Turning moments into memories: visual journaling with a Canon portable printer

For Thea Celine Grønstad, who goes by @theacceline on her social media channels, journaling is more than just a hobby. "It's become a big part of my daily routine," she says.

Thea is a Norwegian student studying in Manchester in the UK. She loves to travel, and started junk journaling when she visited Japan just a few years ago, where the culture values how even everyday things are presented. She started small, when she got a beautiful train ticket and didn't know where to put it.

The principle of junk journaling is simple, Thea explains: "you just include anything. If you're taking a train, you keep the ticket. If you're flying somewhere, you keep the boarding pass. If you're going to a museum, you pick up the museum map or anything like that." Unlike some, she herself likes to add an element of organisation. "If I go to a new city, I put all that on one page with the name of the city, and then I can look back on that and it's a perfect memento."

When she started out, journaling was mainly for travelling – she would enthusiastically collect new things in new places – but it's now part of everyday life. "As I go around Manchester I'll pick up anyhing. If I go to a museum, a restaurant, or dinner with my friends, I put everything in my journal," she says.

Here, Thea talks about her practice of journaling, and how it brings calm and mindfulness in her busy life. She shares how journaling provides both tangible keepsakes and prompts for reflection. Finally, she reveals how the Canon Zoemini 2 portable printer and Canon Mini Print app have expanded her creativity and help her capture her experiences and feelings in lasting form.

Part of the appeal of journaling is that it creates lasting keepsakes: "I like that you can keep memories in front of you physically on paper." Thea herself enjoys the physical quality, tangibility and sensation of paper – "I love the feeling of different textures and using different pens." However, the process is more important for Thea than the finished result.

"My brain shuts off and I don't think too much, I just do. I think this is really important in today's world when we're all stuck to our phones and constantly on social media.

"Journaling is usually part of my nightly routine – I love to have just an hour or two without screen time and just reflecting on the day. It helps me stay present in the moment and off my phone. It allows my creativity to flow, and it's a lovely way to end the day. It's also very therapeutic in a busy life."

Thea has journaled since she was young, she reveals, but never really liked what she created, because she wanted everything to be perfect. The breakthrough came when she realised the aesthetic of the finished result wasn't the point.

"There are no rules, just what feels right in the moment. It's not just capturing what's pretty and looks good, but capturing the moment and what the moment felt like – making the moment real. I find it boring to write, so I might add just a paragraph about how I was feeling or what I was doing, but mainly the imagery speaks for itself.

"I can then look back on how I felt – and it's nice to look back and reflect even on bad days. It helps you stay in touch with every side of you, even if you've changed. And the outcome tells a story in itself – if a page is very vibrant, it was probably a good day; if it's blue and less colourful, maybe not so good. Without even thinking about it, the visualisation reflects how I was feeling."

Photos have become an essential component of Thea's journals, but haven't always been. "I never had a printer accessible," she explains. "However, I have always loved photo booths. I love to put photos in my journals – they enable you to look back on what you looked like at the time, or revive a memory of the scenery. It always adds something extra, and makes it easier to look back and reflect on what the time was like. If it was a significant day, photos evoke a lot of feelings.

"I take a lot of photos on my phone – it's become a big part of all our lives – but inevitably they just collect dust on our phones. Printing makes the memory a physical, tangible thing."

Now that she has a Canon Zoemini 2, Thea can print whenever she wants. It's the tool she uses to bring her phone photos into her journal instantly, without breaking the flow of her practice.

The printer is compact and battery-powered and connects to your smartphone wirelessly, which means you can use it anywhere. "I can travel with it in my bag, and sometimes I do journal on the go wherever I am – such as in the coffee shop when I meet up with friends." Printing is easy and instant – the Canon Zoemini 2 prints without ink, so you never have to refill it, and the prints are smudge-proof, water-resistant and ready to use and share the moment they come out of the printer. The peel-and-stick backing means they require no glue, so you can add pictures to a journal in almost any situation.

"I really like the versatility of the Canon Zoemini 2 – it's so small and it does everything you want it to do!"

Thea loves using the Canon Mini Print app to re-style her pictures and add creative touches. "There are so many great features in the app. I like the stickers you can add to pictures, like the little heart. It has so many fun layout templates and filters – you can give a picture a Halloween makeover, or make it look like it was taken in a photo booth. That has to be my favourite – I've been using that a lot. I really like the collage option, because you can use it to make even smaller images and then cut them out, so they can be as small as you like.

"I often style one photo to fit the page and add one normal photo of something I find pretty. I like to mix it up and combine different fun features, such as frames and filters and doodles – the more different textures and effects on a page, the more I enjoy looking at it."

Thea shares her enthusiasm for journaling with the Sisterhood of the Travelling Journal, an informal community of fellow travel journal devotees who pass a new journal around each month. Each member can add as much as she wants to it, in her own style, before passing it on. "It's nice to have a community to share journaling with," Thea comments. "I take so much inspiration from the other girls. It's so easy to stick to what you like but really fun to get out of your comfort zone and recreate what the other girls do!"

What advice would Thea give people getting into journaling? "It's important to remember there's no rules. It's fun to do what feels right for you."

She recommends using photos. "If you're reflecting on something, adding photos might add a little extra fun touch. If you're writing about what you wish in life, adding a little image can manifest it in a way. You can choose your own path and add any image you like – make mood boards or include photos of pets, friends and family to remember them.

"The most important thing is the process. Reflect on things, let your creativity flow, and don't let the aesthetics stop you."

Thea has found the Canon Zoemini 2 liberating for her journaling. "It's so versatile – and so portable, you can reflect on things and use them straight away, wherever you are. It doesn't constrain you or limit the possibilities.

"It's really fun having this printer. It makes you more creative, because you don't have any limits."


Written by Alex Summersby