Hi everyone,
Summer is here and it's time to get on up, get down, get shwifty, get lucky and get jiggy with it.
For me, summer is a time to listen to and make music. Just recently, I was strumming on my guitar, and reached out for my journal to write down some lyrics that suddenly came to mind. That got me thinking:
Isn't it funny that most of the songs we know, even our favourite summer hits, were born from simple scribbles and notes on a piece of paper? I love imagining my favourite artists sitting outside at a terrace, or in their studio, jotting down their musical and lyrical ideas in a notebook.
Let me introduce myself: I'm Viktoria, Viki for short, and I've recently joined the paper republic team. I would like to tell you a bit about the things I love, and how I use my journals to stay organised and to grow creatively.

Austria is the third country I've lived in after Slovakia and Denmark, and it really feels like home. In my free time, I enjoy doing sports. I especially love an unusual Chinese sport called Jianzi, Shuttlecock in English. As a teenager, I even won the European Championship in the women's single!
Creativity is also very important to me. I'm passionate about singing, photography and travelling, and lucky me - I can do all of these at the same time!

Since I do many different things, I use my paper republic products to stay organised, but also to unfold my creativity. I love sitting outside with my guitar, strumming, singing, observing what is happening around me. I always have my portfolio [a6] with me, with ruled and plain refills inside and my wooden mechanical pencil on the side in a pen loop. This way, whenever I feel inspired, I can write down ideas for different melodies and lyrics.
While traveling, my portfolio is always by my side: I keep my passport, tickets and other important cards and documents in it.

I also have a grand voyageur [xl] leather journal in petrol blue (my absolute favourite colour) with gold initials. I use it to keep track of my goals and projects. Since I do a lot of sports, I use a book refill as a logbook, to keep track of my training sessions.
A completely different project I planned in this journal was a music video. Feel free to check out my cover of the song "skinny love" by Birdy here.

I also use my beautiful clip pocket [xl] in which I store various cards, tickets and small keepsakes. Now that event season is back, I can't wait to fill it with theatre and concert tickets!
I do what I do with passion, and I love the fact that I now have my leather companions, that will follow me through all my projects and stick with me my whole life.
Warm greetings from Vienna,

Viki
DHO (Digital Hands-On Officer)
DHO (Digital Hands-On Officer)
P.S. A little secret: if you look closely at the picture below, you'll see not only a beautiful butterfly (it's real!), but you might find out that I got to emboss my initials in gold onto my book refills. This is part of a unique August-only offer which is available for our members. Sign in or register (for free) here to find out more...
