Guest Blogger: Self-Care & Journaling for Mental Health with Rox Paper Stickers

Hey Gang! We're back with Rox Paper Stickers for another guest blog post. Roxanne will be joining us on the semi-regular to offer tips, tricks, product tests and some great bujo journaling insights! 

With 2021 in full swing, some of us are still trying to pick up the pieces from last year!! Read along for Roxanne's thoughts on self-care and journaling for mental health. 

Gratitude Attitude

Gratitude and Self-Care is what got me through the dumpster fire, toilet-paper shortage that was 2020. On the days when my worries were at an all-time high, I would take a ‘Mental health’ day off from ‘Life’ and just spend the next 24hrs in my PJ’s recharging my happy batteries. Doodling Gratitude spreads in your BuJo is so much fun and nothing oozes good vibes more than the pastel colours of the Zebra Mildliner Brush pens in Fluorescence! It’s important to take the time to look after yourself and reminisce on the good things you have in your life - including the small things. For me, it’s fresh bed sheets & eating those pockets of joy that we call dumplings! 

Self-Care Doodles

My self-care activities included:

1. Have a hot bubble bath – turn on your favourite tunes and let your body melt into the warm water.

2. Get outdoors – A walk on the beach or tending your backyard garden, getting outdoors is so therapeutic.

3. Meditate – THIS(!!)... is so hard. BUT! I promise you, the more you practice the easier it gets. I spend 10-minutes a day (before bed) with my eyes closed, softly breathing, reveling in some quiet time. It’s not about “turning off your thoughts/feelings” or “thinking of nothing” - it’s about acknowledging those thoughts and then returning to the pace of your breath. Those 10-minutes make such a difference to my mental health and grounding myself in the moment. If you’re like me and need a guided meditation, there are plenty of great apps available. My personal favourite is Calm.

4. Unplug – There’s no denying that we may all be a bit addicted to technology. Be it checking your emails out of work hours, or endlessly scrolling through social media. So, create a “Technology Sabbath” where you unplug from your devices for an hour (or a day!)

Karin Brushmarker PRO

I spent most of March working quite a lot with the Karin Brushmarker PRO in my Bujo. Now that I’ve got a bit more experience, I thought you guys might enjoy a review. The palette I chose was the ‘Sun & Tree colours’. A few things I adored about these markers:

1. It produces lots of intense colour on the page, super vivid and incredibly bright.

2. The thick nylon nib feels durable and won’t be as prone to fraying like other markers do – don’t get me wrong, I love my Tombows but if I’m a little too rough with them, the tip frays.

3. It’s SOOOO fun to blend with, akin to working with watercolour paint!

4. I love that you can see the ink rolling around in the barrel.

The only thing I disliked about these markers is that if you layer the ink on too thick (say 3+ layers), I did experience a little bleeding on the other side of the page. Besides that, I will most definitely be adding more Karin markers to my pen arsenal. 

Mood Tracker

I find that most Bujo mood trackers are represented by “colour = mood”. Inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest, the spread I created is “doodle = mood”, in this case, leaf doodles! Once I got the hang of blending with the Archer and Olive ACRYLOGRAPH Pens for the vases, it was super easy to doodle in my moods! Grab your favourite pens and give this spread a go – you could even replace the leaves with flowers! 

So many great ideas! Thanks Roxanne!!! 
Let us know in the comments - what are you grateful for right now? 
We're grateful for:
- All of our WashiGang community's amazing support.
- Snacks!
- Fun stickers.
- Harry the WashiGang chihuahua.
- Getting to work in such a fun place! 

See you next time! If you try any of Roxanne's doodles, tips and tricks, remember to tag @washigang and @roxpaperstickers on instagram or share your #bujo spreads with us in our WashiGang Facebook group.