My quest to find the perfect journal started in 2007. I wanted to start keeping a journal to record our lives. Fast forward to 2015 and I now have a stack of journals documenting our journey and every single book is a little different. Along this quest I also discovered my love of bookmaking and started a successful business, Poobird's Rarities, creating journals and memory books for others to document their journey in life. 
Growing up I was never far from a notebook to jot down thoughts or random lists but every time I started a "Diary" I never could keep it going. The things I wanted to write in my journal didn't seem important enough to mare the beautiful white pages and writing about my feelings, what I thought journals were supposed to be for, never felt right. I also discovered the way a book feels is either a complete turn off or inspires me to actually write in it. I threw out all my preconceived ideas of what a good journal should be and began my journal quest. 
After an extensive online hunt for something simple, with creamy paper, and that lays flat I settled on the now super popular Moleskine. At the time I couldn't find one of these in a store and had never even seen one before. I ordered their classic black notebook and a red weekly planner straight from the company and it was love at first page turn. I spent the next two years filling that book with all of our adventures. My husband nicknamed it our "Seven Journal" from that movie,"Seven". The spine actually broke from all the use! Now why didn't I just stick with the Moleskine if I loved it so much you may be wondering, well I'll tell you. For one, don't like black, two monotony isn't my thing and three the quality was lacking.
However, I would certainly recommend them and they have a huge following. Another issue is they outsourced to China and I tried ordering a couple more but had issues with quality right out of the packaging and had to return them. After Moleskine I hopped around to a few different journals to see what felt right. I tried a hand bound leather journal, the Leuchtturm1917 (the spine broke on this one too,) and the Ciak. All of these journals were okay but I had little issues with each one like the Ciak always felt like it wanted to snap shut while I was writing and the size was uncomfortable for me but I loved the elastic closure it had. I really didn't have any problems with the Lecuhtturm1917, other than it's black which isn't my favorite and the spine failed.
Around 2012 I discovered Pinterest and found this post for Remains of the Day by Mary Ann Moss. An online class for making journals. So I tried it out and my love of bookmaking was ignited. Since then, I started making journals my way and have loved the process so much I started Poobird's Rarities and now make them for people all over the world.
I have learned a few things along the way... For my personal journals I like the feel and smell of leather. I like the ease of an elastic closure and I need room in the spine so it won't break and will allow the pages to lay flat. I also really like pockets so I can store all those little things we collect along the way.
I think I may have finally found a journal system that meets all of my personal requirements, the JeDori, inspired by the Midori Traveler's Notebook. This is a refillable leather journal with elastic binding so you can add in new notebooks as you need along with other accessories. It's the perfect system for a person that wants more from a standard journal. The Midori Traveler's Notebook is a company in Japan and they make a great product. However, since I like to make my own journals I bought my own leather from The Leather Guy on Ebay and set to work creating the "JeDori".
I actually made two. The regular size I use for my journal and the passport I use as my everyday wallet and weekly planner. Now, what makes the Midori system so great is you can completely customize the accessories you put inside. One day I might want to carry a notebook for journaling, a notebook to sketch in, and then another for random ideas, and all of that can be put in one journal and changed out at any time. A journal only works if it fits your lifestyle and needs. Naturally, I made my own refills and I created some with the unique Smash Book style and others with simple, creamy paper for writing but with interesting covers and envelope pockets. I made a little flip through video of what the Smash Book Midori Refill looks like. I get a lot of people at my Etsy shop interested in them but not sure what they are all about. I hope this little video will give a peek at the smash book refill.
Hope you enjoy this little video. Feel free to share what your thoughts, how you like to use your journals, or if you have any tips.
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