Journal sparks Prompts & projects
A journal is a place to scribble, sketch, collect ideas, capture a moment, stretch your mind, dream and experiment. Each issue we’ll give you creative prompts and projects to encourage you to observe and invent through a journal. Feel free to share your p
PROMPT Word jar
This is one of the simplest yet most fruitful and rewarding journal prompts, because it’s uncomplicated and never fails to inspire, sitting on your shelf or desk, always available for spontaneous creativity.
Find a glass jar in the recycling bin or buy an inexpensive one. Fill it with random words. Leave trimmed paper and a pen next to it as a standing invitation to friends, family and visitors to contribute words.
Instant inspiration
Choose a word or a few words from the jar and write them on a journal page. Draw a sketch based on the word(s) or incorporate them into a small piece of writing – a poem, a blurb, the beginning of a story or a speech bubble. When you’re finished, add a new word to the jar.
PROJECT Picture your day in geological layers
Imagine you are like a geologist who can visualise the layers of the earth, but your materials are paper and human experience. Use bits of different kinds of paper to represent your day, with each strip portraying a particular moment, event or feeling. The result will make sense only to you; others will see it as a thing of intrigue and beauty, like the earth’s thick strata of rock types.
Use whatever scrap paper you can find for your collage. Look for colours and textures that seem to reflect the way you were feeling or something you were doing during your day.
Cut the paper into strips and glue them on to your journal page. You can make your own hand-painted or hand-coloured strips, too. Add words or letters as you see fit. Don’t worry about keeping it even and tidy – asymmetry and imbalance might be the way your day went.
Collage with…
Newspaper Magazines Notepaper with writing on it Envelopes Old greeting cards Origami paper Vintage scraps Old calendars Bills Junk mail Fabric Ribbon Sweet wrappers Wrapping paper Paper bags