How Journaling Led Me to Start My Business

Creativity has been at the center of my life for as long as I can remember. Whether I was drawing Ariel from The Little Mermaid, performing on stage, acting in front of a camera, or filling notebooks with ideas, I have always found joy in creating.

That lifelong love of creativity eventually led me to start Love To Scribble, my stationery business—but the journey began long before the first product was created.

It began with a journal, a restless creative mind, and a dream.

From Russia to the United States: Finding Comfort in Art

My journey began in 1994, when I was adopted from an orphanage in Russia at the age of 10 and came to the United States during the holiday season.

The holidays have held a special place in my heart ever since. They remind me of the better life I was given—a loving home and a family who has always been there for me.

When I first arrived in the United States, I did not speak English. During that first year, visual creativity became one of the ways I connected with the world around me.

I loved drawing and watching movies. Art and storytelling gave me ways to express myself even when I did not always have the words.

Looking back, those early creative outlets planted the seeds for a lifelong passion for art, storytelling, and self-expression.

Discovering the Power of Journaling in New York City

In my teens and twenties, I pursued a career in the performing arts, acting in independent films and performing on stage.

Eventually, I moved to New York City to continue studying film and acting.

It was during this chapter of my life that journaling became an essential part of my everyday routine.

I had always used notebooks and planners, but in New York, I began to understand how powerful putting pen to paper could be.

My schedule was hectic. Between classes, restaurant shifts, rehearsals, auditions, and performances, there was always something happening.

My journal became the place where I could bring everything together.

I used it for:

• Memorizing scripts and writing stage notes
• Organizing daily to-do lists
• Tracking personal and professional goals
• Planning my schedule
• Writing down dreams and ideas
• Capturing creative inspiration

I carried a journal almost everywhere, usually tucked into my backpack or purse.

Whether I was sitting in a café or spending time in Bryant Park—one of my favorite places in New York—I always wanted somewhere nearby to capture a thought before it disappeared.

During weeks filled with long classes, restaurant shifts, and nightly performances, journaling gave me a sense of structure.

It helped turn a busy, sometimes chaotic life into something I could see, organize, and work through one page at a time.

Scribble Spark: What is one dream you keep thinking about—and what is one small step you could write down today to move closer to it?

How I Used Journaling to Memorize Scripts

Journaling and handwriting also became an important part of my acting process.

When I needed to memorize a script, simply reading the lines from a screen was not enough for me.

I needed to write.

I rewrote lines, circled important words, drew arrows, and used colors as visual reminders of my character's emotions.

If I wrote a line in red, it might remind me that my character was angry or upset. Light blue could represent a moment when my character was calm, gentle, or sensitive.

My pages were not always neat—but they worked for me.

That experience taught me something I still believe today: your notebook does not need to look perfect to be useful.

Sometimes the messiest pages are where the clearest ideas begin.

From Helping a Friend to Learning Entrepreneurship

In 2018, I returned to the Washington, DC area to help my childhood best friend grow her food business, Healthy Fresh Meals.

At the time, I did not have experience building a business.

What I did have was curiosity and a willingness to learn.

Over the next several years, I gained hands-on experience in entrepreneurship and learned what it takes to help grow a business behind the scenes.

I learned about operations, customers, marketing, organization, and the many moving pieces involved in turning an idea into a functioning company.

Throughout that experience, I continued journaling.

My notebooks remained a place where I could organize ideas, work through challenges, set goals, and think about what I wanted my own future to look like.

Eventually, one idea kept returning to the page.

What if I combined everything I loved—art, creativity, journaling, colorful stationery, and entrepreneurship—into a business of my own?

How My Journal Helped Create Love To Scribble

In 2024, that idea became Love To Scribble.

Before the business had products, collections, or customers, it existed as ideas written inside my journal.

I used those pages to think through what I wanted the brand to represent.

I wrote about the people I hoped to inspire.

I brainstormed products, designs, goals, and possibilities.

Most importantly, I thought about how stationery had helped me throughout my own life.

A notebook had been there while I was studying acting.

It helped me memorize scripts.

It organized my busiest days.

It held creative ideas.

It gave me somewhere to dream.

I wanted Love To Scribble to give other people that same feeling—the excitement of opening a notebook and knowing that the blank pages could become absolutely anything.

Growing Love To Scribble

Since launching Love To Scribble in April 2024, the business has grown far beyond those first journal pages.

What began as an idea has become a colorful stationery brand filled with notebooks, journals, bookmarks, greeting cards, stickers, writing tools, and creative gifts.

Along the way, I have met customers at festivals and creative events, expanded the brand online, introduced new original artwork and products, and continued learning what it means to build a small creative business.

Like any entrepreneurial journey, it has not always been easy.

There are exciting moments, frustrating moments, unexpected challenges, and plenty of lessons.

But every time someone chooses a Love To Scribble product to hold their ideas, stories, drawings, lists, or dreams, I am reminded why I started.

Looking Ahead to 2027

As I look toward 2027, I still use journaling to think about the future of Love To Scribble.

The notebook may look different from the ones I carried around New York City, but the process is surprisingly similar.

I write down ideas.

I make lists.

I brainstorm.

I cross things out.

I change direction.

And sometimes, a scribble on one page becomes the beginning of something much bigger.

My goals for Love To Scribble in 2027 are to continue growing the brand while staying connected to the creativity that inspired it in the first place.

Create More Original Designs

I want to continue developing colorful stationery and original artwork that feels joyful, useful, and a little unexpected.

Love To Scribble is for writers, artists, journal lovers, planners, and restless creatives—and I want every new collection to give them another reason to pick up a pen.

Grow the Love To Scribble Community

Building a business is about more than selling products.

I want to continue connecting with people who love stationery, journaling, books, writing, art, and creativity through our website, social media, events, and wherever the Love To Scribble journey takes us next.

Keep Learning and Growing

There is always something new to learn as an entrepreneur.

In 2027, I want to continue experimenting, improving, listening to customers, and finding new ways to grow Love To Scribble without losing the personality and creativity behind the brand.

The Heart of Love To Scribble

When I think about my journey, it amazes me that something as simple as writing in a notebook has followed me through so many chapters of my life.

Journaling helped me organize my days.

It helped me memorize scripts.

It gave me a place to dream.

Eventually, those dreams helped inspire a business.

That is why I believe a blank page can be incredibly powerful.

You never know where one idea might lead.

Your notebook might hold today's grocery list, tomorrow's business idea, a character for a future novel, a sketch for your next artwork, or a dream you have not yet figured out how to achieve.

Write it down anyway.

You can always figure out the details later.

Explore Love To Scribble's collection of notebooks and journals and find a place for your own ideas, plans, stories, and creative scribbles.

Because life is better when you're scribbling!

FAQs

When did Love To Scribble start?

Love To Scribble launched in April 2024 as a Maryland-based creative stationery brand founded by artist and entrepreneur Luba Hansen.

How did journaling inspire Love To Scribble?

Journaling helped me organize my life, memorize acting scripts, set goals, and capture creative ideas. Over time, those experiences inspired me to create a stationery brand that encourages others to put their own ideas on paper.

What is the mission behind Love To Scribble?

Love To Scribble creates colorful stationery and creative goods designed to inspire writers, artists, journal lovers, planners, and restless creatives to keep writing, drawing, dreaming, and creating.