to preface, i was used to documenting my life digitally - in blog posts and second-a-day video compilations. however, last year i felt such heaviness and pressure to spend hours and hours editing my yearly videos, running out of digital storage space, and feeling bad for not being consistent. that was not an ideal way for me to capture daily life.

so i turned to journaling and, at first, i kept a creative scrapbooking journal. it was a wonderful creative outlet. i found joy in visualising and experimenting with analog tools. then, in september 2025, i discovered abbey, her art and philosophy of documenting life and its beautiful mundane moments on paper, and it changed everything for me.

i don't paint or draw, myself but admire watercolor art and so fountain pen writing inspired me so much - with the ink shading properties and variety of different colors and inks... and of course the variety of pens that hold said ink. i became so inspired by abbey to learn the ways of journaling with fountain pens by trying out different tools, improving my handwriting, developing a daily journaling habit, and finding joy in this learning process. i now love playing with my small collection of pens and inks and stationery, creating spreads in my journals, and drawing inspiration from the cozy journaling and stationery community online.

this form of memorykeeping works so well for me, much better than any prior digital way i did in the past, mostly because it is very grounding. it requires you to make time to slow down and reflect. a huge thank you abbey (my fav artist if you couldnt tell...) for teaching and inspiring people like me to learn new skills and also enjoy and document life in new, beautiful ways <3

with love and big hugs,

katia