Okay, before I even start this, I want to add a disclaimer.

Kerrie, the girl behind these journals, is a friend of mine.  In fact, if I ever get back to Seattle, I’m probably going to ploy her with much coffee and probably some cookies to come over so I can keep her and make her play with me.

But that said, i wanted to relay a little bit about art journaling, and mention a book that I’m really, really digging:

I’ve been using the Treehugger Books journals as my art journals for more than two years now.   I’ve got a couple of the sketchbooks (on thick-ish cardstock pages) that I’m down to my last four pages in, and a little smaller one (I think it’s 5.5″ x 8″, but don’t hold me to that — I’m bad with measurement estimation.) that i’m about to start in when this one’s all full up.

They’re fabulous journals.  No, seriously.  The one I’m using now has been in my bag on more trips than I want to count, and it’s held up like a dream.  The coils aren’t all bendy (they’re some kind of squishy plastic rather than the metal ones that I always seem to destroy and bend out of shape), the cardboard covers are mostly blank so you can tart ‘em up however you wish, and the pages have held up to all kinds of crazy crap I’ve stuffed in there over the years.  And trust me — my art journals get a workout with water media, colored pencils, strange things glu-sticked to the pages.  I don’t just buy blank books.  I use them to death.

I love the fact that they lay flat, so I can work in them either one page at a time, or on a two-page spread.  I love the way they take color and ink without bleeding through, even when all I’ve got with me is a bunch of sharpies.  And best of all, I love the philosophy behind them.

They use 100% post-consumer recycled paper.  Which means you’re not just keeping a journal, you’re also saving the earth, one blank book at a time.

(picture shamelessly stolen from the treehugger site.  pretty, isn’t it?)

According to their website , in the first 2.5 years of production, they’ve saved 4.269 gallons of water,  5813 BTUs of energy, 455 lbs of solid waste, 29 lbs of water-borne waste, 883 lbs of atmospheric emissions, and a FULL 25 TREES.   And considering that it’s a relatively small, two-person company, that’s saying something.  Just imagine if everybody used them for their blank books…?  We might *all* have better air and water, just from journalling on something that’s awesome to journal in ANYWAY.

There are two sizes to choose from (medium and large) and two weights to choose from (sketch, with heavy duty paper like cardstock, or journal, with lighter weight paper that’s still pretty darned heavy), and all the covers are that thick cardboard-like stuff.  (All recycled, too.)  The medium sketch will set you back $12, while the large one comes in at $20, and unless you’re one of those every-day journalers (I wish I was you!), they’ll last a couple months, easily.

One of these days (shortly, hopefully) I’ll get some scans of some of the pages in mine and put ‘em up.  With Lime & Violet’s relative fame, I’ve been a little reluctant to get too overly personal in some places, though.  (Yes, I realize all the listeners know far too much about my girlparts for me to be too concerned with privacy at this point.  But you know how it is.)  But since re-finding letterboxing and all its related hoopla, I’ve also been finding my way back to the pages of my paper journals, and the pen fetish that ruled my life for so long.

It’s kind of nice, too.

So go buy a journal, save a tree, and write or collage or draw yourself some brilliance already. :)