Hey there, it’s Jess Francisco from @lovejessco on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and the Archer & Olive Ambassador Team. I don’t know about you, but I tend to collect a lot of supplies and, before I know it, they are piled up or hidden in drawers and I don’t end up using them because I don’t know what I even have. To help me keep track of what I have, and ensure I actually use it, I created a swatch journal in one of my B5 Archer & Olive notebooks. This could be viewed as a product inventory as well!
Supplies:
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Fineliners
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White Gel Pen
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Black Ink Pad
Cover Page
When I’m starting a new journal, or even a new section in an existing journal, I like to include a cover page. I like the feeling of having a clear designator of the beginning of something, so if I’m flipping through later, I can easily tell what I’m looking at. This is also a great opportunity to add some creativity to your notebooks. I generally like to do some stamping, coloring, hand lettering, or ink blending on my cover pages to help make things more interesting and fun. It makes me happy when I’m flipping through a journal and spot some of the designs I’ve added in the past.
For this cover page, I decided to use stamps to create a fun design. I used a variety of alphabet stamps to create my title, ‘SWATCH ALL OF THE THINGS.’ Then, I added some fun stamps with art supplies to really go in on the theme of swatching my creative supplies. If you don’t have stamps like these, no worries! You can definitely hand draw the elements or even use the free printable I created. You can print the image [INSERT LINK FOR DOWNLOAD ON TEXT ‘PRINT THE IMAGE’] and adhere it directly to your notebook for a quick and easy cover page in minutes.
Page Header
I knew that I wanted to add something fun to each of the swatch pages, so I started by masking off the area below the top 4 boxes on the page. I just used some low tack tape for this - think something like a post it note or even Washi tape that won’t tear your pages when you remove it. With only the top section of the pages visible, I added black ink from an ink pad until the area was saturated and I got a nice crisp, solid black banner at the top of my page. You can get this effect by swiping or smearing the ink pad directly on to the pages until the color is as opaque as you want it. If you don’t like to get messy, you could always use a black washi tape for this instead!
Decide What to Swatch and Get Started!
I knew I wanted to include all of my Archer & Olive supplies in this journal, so I started with the A&O Calliographs. I created a thin banner and added the name of the collection, as well as when it was released. This way, I can always reference back if someone wants to know where a particular pen came from. For each color, I added a scribble of the brush end as well as the fine tip, then wrote down the name of the color. I made sure to leave extra pages before moving on to my next product so I’ll have room to add more swatches as I get new pens.
Next, I added my A&O Acrylographs following the same process. I don’t have nearly enough of these, so I know what’s going on my shopping list! I followed the same process for my washi tapes, which was honestly the most satisfying!
Add Titles to Your Header (Optional)
I decided to add titles to each of my header areas, but this is totally optional. I used embossing ink to stamp the titles, then poured embossing powder on top of the ink. I tapped off the excess powder and then melted the powder with a heat tool. This is a technique I use quite often in cardmaking, so it doesn’t take me too terribly long. However, if this isn’t something you’re familiar or comfortable with, you could always write your own titles with a white gel pen or use alphabet stickers for a similar effect.
Add Dividers
This is also optional, but I really love the functionality of dividers in my swatch journal. It’s so nice to be able to flip right to the product type I’m looking for. I used the printable tabs from Archer & Olive - it was so easy to print them onto sticker paper and cut them with my Cricut. I wrote the product type on each divider with a white gel pen.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
If you’re more of a visual person, check out the video I made for my swatch journal. You can watch it below or on the Archer & Olive YouTube channel.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, be sure to check out some of these swatching ideas from previous Ambassador Team members. I’ve linked two great tutorials for you below.
HOW TO SET UP A SWATCH JOURNAL FOR PENS
PEN SWATCHING IDEAS FOR YOUR JOURNAL
Thanks so much for spending some time with me on the blog today. I hope you’re inspired to do some swatching in your notebook. If you create something inspired by this post, be sure to tag me on social media (@lovejessco) as well as Archer & Olive (@archerandolive) so we can see what you’re up to!
See you next time!
Jess
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