Welcome to the breadartjournal blog!

If you don't already know, I'm MK, the owner and sole person dedicated to working on breadartjournal. I wear many hats with this brand, and have been growing and evolving it as many times as I have grown and evolved in the last half-decade. I can't promise a regular update schedule, but I will come in to update this page from time to time.

In the spirit of my long abandoned WordPress, I've decided to start posting my ramblings on this section of the website. It's still pretty basic in terms of its construction, and I doubt anyone would want to read through this apart from some friends or anyone curious about picking at my thoughts, but I figured I would do it anyway.

I've recently just come home from family trip in Osaka, Japan (with a day trip to Kyoto). It was a short one, and at times a little overwhelming, but I had fun.

I would start each day of that trip at 5 or 6 AM. Waking up super early would allow me the time to walk to a nearby convenience store to grab a sandwich and coffee or juice for breakfast. On one occassion, I ran into someone walking their dog, a cute Pekingese with a dark patterned coat, who seemed excited to meet with another human. Something about starting the morning early (a regular occurrence, even back home,) just feels right. Like a little more buffer time with sunlight to help me ease into the day and its activities.

Our 5-night stay in Osaka was very easy-going and lax in terms of itinerary and activities. It was mostly focused on shopping and some sightseeing and experiences. (But mostly shopping, haha.) We took my nephew and niece to the Pokemon Center, the Cinnamoroll Cafe, and Osaka Castle. For the Kyoto day trip, we took them to Arashiyama bamboo grove and monkey park, Gion, and the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Apart from those sites, it was mostly a shopping trip. I had looked forward to shopping for stationery supplies in spite of the fact that I brought some of my own, but to be fair, I didn't get to do a lot of that either.

One of the few notable stationery-related places I went to was the Travelers Company store in Kyoto. I intended to purchase the 20th Anniversary card-style notebook set for my partner, but was a day too early for their restock. I purchased some Travelers Company themed washi tapes and paper ephemera that weren't already in my collection instead. I'm planning to collect some washi samples off the rolls I purchased to donate to the Journal Jam stationery buffet as well. I managed to get a couple of stickers and other stationery supplies from places like BIC Camera and Don Quijote, and one of the things I'm pretty obsessed with right now is the square glue stick. (It's SQUARE. For the PAPER EDGES. Amazing.) I also saw that the 3-D format for stickers is making a huge comback in Japanese stationery spaces - some stalls along Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori were selling them, - so I had to get myself a few to decorate with as well!

In light of mentioning all of that, I would like to also mention that I've been working on a travel journal for the trip. A lot of ephemera and stickers and photos were collected during the trip that I'd like to preserve in my travelers passport-sizeed accordion insert that I will archive. I may also bring this journal to future Journal Jams when it's fully finished!

Now that I'm home, I have to shift gears and focus on a few things: the upcoming Journal Jam that my friend Belle and I will be hosting this 11 July 2026, OshiCon (15-16 August 2026) merchandise printing production, assorted print shop orders, and product preparation for Plannercon on 29 Novemeber 2026!

I had made a promise to myself late last year that if I was going to start selling at events again, I would do events that were in my niche (journaling) and a maximum of 4 events only. That being said, I have also applied to a few other events whose acceptance status I'm still waiting on. This is a tall ask, especially when you consider that I'm running the whole of breadartjournal alongside a day job. My day job has its own demands though, and I'm still trying to find the balance in working there, running the print shop side, my art and design practice, and building a like-minded and open community of folks who would appreciate journaling as much, if not more, than I do.

I have a lot of expectations from myself with all of these responsibilities and demands, but working on breadartjournal brings me much joy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In any case, I'm still trying to figure out my product offerings for PlannerCon this November, but I've got to figure them out soon because I need to calendar a production timeline.

Thanks for reading!

MK (breadartjournal)