement.

Blog troubles and vote for new name

Oh my goodness, I’m having so many problems with the new journal blog.

First, most of the posts aren’t showing up for some reason and I have no idea why.

Second, I’m having trouble re-writing posts in the past tense. It just doesn’t capture the same excitement I had in the moment.

Third, the doubling up of blogs and posts is very time-consuming and tedious work. I’ve realised it would take me forever to catch up with posts. Especially since I want to include new posts as well.

So, I’m going to stick with this blog because it captures my journey with junk journaling in real-time.

This means I’m going to make quite a few changes to this blog. I’m going to cut out anything that isn’t journal related, I’m going to redesign it, and I’m going to hopefully take it in a slightly new direction where I include posts about journaling in general. Why I do it, why I love it, my journaling process, etc. And I hope to include interviews, tutorials, and giveaways.

I’m also going to have to come up with a new name. I’d really appreciate your help with this so I have a few options that you can vote for. I’ve included a bit of the reasoning behind them:

• Junk Journal Treasures – Pretty self-explanatory; I create journals that are also treasures.
• Fairy Wren – This one’s more symbolic since I love fairy wrens and the colour blue.
• Sparkle Journal or Sparkle Journals – Because I love anything glittery and it has a bit of a rhyme.
• Willow – Another symbolic one. I used to love playing in a weeping willow. It was magical and a special memory, so this captures the magic of journals and memory keeping.
• Fairy Light Journals – Symbolic again. I used to have fairy lights on my bedroom ceiling. Again, it was magical and another special memory.It was unique and I like the idea of each journal being unique for each person.
• Journal Heaven – A tribute to the love of journals.
• Sapphire Slippers – Very symbolic and a play on ruby slippers where a journal feels like home. Also, stepping into magical worlds.
• Bluebird or Blue Butterfly – Again, because I love blue and these are my things. I collect them and always ask for them in happy mail.

Okay, so I’ve been playing around with so many ideas. Please help – hehe!

Please let know which name you like best and why. I’m trying to capture a certain feeling with the name to show what journaling is about for me: memories, a home, beauty, inspiration, magic, writing, creativity, etc.

Thanks so much for sticking with me and please bear with me as I make some changes to this blog over this next stage.