How To | Keep a Nature Diary

As signs of spring begin to appear, keeping a nature diary is a great way to log the changes in the air at this time of year

Unlike a standard diary, a nature diary needn’t be personal so it can feel much easier to get started, by simply observing what you see. There are many ways you can do it. If you’re feeling ambitious you can make a few notes each day but once a week is a good aim. Or you could make it something you sit down at once a month but really give it some time, and then end the year with a beautiful record in 12 parts. 

Similarly, consider where you want to observe nature. It makes sense to take the same walk each time you journal so that you can see the subtle changes at work, but if that might drive you mad, you could vary your nature walks and maybe even include maps to document what you saw and where. Certainly it makes sense to pick areas where you know there will be things of interest to note. A location near water or with a very ‘active’ hedge will always yield plenty of wildlife to spot, but you’ll be surprised at what forces its way up even through cracks in city paving slabs. Somehow, nature always finds a way. 

Now you’ve made the mental commitment, it’s time to think about what form your nature diary will take. Here are a few ideas.

1. A physical sketchbook in which you can draw and maybe shade with coloured pencils or paint with watercolours is a lovely keepsake. You can label the plants and wildlife you see or write a bit more by each illustration of your experience that day. 

2. If you like the idea of a notebook in your hand but aren’t an arty type, you could simply log your nature sightings in pencil or pen with a time and date. Maybe look your sightings up when you get home and add Latin names or interesting facts as you learn them.

3. Should you fancy getting really down and dirty with nature, your book could include natural dyes and pigments made from the plants and earth you happen upon. You can find out how to make natural dyes from nature with a quick internet search. 

4. Another visual sort of nature diary, but a little easier for those of us not blessed with a single artistic bone in our bodies, is a scrapbook. You can press and dry leaves and flowers, stick in seeds under sellotape and add pieces cut from maps. Then add labels in your very best handwriting.

5. Go digital and record your nature walks using photos. You could print out your favourites or simply upload them to a blog or Instagram account. 

Our blog today was inspired by a feature in our February issue in which we met Jenny Coats, whose nature diaries can be followed on her account @jenny.coats.created.

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Project | Ideas for a Summer Journal

Whether you’re at home, abroad or away in the UK, you can record your adventures in multimedia and create wonderful memories

If you haven’t yet picked up our August issue and seen the beautiful travel journals, in our feature Spotting and Jotting, it is not one to miss. Whether you’re off on the trip of a lifetime abroad, heading to one of the most beautiful corners of the British Isles or simply making the most of what’s on your doorstep this summer, a journal is a mindful and meaningful way to record and remember the summer. 

Painting, writing, drawing and jotting is a great start, but there are lots more things you can add to your journal that will make it unique and give it ‘texture’, allowing you to recall the memories for years to come as you turn the pages and run your fingers over the words, pictures and scrapbook bits and pieces. Some will be physical things you stick in, others will be prompts or concepts for things to jot down. Here are a few ideas for ‘nice little extras’ to add to your summer journal…

1. Ticket stubs, from transport, gardens or museums

2. Pressed flowers

3. Local phrases from your holiday location

4. A tiny envelope or ziplock bag of sand or soil (only take a pinch)

5. Flat sea shells

6. Dried seaweed

7. Recipes or food ideas from your destination

8. Myths, legends and folklore from your holiday town

9. Pieces of sweet or biscuit wrappers

10. Menus, or selected bits of menus

11. Memorable sections of map

12. Photographs (leave room for these for when you’ve printed your favourites or invest in a polaroid and capture the moment immediately

13. Your own drawings of architecture or landscape

14. A pretty leaf

15. Rubbings of bark, stone or even a manhole cover

16. Stickers from sightseeing tours, stately homes or food packaging

17. A photo or sketch of a skyline

18. A record of the constellations visible from your destination at that time of year

19. Reading list of books set there or nearby for when you get home

20. A playlist of music from the area, or that you enjoyed while there, or that just reminds you of your holiday

The image above is by Jennie Maizels, an illustrator and founder of Sketchbook Club which offers online and in-person courses. If you’re inspired by keeping a summer journal this year and fancy honing your skills, Jennie’s next Holiday Sketchbook course is on 5 October.

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How to | Make a Thread Journal

Keeping a record of your days doesn’t have to mean picking up a pen and paper; you can be as
creative as you like

If we say so ourselves, we loved the weather scarf in our February issue (pictured above by Josie George). It seems like an ingenious way both to keep a small record of each day as well as to keep up a hobby. But if you aren’t a natural knitter, you might like to try a different sort of thread journaling.

Look up ‘thread journaling’ on Pinterest and you’ll see hundreds of examples from people who’ve kept an embroidery record of their year. Here’s how it’s done. 

What you’ll need
An embroidery hoop
Some cloth (a large napkin is good)
A good collection of differently coloured embroidery threads
Needles, thimbles, embroidery pen and other notions

How to do it
* Think about how you want to record your days. You can do a year (you don’t have to start with January, of course) or just a month or a specific period in your life.

* Sketch out a few ideas on paper for how you’d like your design to work. You could set it out like a calendar grid, present it as a wheel or just go completely higgeldy piggeldy and stitch each day or week’s motif wherever you please.

* Pop your cloth in your hoop and get started. You might like to stitch a motif to represent each day or each week. What you stitch is up to you. You could do a castle or a hill to represent a relevant day out, a cake to represent a party you went to, a pair of curtains for a theatre trip, a flower or vegetable for something you’ve grown in the garden. If you prefer, and have the chops, you could get quite specific - perhaps embroidering something to represent every book you read in a year, or everything you grow in your veg patch this summer.

If you’d like to read more about Josie’s Weather Scarf you can find out all about it on page 108 of our February issue. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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How to | Start a Bullet Journal

Becaue the pen is not only mightier than the sword but also a much more useful organisational tool

In our October issue, our wellbeing feature was all about journalling, from gratitude journals, to nature journals to rage journals (yes, really!). By and large, you can make a journal what you want, but if you fancy venturing into the world of bullet journalling, you will need a bit of basic knowledge to get you started. Here’s all you need to know…

Bullet journaling is really an organisation system, but you can make it as creative or relaxing as you wish, too, and bullet journals can also be beautiful. There are countless Pinterest boards full of beautiful bullet journals to inspire you. Before you get carried away with brush pen calligraphy and journal stickers, however, you need to set up a basic journal. 

Set up a bullet journal

1. Choose your journal. Purists will go for ‘dotted’ paper but plain, lined or squared is all fine. 

2. Turn to your first blank spread and create your Index (just write ‘INDEX’ at the top for now - in fancy writing if you wish). As you go, you add pages to your index here, so you can always find the page you’re looking for.

3. On the next blank spread, create a Future Log. This is a forward planning space for the next six months. Divide each page into three with ruled lines and write the names of the next six months in each box. Number the pages 1 and 2 at the bottom and record them in your Index.

4. On the next single page, make a Monthly Log for this month. Write the numbers of the dates down the left hand side and next to them note the initial letters of the days of the week to help you find the right day. This is for big events such as birthdays etc. On the opposite page make a Monthly Tasks Page where you can make a note of any events, chores to be done etc in this month. Label these pages 2 and 3 and note them in your Index. 

5. Turn the page and repeat this process for a Weekly Log and Weekly Tasks Page. Label these pages 4 and 5 and note them in your Index. 

6. Do the same for a Daily Log and Daily Tasks Page for today. Label these 6 and 7 and note in your Index. 

7. Make a big cup of tea and sit down and label the remainder of the pages in your journal. 

8. Turn to the back of the journal and create some Collections Pages, working backwards, and adding each to your Index as you go. Collections pages can be anything; lists of books or films you want to see, recipes to try, places to go… Record each new page in your Index.

9. You can also start to add more pages to the front as you go. You might want a Habit Tracker for each month to record something like taking a daily walk, reading a chapter of a book or remembering to drink 8 glasses of water each day. Or you might want a Gratitude Page each week or month, or a page for tracking money spent. It’s up to you. 

10. As you get going you can add to your Log pages with goals for that week or month, and other lists - maybe plans for your lunches, shopping lists and the like. 

Now you’ve got plenty of pages set up, here’s a brief guide to bullet journalling symbols so you can get started.

Bullet journalling symbols

. A dot denotes a task. It can be easily turned into another symbol once completed or moved. 

x A cross is to show a task is completed.

> This sort of arrow shows you have migrated a task forward to another day or month. 

< This sort of arrow shows a task which has been migrated from elsewhere. 

o An event is a little circle. You can colour it in when the event is over. 

- A dash is for a note, where you just want to record information. 

You can add a ‘!’ or a ‘*’ to mark important items in your journal.

? A question mark can be used for items you aren’t sure about or to denote a query you’re waiting for information on. 

Obviously you can make up your own signs and symbols to suit you, too. You should have all the basics you need now. You can find lots more ideas and inspiration on the Bullet Journal website. But mainly, just enjoy adding to your journal in whatever creative or organisational way works best for you. 

Read all about the many different types of journaling and how they can improve your wellbeing from page 54 in our October issue.

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