3 Fun Techniques to Add to Your Creative Journals

If you’re like me, you love trying new techniques to make your journals unique, fresh and inspiring.

In this post, I’ll share three playful ways to go beyond your journal with your creativity, including some tricks with gel pens, a fun stamping hack, and a third idea to bring an extra bit of flair to your pages.

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Here’s a peek at these techniques to get your creativity flowing!

1. Combining Ink and Gel Pens for Unique Doodles

Adding texture to your pages can be as simple as layering different materials!

One really cool trick I learned from the wonderful Keren Duchan over on Skillshare from her class Doodle Art: Combining Black Ink and Gel Pens is to use gel pens over inked areas to create vibrant, layered designs.

For example, start by painting a background with pen ink, let it dry, and then draw over it with metallic or glitter gel pens (or the other way around) This gives your doodles, headers, or borders an eye-catching, multidimensional effect.

Play around with different colors and pen types, and don't be afraid to mix and match!

These are my favorite gel pens, the metallic kind of Gelly Rolls.

Here are some of my specimens:

2. DIY Stamps from Simple Rubber Materials

Custom stamps are an easy way to add one-of-a-kind prints to your journals. All you need are some rubber blocks or pink erasers work beautifully too and a craft knife. (I personally use this linocutting tool from speedball)

Simply sketch a small design onto the rubber, then carve out the negative space to leave behind a raised shape.

Dab into an ink pad, distress ink, paint, or other medium of your choice and happily stamp away! Voilà—unique patterns to adorn your pages!

This is great for creating custom borders, repeating patterns, or even a tiny monogram or logo.

The best thing is that you can use these handmade stamps again and again!

Here are 2 of my stamps I have made recently:

3. Using Collage Layers for Added Dimension and Storytelling

Collage is an incredibly versatile technique that can add layers of story and texture to your journal pages. Instead of just pasting images, try layering various materials to build up a scene or tell a story. Start with a base layer of torn book pages, old maps, or even wallpaper scrap. Add your elements and then finish it up with a seal.

Seal your collage with a thin layer of clear gesso or matte medium to protect it without losing that textured, layered look. This technique adds both depth and intrigue, drawing you back to explore each page again and again.

Here is a journal spread I made using collage, the background is all from junk mail painted over with diluted acrylic paint:

Have fun, explore & play!

With these three fun styles, your journals will have that extra “wow” factor that makes each page feel unique and special.

Here's to another spread, & another day!