Why Journaling and Creating Scrapbooks Could Result in GREAT Mental Health Benefits!

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go to the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. You will discover yourself.

~Alan Alda

Every year millions of blank and lined paged journal books are sold in the United States. Amazon sells more than a million books to those wanting to write their musings or organize their thoughts. Equally as popular is the scrapbooking community. Those who love to mesh photographs, stamping art and stickers together in a bound book for posterity. I may have a few of these journals or scrapbooks on my shelves or in my drawers – and by a few I mean twenty or more.

If you are a reader of this blog, then you will know that I am an ardent photographer and love to assemble projects that utilize photos and quotes. (Read a recent article here.) I am a firm believer that sparking your mental processes through creative outlets is one way to keep yourself challenged and active from your youth through your golden years.

Let’s look at the value of both keeping a journal and scrapbook.

What is Journaling?

Consider journaling a way to plan your current and future life while reflecting on and learning from lesson of your past. A journal is a running diary of your thoughts, dreams and concerns. It also chronicles events and your “take” on what has happened.

A journal is a “safe place” where you can emote your love for another, anger, disappointment or sadness. It is where you can let out your deep seeded grief. While not a substitute for a trained therapist, a journal is often a tool to help guide you through the tough times in your life.

One of the most common themes among those who journal is to see how problems, once thought unsurmountable, were actually resolved, leaving the scribe with a much larger understanding and appreciation for having “made it through” and perhaps much better equipped to cope with future challenges.

What is Scrapbooking?

Scrapbooking to me is being able to put in to themed books the milestones of your life of those of your loved ones. Many parents, especially mom’s, love to keep sweet memorabilia of their babies first year, child’s school years and extra -curricular activities. I for one have made many scrapbooks when my children were young. Included in these precious memory books are first words, pictures of first steps, locks of hair from the first haircuts and much more. Being able to fill in the blanks for older children of their first years, is always a nice way to add to bonding experiences between parent and child.

Now that my children are adults, I have “shelved” these lovely books hoping that someday I will show them to their offspring and have some good belly laughs and perhaps smile through nostalgic tears.

There is positive mental health value with both journaling and scrapbooking for all ages.

As an educator, I see the value of offering journaling opportunities in school. Children can have complicated lives, and what a wonderful way to give them space to write and reflect than a journal. This avenue for discourse can be quite powerful if it is an ongoing conversation between a teacher / therapist and child. Being able to voice concerns, opinions and much more without judgment or having to actually “talk”.

Also, imagine the ability to see your child’s interpretation of their lives through the art of creating a scrapbook. There are many templates to help a child get started and ways to stir their creativity. Also, parents – don’t be shy!

Now let’s talk about a fun company that helps enhance your journaling and scrapbook world with their designs – The Stickii Club!

Related: Don’t miss the GIVEAWAY at the bottom of this post!

Stickii Club is a subscription service that also makes available a la carte stickers to accent your journal and scrapbooking project. I became interested in this start-up company when I met them at a gifting suite and thought that there true to life stickers would make a great addition to creative projects, especially with journaling. My favorite is the retro ones and travel as I love to put together my photography and utilize these stickers to help compliment the story. (As you know photography and journaling are my way to experience calm!)

I had an opportunity to send interview questions to the founder of STICKII CLUB , Rita and here is what I learned:

Louise: What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?:

Rita: I really didn’t want to work for someone else and be boxed into a strict schedule with no flexibility. I have a creative passion and I wanted to pursue that

Louise: Is STICKII CLUB your first venture in to the world of entrepreneurship or are you a veteran in the business world?:

Rita: My first foray into the world of entrepreneurship but it’s taught me so much, I can see myself exploring other business endeavors in the future.

3. What was the catalyst for starting STICKII CLUB and tell us about the company:

Rita: I’ve always had a love for stickers ever since I was little and dreamed of having my own stationery store. When I graduated I didn’t want to work for a company but had to work – at the same time I discovered subscription box services and decided to create one for stickers. So STICKII (stickers + kawaii {the Japanese word for cute}) was born. The company sends out a pack of stickers and stationery every month but because everyone has different styles, we have 3 selections to choose from every month.

4. Your stickers are more “mature” – meant for those who love to journal or make scrapbooks. Do you journal daily?:

Rita: Hah, running the company and creating most of its designs is how I spend most of my time so I don’t journal as much as I used to but our team loves planning & journaling and using stickers to make each entry their own. One of our team members has multiple notebooks for different things, she loves working at a place where the perk is unlimited free stickers for her to play with!

5. Are your products available online and in stores or only online?:

Rita: For the moment we only sell online through our own website. You can do a subscription or check out our shop for individual sticker sheets and some other fun things.

6. Do you customize for large orders and if so- how much lead time? (Such as a school specific set or a set for a wedding, etc.):

Rita: We never say no to a custom order, it just depends on if the person has the art work in place or needs one of our artists, the order size, the layout, etc. We prefer to have at least a month advance notice at a minimum but we’ve managed to pull off a few miracles before.

7. I work in media, so I am curious – which of the social media platforms are your favorite and get you the most results?:

Rita: By far, Instagram. Our service deals in the visual since it’s artistic and a tangible product so Instagram is great at showing the photos and people get excited about what they’re going to receive. Facebook is a close second and we’ve tried other ones but these two get the most results.

8. You are offering a giveaway {SEE BELOW} – what do people need to do to enter to win and when is the last date they can enter?:

Rita: Please follow us on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK between July 16th and August 18th. We will announce THREE prized winners: Grand Prize (7 packs of stickers), 1st Prize (4 packs of stickers) and 2nd prize (3 packs of stickers). We sadly need to restrict to the United States for entries as we have to ship our prizes. (The giveaway rules are below.)

9. Any other information you wish for our readers to know?:

Rita: All our packs come in a unique Stickii Storage sticker insert so you can keep your stickers organized and neat. Signing up means you get happiness delivered right to your door every month!

BUT WAIT…. THERE IS MORE!!

SIGN UP IS ONE CLICK AWAY! USE THE PROMO CODE: LOUISE for $2 off a month’s subscription

Want to WIN a set of STICKII CLUB stickers? Simply do the following to ENTER the STICKII CLUB GIVEAWAY!:

GIVEAWAY COMPLETE- WINNER ANNOUNCED.

STEP ONE: FOLLOW ON and LEAVE A COMMENT with the HASHTAG #StickiiClubGiveaway >>> INSTAGRAM

FOLLOW ON >>> FACEBOOK and COMMENT with #STICKIICLUBGIVEAWAY

STEP TWO: BE SURE TO COMMENT ON THIS POST BELOW SO I KNOW TO LOOK FOR YOU!!!

LASTLY: Be super groovy if you also signed up for their >>>> EMAIL.

What will the Stickii Club winners receive??

💥 💥

GRAND PRIZE: SEVEN PACKS (7) of STICKI CLUB STICKERS! TRIPLE WOW!!!

FIRST PRIZE: FOUR PACKS (4) of STICKI CLUB STICKERS! DOUBLE WOW!!

SECOND PRIZE: THREE PACKS (3) of STICKI CLUB STICKERS – WOW!

THE RU!LES

Winners will be randomly chosen from ALL Entries who either follow on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK between July 16th and August 18th, 2018. The giveaway winners will be chosen by a random generator on August 19, 2018 of all eligible entrants. Residents of the United States of America only. Cannot be related to anyone from Stickii Club nor Louise Sattler. Shipping will be by standard mail. No substitutions or monetary trade value will be offered. Multiple follows by autobots or fake accounts will result in deletion of entry.

DISCLAIMER: I received promotional product from Stickii.Club. However, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this product and would have written this blog regardless!

2 thoughts on “Why Journaling and Creating Scrapbooks Could Result in GREAT Mental Health Benefits!”

Dara Blaker says:

August 11, 2018 at 1:25 am

What a great way to work through life’s “things”.

1. Louise Sattler says:
  
  August 11, 2018 at 1:26 am
  
  YES IT IS!