Idea Journal

I love carrying around journals to capture my ideas in. I have an extremely bad memory, so when I'm out I like to be able to write down my ideas before they disappear. Sometimes I'm inspired to make a new design while looking out the car window. We live in a small town so we must travel to a larger town to do most of our shopping. Luckily, we only have to go 20 minutes in one direction and 15 minutes in the other. Or if we really want to do some shopping Madison is about 50 minutes away. But to get my new journal I had to go to Austria. I'm not sure how many miles I'd have to travel to get there, but I'm sure it's alot. Don't you just love the Internet!

As you all know... I've been on a handmade mission this year. It's been fun buying and making things for those I love, but I got a little jealous of all the cool stuff they were getting. I wanted something for myself, but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I believe I was looking at some treasuries on Etsy when I stumbled upon it. An absolutely gorgeous handmade journal. I didn't actually need one. The one that I've been using is only about half full, but this journal had so much personality. It looked like it was made for me. The price was a little more than I usually spend on a journal so I hearted it. I kept coming back to look at it. My husband caught me a few times and told me to "just buy it already". I said, "No, it's too much." I'm an extremely practical person. For example, when my husband and I first started dating I told him that, "Don't bother buying me flowers. They're a waste of money and will die anyway. I'd rather have something for the house that will last." So, I just kept looking at the journal and didn't buy it. About a week of this went by and one day I clicked on the journal (to drool some more) and got a horrible surprise. SOLD! My journal had sold! I felt awful. I realized I really did want that journal. I guess that saying is correct. "You don't know what you've got until it gone." I didn't think I'd be so disappointed to see that the journal had sold.

I emailed the Seller immediately and asked if she could make something similar. Her journals are usually one of a kind, but I thought if she had that same fabric maybe she could make something similar. She answered back that the buyer hadn't paid and that this particular journal might come back up for sale. Woo Hoo! Now I just have to wait. After about a week she emailed me again and stated that the journal was back up for sale in her shop. You've never seen someone click so fast! I found my journal and clicked "Add to Cart" and then "Commit to Buy". I made my payment. The journal was MINE! So I guess the lesson is... If you see something that is "perfect" for you. Buy it! So many times I have to compromise with the things I buy because they're not quite the right color or color combination. Or I wanted it a little larger or smaller than that. It's rare that I find something that's absolutely perfect the way it is.

Now I have another dilemma... The journal is so beautiful. I don't want to mess it up with my chicken scratching. :)

You can find your own Idea Journal at Kreativlink on Etsy. Renate has many journals to pick from. I'm sure one of them will be just "perfect" for you!