Anagon: Instax and Crafts: Journaling

Thursday, November 03, 2016

Although my third time to hold a workshop for Fujifilm Instax Philippines, I was still as ecstatic about it as if it's my first time. Every time I get an email invite to teach for an Instax & Crafts event, I try my very best to free up that date so I can make it!

Just to share, pre-event process involves LOTS of back-and-forth emails. Team Instax will ask me for at least 2 project proposals, and I try to pitch in art projects that I myself would love to work on, things that excite me as of the moment. During the last workshop before this, I taught Instax Travel Board. For this year, I was surprised that although the theme was Christmas, Team Instax approved my current passion when it comes to art: JOURNALING!

The event was held at the SM Megamall Atrium last October 23, a Sunday. As usual, Fujifilm Philippines' set-up is Instagram heaven! Every corner is on-point, long tables were set-up to accommodate all 30 registered participants, and there was good live music while everyone worked on their projects:

Just to share a few photos from my talk and my slides...

I showed my first ever journal, which is a Hello Kitty notebook I got when I was in Grade 1. It had words and also illustrations of what happened on that day. This was a drawing of my birthday cake:

Keeping a record of my day-to-day thoughts and happenings moved further as I went to high school and then college. Here are some of these notebooks that accompanied me through the best and the worst. I still have most, if not all, of these "secret keepers":

I realized that I somehow stopped diary writing when I started to have another medium to express my thoughts. The BLOG aka my public diary started when I was still a journalism student and having a space on the internet was still starting.

All of these background on recording things that happened in my life recently rolled into another medium that I am currently addicted to: Art Journaling. I realized that not everything can be posted online - and there's no purer thoughts than one which you know that YOU and only YOU can read.

The difference is, Art Journaling is more than just writing a story in a notebook. It is also more than just sticking mementos like tickets, photos, and scrap souvenirs ala scrapbooking. It's a good combination of these two things: Like a blog but offline.

Readying my journal for 2017! Currently in love with these cute GetFiled planners with pastel themed covers. Check out their own Journaling Event this Saturday where aside from Art Journaling, they will also have workshops on Calligraphy and Watercolor! Sounds like a good way to spend the weekend!

To add to the excitement, I also gave away some of these GetFiled goodies to the best creations during my workshop:

For inspiration, I recommended some of my favorite local "Art Journalistas" on Instagram. They all have unique styles from using purely pens, and those who (like me) love to cover the whole page with photos, stickers, and washi tapes. I also gave tips on where to shop for your materials.

To add depth to your journal, use a variety of style and materials:

Of course, to easily add photos on your journals, the new Instax Share SP2 prints photos even from your mobile phone! You don't need to bring it all the time during your travels, and just create your Instax prints at home. The Instax Share SP2 also produces better quality photos than its former version, and has new filters and templates. Plus, I love the machine's new colors and sleek design too!

The line during the event where participants were able to print with the new Instax Share SP2:

It's still nice to have an Instax Camera with you that prints memories at the moment. This one is the new sleek GOLD Instax Mini 70!

Showed the "About Me" page from my journal:

After all the talkies, here are photos of the participants focused on their projects. I went around to check their works and also to get to know them, and glad to see old faces who've joined my past workshops! Thank you guys!

Special thanks to my Japan In Manila family for attending and supporting me! We usually journal together in quirky cafes around the metro, so it's momentous for us to share this passion with a bigger crowd! Plus, I am not used to having friends watch me during workshops. I appreciate this and will forever be grateful to have supportive people in my life. That afternoon I felt, as the cliche goes, hashtag-blessed!