Making a Living Notebook | Ginger Leigh

Workshop: Making a Living Notebook

Dates: September 4-5, 2025

Registration Deadline: June 4, 2025

Instructor: Ginger Leigh

Level: All

Supplies: Included

Class Size: 15

Food/Drink: Complimentary lunch and coffee provided in the studio daily

Tuition: $395

What is a Living Notebook?

I used to feel completely intimidated by the idea of keeping a journal. It seemed like too much of a commitment—too time-consuming, and honestly, not for me. Even the word journal made me cringe... or so I thought. Everything changed when I created my first handmade notebook during a friend’s class. That simple, soulful book opened my eyes to a new kind of morning ritual—one that I now treasure.

My Living Notebook became a quiet, grounding space where I could organize my thoughts, read each morning with my coffee, and reflect by transcribing meaningful words from books that inspired me. Over time, I began to fill the pages with spontaneous sketches and simple marks—letting the process unfold naturally and at my own pace. It typically takes me about a year to complete a single book.

Join me in creating your own Living Notebook—a space that is entirely yours to shape, explore, and fill in whatever way feels most meaningful. It’s not about perfection or speed. It’s about making something beautiful and personal—and maybe, discovering a practice that brings you quiet joy. I have a feeling it just might.

Workshop Description

Join me in my hometown of New Orleans for a soulful, two-day creative experience in one of the South’s most charming and inspiring art spaces. This multi-exploration workshop is designed to awaken your creativity, calm your spirit, and introduce you to a new kind of personal practice through bookmaking and mixed media.

• Stitch your own handmade book, a beautiful and personal Living Notebook

• Dye and tint your pages using natural elements in boiling dye pots

• Adorn the cover and back with antique book parts, fabrics, found treasures, and your own painting and stitching

• Learn mono-printing techniques using a gelli plate—my favorite way to play with texture and layering

• Explore organic mark-making with natural materials

• Practice transcription and creative lettering inspired by meaningful texts and favorite books

• Create a mixed media art piece on paper, then edit and curate it to include your favorite sections in your book—or frame them separately

• Take home your Living Notebook, completed to whatever degree feels right for you, and ready to be filled over time

• Leave with inspiration, new techniques, a bundle of unique papers and sources, and ideas that can extend far beyond the pages of your notebook

• Discover a new ritual, grounded in creativity, calm, and self-expression

  
  

This class is for anyone—no prior experience needed. Just bring your curiosity, your hands, and your heart.

Supply List

Really and truly, you don't have to bring anything.

You will be provided with a book-making kit and other fun things that are my faves when making a Living Notebook. I will provide bits from my personal collection of things to share, monoprint tools, and a limited selection of paints and art supplies.

If you desire, you may bring:

• A small collection of your favorite supplies like paints, tools, markers, pens

• Your favorite ephemera that have some meaning to you (papers, photos, lace, dried pressed flowers)

• meaning to you

• Any fabric or stitching items (yarn, thread, ribbons)

Come do this for yourself. I can’t wait to create with you in New Orleans!