Moleskine Inspiration
[ 17 May 2008 ]
Those of you who have been around for a while will know by now that Moleskines are my journal of choice. They are beautifully made, with fabulous quality paper, & you really can’t go past them for a glorious piece of kit.
If you’ve never bought one before, don’t hesitate a moment longer! Run, don’t walk, to your nearest Moleskine supplier & pick yourself up a piece of bliss! But of course, that presents us with two questions.
1. Which is the right Moleskine for you? They have notebooks, diaries, city notebooks & cahiers, all blank & swooning for your attention!
2. What will you use your Moleskine for?
When I was working in an office (or at Lush), I would use the bus to & from work to get my best writing done. I loved to use soft-cover ruled cahiers with a buff cover. I have a whole stack of them sitting in my bookcase in Melbourne, filled with obsessive writings about boy infatuations. In fact, I have an entire cahier devoted to Simon! (Awwww!) I use a black page-a-day diary for my daily life planning — I draw hearts at the start of each “to do” item, & then highlight the words in purple when I’ve completed them. I also have a New York city notebook which currently sits totally empty, but which I cart around a lot because it’s wee & has a subway map in it! (I will fill it in soon, promise!)
Here are some lovely things that other people have done with their Moleskines. The artist is noted below the picture. I hope they fill you with inspiration & elation!
Ideas for your Moleskine
Saliva-inducing illustrations of the food you eat
A chart of romantic or sexual conquests
Modern treasure-map guides to your favourite places
Written character sketches & mysterious pictures
Page after page after page of wishlists
Love letters to your idols
A choose-your-own-adventure story
Views from windows
Individual haikus about each of your friends
Reviews of every roller-coaster you’ve ever ridden
What you would wear if you lived on the Moon
A collection of perfume strips & who you think they suit
Drawings of your favourite designer shoes
Lipstick kiss-marks
The third draft of your acceptance speech
What do you use your Moleskine for? Do you have pictures?
Resources
Livejournal’s jr__nal community
Flickr’s Moleskinerie group
Flickr’s The Moleskine: One Page At A Time group
Flickr’s My Moleskine group
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
Tags: aesthetic,
consumption,
inspiration,
life,
question Share this! + Email This + Del.icio.us
+ Facebook
+ Stumbleupon
+ Technorati
Comment
Read more tagged aesthetic...
Spring Uniforms Purple Eyebrows! Jem-Inspired Makeover! Style By The Stars: What's Your Astrological Aesthetic? 8 Outfits & Ideas For The Perfect First Date What Would You Wear At 40? Themed Outfits For Intellectuals Cute Coats (& How To Wear Them)
Read more tagged consumption...
ModCloth Competition Winner! Spring Uniforms What Should I Buy For Mother's Day? iCiNG Treats For May! Daily Outfit -- 30th April 2008 ModCloth Competition! Style By The Stars: What's Your Astrological Aesthetic? Daily Outfit -- 9th April 2008
Read more tagged inspiration...
How To Wear... Competition! Spring Uniforms Things I Love Thursday Kink Under The Covers Deciphering Your Cravings Daily Outfit -- 23rd April 2008 iCiNG Transformation Challenge Discussion! Ooh, The iTC Starts Tomorrow!
Read more tagged life...
Yoga For Beginners Things My Parents Taught Me Things I Love Thursday What Should I Buy For Mother's Day? Your Life In Haiku Weekly Resolutions Observing Our Progress Kink Under The Covers
Read more tagged question...
How To Wear... Competition! Things My Parents Taught Me Spring Uniforms What Should I Buy For Mother's Day? Your Life In Haiku Kink Under The Covers Morals, Ethics & Integrity -- Where Do You Draw The Line? Muxtape
oooh what a nice topic! i love my moleskines :] i use them for a mixture of things: writing, collaging, drawing, whatever strikes my fancy!
a few pictures from a past journal here: www.flickr.com/photos/hellokim…
A wonderful post, which made me want to go buy a moleskine immediately.
Wonderful entry, Gala. =] It makes me want to start writing again.. I think I might buy one =]
oh
and btw, honey, the first link to the Moleskine’s webpage is missing the “www”
just letting you know =]
~Jacqueline
This article came at an oddly appropriate time, as I’ve just purchased a Moleskine but have been puzzling a bit over what to put in it, besides the mundane ‘to-do lists’ etc…
However I now have a few ideas…so thanks!
:D
I’ve always carried around a little notebook to write down quotations I like, all sorts of lists, things that make me happy, and song lyrics that are stuck in my head.
It’s fun to look back and see what I was thinking at the time.
I also like making my friends write whatever they want on one page in my notebook for a good laugh later on.
I really love this post.
I adore the ones covered in brightly colored silk! Took one backpacking through Europe and drew mini sketches of my stops in each city. I have a larger one that I use to sketch jewelry designs and concepts for larger artwork when inspiration strikes. I also use the accordion pocket one to organize my receipts.
Gala! As always, your timing with this article is impeccable! I’ve actually just purchased my first Moleskine this afternoon (on your recommendation), and I’m dying to start writing in it.
It’s a city notebook for Washington DC, as I’ve just moved there. I can’t wait to start filling it with cute little notes about all of the wonderful things & places I come across during my time in DC (not to mention the odd piece of scandalous narrative – what fun I’m having here!!).
I hope you have as much fun filling your NYC notebook as I plan on having with mine!
Much love from Washington!!
Another idea of what to use it for:
(in coloured pens with each line a different colour!)
-write a list of everything that makes you smile.
then you can surround yourself with them.
this is a great way to work out what you love and what your passions are. i had no idea about what i liked or what got me excited until i did this. its so comforting to have that list. i love the smell of rain and sunrises and jetskiing and that two minute chat that you have with people when you meet them for the first time:D:D
More ideas, anyone? (Just stuff from my journal)
~Lyrics to your favourite song written in an intricate design..with markers
~Mini-collage done with ordinary bits&pieces..like cut out tissue boxes..and pretty candy wrappers.
~A list of 5 things to do every day (and do them!)
~Paste an envelope & enclose a secret love letter
~Doodle some comic strips
~Timeline with all the things you have done so far..or have yet to do.
~Use your actual makeup to create art on one page..eyeshadows, blusher, whatever.
~Paste in interesting news clippings
~Fortunes that came TRUE...from fortune cookies
~A page signed by all your favourite people
~Limericks
First time I bought one I found it such a nice notebook that I was afraid to start writing in it… I came over that fortunately :-)
^^ I really like those ideas [a] :)
I use mine to write every night (that was one of my ITC goals)
Right now it is pretty boring… I plan to make it more interesting soon :P
Thanks so much for this one Gala!
I’ve never really seen what’s so special about Moleskines compared to any other notebook. I think l’ll be getting one tomorrow!
Oh, I like this post. :) Just ‘cause I like creative bookfilling in general, although I admit Moleskines are pretty darn cool – I just recently finished a nice thin brown cahier. I paste newspaper clippings, photos, letters, cards, tickets, etc. in mine and fill it with class notes, quotes, journal entries, prayers, my own attempts at poetry…really anything that goes on paper!
Sometimes when I spend the day with a special friend I get them to write a little letter in my moleskine (Starting with: ‘Deat Ayesha’s Moleskine…’) about what we did that day. It’s so awesome to look back on them & to have my dear friends’ words in my precious, precious moleskine. Also sometimes I add little side notes to their letter in a different colour pen saying things like; ‘I was not flirting with the waiter, excuse me! I think that was you!’
It’s all a jolly good laugh.
Awesome post Gala!
I looooove Moleskines!! I currently have 6 and I use all of them for different purposes! Oh and check out www.moleskinerie.com , I actually won 3 of my Moleskines there with a competition and it’s a great site! I love this entry Gala, it’s so inspiring, wonderful!
xxxx
God I wish I could draw. Or even do gorgeous calligraphy or really nice handwriting.
My friend Hannah and I can’t afford Moleskines so we go to the bookshop on Saturdays and look at them.
Thankyou so much for this gala.
I don’t have a Moleskine, I have a plain lined newsagency book. I cover it in cute drawings and inside I write about cute boys, lovely memories, exciting events and stick in all of my concert tickets and dockets and horoscopes.
A tiny extract of my life
:D
Wonderful topic! I love each and everyone of my Moleskines! I have three of them! One for photography, one for art and one for my writing. :D
Love Moleskines! And all the wonderful things you can do with them. I have another suggestion, something I do with notebooks, not Moleskines but you can adapt it. Ever since I was about 14/15 my best friend and I have been writing a book to each other, instead of letters. It started out as a way to keep track of notes we wrote to each other in classes at high school, then when I moved back to Australia it became a way to write letters. So far I beleive we’re up to about 15 books in 10 years. What happens is we have a plain notebook/sketchbook each (whatever size suits you best) and over the year(s) you just write whatever you want in there, add photos, sketches etc. Whatever you want your recipient to see. Then when it’s filled up, send it. It’ll be much love, trust me on that! It’s pretty much just like mixing all the above suggestion, just addressing them to someone else purposely. On average I finish a book once every 2 years (school distract me from writing) but it’s always amazing when you get a book after so long to see what the other person has been through/done/seen/likes etc.
I think ‘the book’ system I created years ago is an interesting way in documenting life, and I hope that my best friend and I keep writing these books til we die. It’ll be a window into our lives for curious minds after we’re pushing up daisies. They encapture the essence of whoever’s writing them :)
If you’re interested in seeing what I mean I can send photos of the books my friend has sent me (hers are much much prettier than mine), though the ones I’ve written are sitting in a trunk in Dubai, so can’t really show you them!
You gem. This is just the inspiration I needed! x
i bought my first in a little store in central london… & it was awful handy in amsterdam… perfect travel companion!
WOW! I LOVE black vampire’s art, it’s amazing!! My moleskine is full of unorganised ramblings and loose notes. There’s so many ‘to do’ lists and random ideas for t-shirt designs. These pictures put my moleskine to shame! I must look after mine in a more caring way – with more colour!
They are so so beautiful. Ive always wanted one, but didnt know where to find them, so thanks gala!
blackberrymoose, please do! I never get tired of looking at pretty journals…even if it sometimes puts mine to shame!
I just bid on one on ebay :D
blackberrymoose, this is an awesome idea!
I’d been using random notebooks since I was 12 or so. Then, two years ago, I bought a Moleskine. I don’t think I’ll use another notebook again: everything’s perfect about theirs, from the hard cover meaning you don’t need a table to write, to the soft paper, to the little envelope at the end… Love them. I use a hardcover white pages one, but your post inspires me to get a Paris city notebook, and a diary so my to-do lists will be more organized.
My Moleskine is not a piece of art, I don’t try to make it especially pretty. It’s filled with adresses, wishlists (sometimes with pictures, collage or drawings), to-read lists, to-watch lists, reminders to go to exhibitions, gift ideas, dreams, old concert tickets, ideas for my writing, sewing ideas, travel diaries… It’s not a journal per se, but it’s still pretty much documenting my life. It’s not pretty, but it’s the space where first ideas of pretty things are born.
By the way, if you’re in Paris, there’s a Moleskine exhibition at the Centre Pompidou ending tomorrow (and if you’re not in Paris, you can flick through the exhibited Moleskines on the website: detour.moleskine.com/)
Well now.
You’ve just made me fall in love with Moleskines. I now want one really really really bad.
I love stationery!
Gala, thankyou so much for taking my idea! this has really been helpful and inspirational!
i’ve also managed to discover some ideas at www.wreckthisjournal.com/?page… …if any of you are feeling a little destructive with your moleskine!
i get worried that what i put in it wont be good enough or that i’ll be tempted to rip it out. or all of it out
oh moleskine love!
ahah i’m such a moleskine geek too! the one i use as my current planner is exactly like the one in the first picture!red, with a weekly planner on one page and a blank (ruled) page right next to it for random notes…I had always used the day-a-page one, but this year I tried this for a change and I like it! plus, yesterday (Gala, do you read minds?!) i have made a list of ‘journals’ i want to start keeping as soon as i move out from home, and of course i’ll keep them on moleskines (i just saw some new models which are more like very thin notebooks and come in many different colours!I’m going to buy 2 dozens for this project!my list includes:
-recipes (clipped from mags or handwritten by sisters&friends)
-a gratitude journal!
PS thanks for the amazing inspirational moleskine art!!
-a style scrapbook, with mag clippings, street style sketches and shopping wishlists
-‘money management’ journal…hopefully a moleskine will help making keeping tak of expenses & bills a bit sexier & less awful!
Now all you have to do is wait for the Moleskine freebies to start rolling in ^.~
Joking aside, I have the red week-to-a-page diary and it’s actually starting to get pretty full of randomness – it’s only May!
Thanks for this inspiring post! I love Moleskine, too and have 2 different ones. Mine are not so arty yet. I write down things like: to-do-lists, wishlists, spots I’ll visit all over the world, shop adresses, films/books/songs I wanna see/read/listen to, drawings, ideas for topics I’ll write about, lists of fashion Magazines, travel plans, interesting links, exhibitions I wanna visit…
Blackberrymoose: I love your idea! Made me shiver! So cute!
Haha I’ve definitely drawn views from windows and pasted perfume strips in my journal before. We’re on the same wavelength here, Gala. :)
i LOVE my moleskines, full of lovely love notes for the boy i love.
:] miss gala, you are wonderful.
Oh I just bought three mini ones last week!
They are as follows:
1 quote collection
2 to do list (School)
3 to do list (life)
ooh synchronicity i like it!
I’m going to get a big diary one now.
i LOVE moleskines! i have two which have been used as sketchbooks at uni (one documents a three day gallery excursion round london, the other one a project about car crashes), a new york one which i used for my trip to new york (surprisingly!) and i recently bought a lined one to use as a journal/scrapbook. i’m going to get a day-to-view diary next year :D
I brought a moleskin page-a-day diary for my grandmother at christmas as she always writes tons in her diary and overspils the tiny boxes on the week-per-spread ones, now I really wish I had brought one for myself!
Thanks for the article. Inspiration like this is what I always hope to find at icing.
I love Moleskines! I tried to buy one once but I didn’t have enough funds to buy it.
I’ll buy a city book now that I’m going to Madrid and I’ll fill it with the silly adventures that my best friend and I will certainly get into n_n.
I wish I had known about the city ones a few months ago! I’m pretty sure I would have had a much better time navigating foreign cities with it.
I used to keep a journal (not a moleskine though!) and got out of the habit… but this is all great inspiration for me to pick it up again! Thanks!
yaay i love notebooks but sadly where i live there are no moleskins =( but I still use other notebooks, right now i have 4 one to use at school for doodling, writting homework etc, one for poetry and more doodling, one as a daily diary and one that i write in every birthday and sumarize the best things in the year. For my coming birthday I´m planning to get one to write in every single day until my next birthday and another one which i just got the idea from Olivia, to wreck it and have fun !
I use my moleskine just as a journal, but my journal includes all kinds of lists in addition to recaps of my life. It also has polaroids of my boyfriend, images that inspire me in some sense, stickers, whatever I feel like. Right now, my therapist is making me do these thought exercises, so those go in there, too. I’m thinking of getting another moleskine specifically for setting and charting goals, and I also thought it’d be cool to have a moleskine just filled with paper evidence of my life: reciepts, labels from soda bottles, notes left on my car, to-do lists that didn’t make it in my journal, etc. I really really need something to carry around all the time to write writing ideas in, though. Hmm…
Wow… I didn’t expect to get so inspired when I first looked at this post, but DANG! Those are some awesome journals.
Maybe I need to go get me a moleskin and pretty that stuff up.
Thanks, Gala!
I write individual sentances in mine, not paragraphs. todays page could go something like this:
I cant stop listening to The Cure. Its been Raining for a week. Anne-Marie had her Twins. I want to make out with Micheal Showalter. I love my new nephews. The Concert was mindblowing. Spencer thinks I’m cute. I am going to art school in the fall. My family keeps expanding. I want it to get warm out. I miss my childhood best friend. I should go eat breakfast.
soon I’ll buy an unlined one to do sketches in when I go to school next year!
I HAVE TWO SIMPLE NOTEBOOKS
whoops caps….
one is for dreams daily thoughts reviewing situations that seem confuzing and i need a second opinion/read on them.
it gets weird when i for get which ones are dreams and things are scary…
the other i cut out news clippings from our stranger which is sort of like a newspaper but really not. everything in it is funny
so if it makes me laugh i put it in there
i also like to put in me and my best friend’s horoscopes so i can compare how crappy hers is to mine :D
and i draw pictures of my friends and right about how awesome they are or fun adventures we’ve had.
ok ok i didnt explain the secon one has lined AND blank paper so on the lines i have a running list of things to do to make me happy or things that are fun and just things
:)
Coincidentally, I just bought one only it’s slightly damaged so i’m debating as to whether i should use it or not.
I love Moleskines, they’re amazing and I also have a million of them laying around. I use one to help me organize my posting ideas, interview lists, who I need interviews from, and my to-do lists for the art magazine project I’m working on.
You should also check out: www.skineart.com/
It’s an entire website dedicated to Moleskine artwork submitted by anyone, it’s pretty amazing.
your ideas are all fabulous; i’m gonna try many of them!
This is awesome, very inspirational. If I have any time leftover tomorrow I am going to spend it doodling in my journal. I have a big nice hardcover journal that says: “Life isn’t about finding yourslef. Life is about creating yourself.” It’s all black with white text in big letters.
Ohh! I love moleskine notebooks, but I’m not much of a journal writer…I do blog a lot…but I checked out those city journals and I’m really excited because I’m going to buy one when I move to LA next year and bring it everywhere with me! :) Thanks!
I love to write, but the feeling usually strikes when I am feeling uber______(sad, nervous, blah, happy, lonely, angry) So the entries are a little dramatic and when I read back over them I tend to cringe. Therefore I am debating shredding all my old journals- because the thought of someone finding, reading those silly entries makes my stomach turn….
But, my point was that there is nothing better than a pretty empty journal! ...even if I do want to shred/burn it in a month:)
I just bought one today. :D I hope I can think of all kinds of neat stuff to fill it with..
where the heck did you find those pictures?! Amazing. I’m totally inspired to get a moleskine now.
Oh, wow, thank you Gala! I used to write obsessively, but lately, with uni and life and things, I’ve just stopped… I will definitely be taking those ideas!
Joanna: Our names are almost the same and I too have a loads of old angsty journals that make me cringe like crazy!! How weird.
I’m actually getting a Moleskine tomorrow. I’ve decided I don’t have any good secrets anymore so it’s going to be my secret journal that never leaves my side and will only ever be read by me :)
joanna: recently I was looking for old certificates and found my high-school diaries. I felt so ill I had to burn them. Yeesh! I’m not that person any more, thank goodness. But the process of writing in them was far more valuable than their eventual worth as a product. I don’t regret them at all.
Unfortunately I’ve only had bad experiences with Moleskines – they’re the only journals that cannot stand up to my abuse! That is, I take them everywhere with me. The last Moleskine I had I took to Vietnam and I only got halfway through it before it started to fall apart :(
These are some beautiful examples of journal art, though. I especially love Moleska’s, so thank you :)
I have just a normal green mini-notebook covered in random stickers I carry around and doodle in. And I love it.
Where do you guys buy moleskines?
Wow the pictures you selected are really nice. Definitely inspires me to start journaling again. Thanks!
This is such a great post— I love all the inspirational images you dug up!
Yay yay, so glad to pass the inspiration on to so many of you!
Tara Diane — Some of them I found on the jr__nal community, some on the Flickr groups… all linked above! But I did a fair bit of browsing to find them ;D
joanne & Nadine — Ugh, I hear you on old journals! I can’t bring myself to throw any of them out (& I have soooo many), because I know that despite my current discomfort at reading them, I know that one day I’ll really wish I still had them!
Natalie — Aw, that’s such a shame! I love mine so much, & they have never let me down. But then, I have never taken one to Vietnam. Maybe that’s the ultimate test!
Lou — I usually buy mine from Borders or art supply stores :>
oooh, pretty! i have a journal that is quite awesome (not a moleskine, but i’ll try to get one after i’ve filled this one up). i got it from canadian indie artist emm gryner (go check her out, she’s amazing) for some facebook thingy…..yeahh. it’s orange and has paper stars and lyrics on it…it’s quite cool. i usually just write stories in them, and character profiles, but there is more than one about boy infatuations…aww! i even have an old notebook that is almost entirely devoted to a guy i had an unrequited crush on a while ago…tee hee. for the record, i’ve only destroyed one of my journals, and that was in grade seven, and i’d written a lot of angry things in there. yikes!
these pictures are amazing!
i love moleskines. i can’t pass a new, blank one without buying it.
I love all the inspirational ideas. I still have my journal from when I was 7, chronicling which boy I loved and what kitten I wanted! BTW, that is a lovely shot of you on Wendy B’s site at the Blogger get together. Love the sparkly ears!
how do you pronounce ‘moleskine’?
I’ve been saying ‘mole-skin’ but that can’t be right.
What is your ravishing opinion?
I love my NY City Notebook. When I first moved there it went everywhere with me. Now it still sits on my coffee table and I do refer to it. I also love the storyboard book – I would be absolutely lost without it. I can sketch out my layouts for websites and I could not go anywhere without it.
I found a great place called NoteMaker (http://www.notemaker.com.au). They’re in Melbourne and they ship anywhere in Australia and I think internationally too.
I love the choose your own adventure story idea!
I’m a sucker for those; always have been.
I LIKE THEM. Thanks Gala
what a great post, Gala!
I’m thinking on buying my first moleskine :) would you recommend me please what size of moleskine is better and more convenient – pocket or large? I think I’ll get the classical ruled one.
Jade: well, since it was originally a French brand, I think it should be pronounced the French way, molay-skin ^^
loved
ann-d moleskine!
i really want one for me now!
loves from argentina!
flor
from www.onthecorner.com.ar
I have a gorgeous and elaborately decorated notebook I bought on Etsy, but it’s a bit big to carry round, and so pretty I don’t know what to put in it!
soo…after reading this I noticed our university bookshop sells them, and I just picked up a red pocket weekly diary and pocket plain notebook combo :) Yay! I’ve already done the obligatory birthday marking, and I noted down your suggestions and some of the peoples above as inspiration to help fill it :)
thanks!
x
I loved this! I just bid on (and won) a Moleskine on ebay and I’m super excited to start my journaling..journey. Ha!
Thanks for the wonderful inspiration – as always!
this post is an advertisement.
i have a moleskine for everything!
i have large, unruled moleskines for my story notes — one for each novel. so far, i have four of these, holding story notes, character bios, tiny clips of dialogue, maps of cities, racial histories.
i have a small, unruled moleskine that i carry with me, for all my daily jottings. shopping lists, quotes, sketches, wishlists, lists of all shapes and sizes, letters i’ll never send.
and i have a journal, which no one will ever read, and whose shape i won’t even mention :)
i actually use my moleskine for notes , and its a small notebook to me.
so i write all my to – do’s and wishlists and things that i do need , and since im in photography school i always had to write down what f/stops i was using so i can rememeber ;p
duuuude — Haha! If you’re insinuating that I got paid for writing it, I didn’t :> This post was actually in response to an email I got from a girl who said she had bought a Moleskine recently, & wondered if I had any ideas as to how she could use it. Plus, I love Moleskines — & as you can see, so do a lot of other people!
eek, i just bought a moleskine! it is far too pretty and too expensive for me to mess up, so i am a little nervous about writing in it..but so far i’ve had fun drawing exclamation point trees, copying down patterns from my favorite tote bags, writing haikus (your suggestion!), and i’m eager to fill it up!
those flickr communities are so intimidating! none of my pages will ever look like that. but some of the more modest pages are vair inspiring.
I’ve never been much of a journaling girl, but this gets me all excited to have one! And one as gorgeous as the Moleskine as well. I could never justify spending that much on a sheaf of papers, but after looking through the links and the Moleskine website, I think I’m going to bite the bullet and just buy one already.
But now, what do I buy? I’m a big fan of lined because my writing tends to slant dramatically, but the blank pages have such a wonderfully arty feel! I’m no artist by any means, but I might become one if I get the blank pages. And my family and I are going to Montreal this summer, so I want one of the city books, but what if I don’t actually use it? Also, what color? I LOVE the red, but the black is so wonderfully classic and they don’t make the red in all of the products. And the volant colors are so cute, but if I ever amass a collection, I want them all to match. Don’t even get me started on the diaries as well. I like using the academic schedule, but they only make 18 month ones, and the way I see it, it’s a complete waste of money to go from June 2008 – December 2009. Do you just stop there until the next school year starts? I suppose you could buy a regular 12 month one when December comes. But I don’t do anything that requires planning over the summer. That’s a waste of such luxurious (and expensive) paper!
Oh, what a dilemma to have…
sarah – this post actually inspired me to stop tip-toe-ing around my own Moleskine and just go for it! Usually I’d be afraid to write in it, and when I did, I would take such care writing things down that I would totally forget what I was writing. Now I’ve ripped away the obsolete, boring, impeccable pages and my inherent messiness and crazy doodles add their own flair! Plus, I’m a lot more productive for it. Think about it this way: you’ll just get to your next Moleskine of creativity and efficiency a whole lot faster if you use this new one up, hehe :)
Oooh, these look lovely….
I’d love to get two city ones for when I’m studying abroad next year but there isn’t a Caen or a Frankfurt one, unfortunately. I think I will have to get some cahiers for my scribblings and hopefully make some Letter from America-style podcasts :) I see what people mean about being afraid to write in things for fear of messing them up, and I’m glad to see people have been inspired to be creative and make their Moleskines truly their own :)
OMG, blackberrymoose, that is the most beautiful awesome thing!!!!!
the suggestions you gave were so fun, gala! do you have any more? does anyone else? thank you (:
i love notebooks of all different shapes and sizes, and although i’ve thought about getting a moleskine in the past, i didn’t until just yesterday! i find the idea of having a treasure box full of used notebooks so romantic and interesting! such a treasure box i shall have some day. but in the meantime, i’ve got a notebook with rainbow pages that ties up with a ribbon, journals, little notebooks with poetry, drawings, to do lists, stickers, keepsakes and things i’ve glued in… they make such good memoriess. meanwhile, my new moleskine is sitting on my desk, unused. i am too scared to use it because i have such aspirations for it! i want it to be a work of art!
Read your blog and had to post you a link to the work of Ophelia Chong: www.flickr.com/photos/opheliac…
Hi, I love Moleskines. Over the years I have developed a tendency to buy journals just because of their covers. I have several sitting around that are intially dedicated to certain things but end up filled halfway with other bits and pieces – notes from classes, my writing, my drawing, website and tech related stuff and so on.
And then there are the moleskines. I first bought a large black diary in an effort to keep myself organised. Then by sweet coincidence I got my hands on one of the mini red diaries/organisers and I bought it early on and salivated over it for six months before I could use it.I also now have three lined journals – one for poetry, one as a daily diary (though I am very bad at writing in my diaries) and the third as a spare once either gets filled up (probably poetry at the rate I am going).
And much like blackberry moose (apologies if I got your nick wrong), I have a friend who means a lot to me. She and I used to give each other boxes at Christmas and on our birthdays (we were five days apart). These boxes would usually contain a couple of books (me Nancy Drew, she Sweet Valley High) and then odd little trinkets like costume jewellery and perhaps posters of boy bands and so on. Now she is in New York and I am in Fremantle in Perth, Western Australia – two different places from where we grew up. So one day I bought a little mini accordion page book and started to fill it. I don’t have any photographs of what it looks like yet but I have little poems, letters to her, drawings and so on. In the pocket at the back I have tiny photobooth pictures of me. I want to fill it out and post it out to her in NY in a box full of books and such like we used to give each other. I want her to be able to carry the moleskine book around in her purse every day and should she feel depressed to pull it out and be reminded that I care about her.
I wish however that I could get a Perth or Fremantle city notebook because then I could fill it out and send it to her – she has never been here and I want to show her what it’s like. I also wish they were cheaper – I’d be much more obsessed with them. sigh
By the way Gala, I have often had the inkling to start up a site much like ICING or along the same lines but then I discovered you. ;-) Very annoying that someone pipped me to the post on that one but it’s great that it’s someone like you. Cheers, Marisa.
ooh i love moleskins yay this is a very inspiring post, thank you!
I love this post! I have a New York City moleskine, although it’s only partially filled in. I carried it with me everywhere when I was there end of March, and plan on carrying it everywhere when I move in September!
I also have a large ruled one that I used as a diary, just for my writing. I think I’ll buy a blank one next and start scribblings/doodles/whatever in it (and make it somewhat more artsy than my usual journals), although I can’t decide between pocket sized and regular!
Ooh, I love moleskines! I got one in December, and I’ve yet to fill it yet. :( I love writing and drawing with Staedtler pens. I use mine to draw and write and rant and make lists!
I have a tiny sketchbook one that I keep in my handbag for drawings. I only got it yesterday so so far it only has two pictures of cupcakes in!
x
aaah i love my moleskine
i have a pocket size soft cover
i use it as a diary but i write everything in tengwar -> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengwar
to make it super secret and look pretttyyy
took forever to learn all the letters but its definately worth it!
I had a breakup journal. It was a collection of memories (especially bad ones), gossip about his ‘new life’, my personal development, new people I met, partying, songs I listened to, lyrics, quotes etc.
Fortunately I never got to the last page – I’m totally over.
I have a journal for (sewing) projects.
I don’t use Moleskines – way too expensive for me, but I buy journals with high paper quality and special markers with very thin tips and lightfast black ink.
A few more ideas I came up with: * I love mindmaps. Mine are clouds linked with rainbows, the gaps are filled with stars or raindrops. * I collect legendary quotes from my favorite tv shows. * I also love timelines. I draw them for every month to remember all the great things that happened to me (or I made happen to me).
...Well, journals are my way to stay connected to life (I have issues with depression).