Temi Manning runs an Etsy shop, a YouTube channel, and two stunning Instagram accounts -- and uses both a planner and journal to stay organised and to plan ahead. Temi's one Instagram account, @livingletterplans, is dedicated to beautiful images of her planner and journal. In between posts featuring picture-perfect journal spreads, Temi includes inspiring reminders and uplifting messages that undoubtedly brighten her followers' feeds on a regular basis. 

We wanted to learn more about Temi and her passion for planning and stationery, so we invited her to answer some questions for the washi blog. Here's our conversation:

How did you become interested in journaling? Has this been a lifelong passion of yours or something that you started more recently?
I became interested in journaling more recently through my love for planning and stationery. I discovered journaling through the planning community on Instagram and YouTube. I'm a keen creative type and I create artwork often. The idea that I could combine my artistic side, and planning side were a huge draw for me, so I decided to give it a try!

Can you tell us about how keeping a journal has changed and improved your daily life? 
Keeping a journal has made the biggest improvements on my mental health. Not only is there great enjoyment from the act of journaling and creating in my notebook, but writing down thoughts, concerns, gratitudes, tracking my habits and mood, has made a huge difference, and given me a greater awareness of where I'm at mentally. It's a perfect way to clear your mind, and get the endorphins from doing something I enjoy so much. 

You keep a planner and a journal -- both look lovely! Can you tell me a bit about the difference between the two in terms of the different ways you use them?
Thanks! So my planner is used more for future planning. I keep all of my meetings, schedules, to do lists, work and personal projects in there, and daily, I use a time blocking system while working to help me stay organised and on track.

My journal is more for reflection, and looking back. I write a short piece each day with thoughts on my day, or just what I'm thinking about at the time. I also track my habits and mood, and write down the things that I'm grateful for/need to pray for. I also like to coordinate the aesthetic on both, partly for my own pleasure, also for my social media.  

Can you share with us what your go-to stationery supplies are? 
So at the moment, the bullet journal I'm using is by Tittle & Jot, but I also use Archer & Olive. My go to pens are the Sakura Pigma Microns, and I use the Plastic Nib for my daily journaling. 

I use both Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Archer & Olive Acrylograph Pens for the artistic side, and my favourite washi at the moment is without a doubt my grid set from The Washi Tape Shop. I'm all about the grid washi at the moment! 

For my planner I use a Passion Planner along with their sticker sets, and the Zebra Z-grip smooth pen for all of my daily writing. 

You also run an Etsy shop, creating wall art and designs, as well as a YouTube channel. Can you tell us where you find creative inspiration, in terms of your work, art, and journal?  
A lot of my creative inspiration has come from other accounts I follow on social media. With my wall art business, my inspiration came from people like Jenna Rainey, Oraarts, but I have very much developed my own individual style over the years, and it is always developing. This is quite important as with a creative business, people won't pay you to create what someone else is creating. 

With my journaling, I always get so many ideas from different themes I see, but I always make them my own, and create them in the way only I would. An account I'm loving at the moment is Elizabeth Gray. I would love to get more creative with my lettering. 

Do you have a favorite journal spread, and if so, do you mind sharing it with us? 
It's very hard to choose, but here's one of my favourite spreads:

Thank you to Temi for answering our questions. Be sure to check @livingletterplans and @livingletterdesigns on Instagram, and watch Temi's YouTube videos here.