November Bullet Journal Layout

I know it's late in the month, but I thought I'd share my November bullet journal layout with you.

I'm a "cozy minimalist" (a term I found on Pinterest that fits me quite well) when it comes to bullet journaling. If I were any good at drawing and lettering, I could easily see myself doing a lot of decoration as a creative outlet. But I'm no good at drawing and only working on the basics of lettering. So, for now, I'm a minimalist.

Washi tape gives me some artistic flavor without any effort on my part. It also helps me to create a pleasing color scheme for the month.

I found this washi tape on Ebay. I'm pretty sure it took more than a month to get here from China, but I knew it would be awhile when I ordered it. The important thing is that it came in time for me to use it for the month I wanted to use it for. I was so impressed with this roll that I bought several more (different designs) from this same seller and can't wait for it to arrive.

I think there were 7 meters on the roll for right around $1, give or take ten cents (and with free shipping). I'm not only a minimalist, but a cheapskate as well, so that's the price point and length I look for when I'm buying washi tape.

I used some of my Artist Loft brush markers (store brand of Tombows) and some felt tip pens that I really like from Dollar Tree (also available at Dollar General in a multi-color pack).

I mainly used the smaller end of the brush markers for this month, although I did use the brush end of the sage green color to act as a highlighter on my mini monthly calendars in each weekly layout.

I hope Dollar Tree continues to carry these felt tip pens because I tend to go through about one a month, regardless of whether I'm buying the Staedtler Fineliners or these much cheaper ones from Dollar Tree (3/pack). I also like the slightly wider point on these (0.5 mm compared to 0.3 mm on Fineliners).


As for the layout, I'm sure I was inspired by Pinterest and Instagram. I tend to pick one thing I like from one layout, one or two things from another, and mesh them into something that works for me. And I have a really bad memory. So if you inspired me, thanks so much! I wish I could remember who to credit. If you'd see the size of my Pinterest bullet journal boards, you'd understand!

I'll be making a few changes in December, but I'm still in the pre-planning process for December pages right now. I'll share when I have the changes finalized.

I love the ability to tweak my layouts each month (or week, if I want to) to something that better suits my lifestyle at the moment.

My Thrifted Bullet Journal Case

I love the looks of my new bullet journal, and I want it to stay nice for as long as possible. A friend of a friend kindly made me a vinyl monogram for the front. It gets shoved in my purse a lot because I'm one of the (apparently) few bullet journalists that actually takes her bullet journal with her when she leaves the house, so I was afraid of being too rough on the decal.

While I was on a thrifting excursion the other day, I happened upon this beauty from At A Glance ($2 at Goodwill). I have no idea if it's still available or not, but it perfectly fits my bullet journal. As an added bonus, I can close my journal again if I want to (remember the broken strap?) and even keep my pen handy without putting binder clip marks on the cover.

This was barely used before it was donated, if it was used at all. I love the extra space to store Scripture coloring cards without harming the binding of my bullet journal.

I'm still completely in love with this Artist's Loft notebook. If you get wind that they'll be discontinuing them, please drop me a line to let me know so I can stock up! (This seems to happen every time I fall in love with a frugal supply.)

$5 Artist's Loft Bullet Journal Update: Strap Issue

So, if you're interested in bullet journals, you may be interested to know that the strap broke on my Artist's Loft bullet journal after about a week or so using it cross-wise as a pen loop.

This is not a deal-breaker for me because of the price point and the fact that the strap was more in the way than it was helpful. But, in the interests of full disclosure about the journal that I've been raving about, I thought I should mention it on my blog.

I have more (positive) things to post about this journal, but they will have to wait until I get some keyboard issues resolved with my laptop. (Almost the entire left side of the keyboard doesn't want to work, so I'm using the on-screen keyboard to type most of this.)

Artist's Loft Watercolor Dual Tip Markers: Labeling by Color Name

Since finding the Artist's Loft version of the bullet journal a few weeks ago, I've been excited to try new things. One of those things is venturing into the world of hand lettering. Now, before I go any further, please note: I AM JUST A BEGINNER. I started last night. I can't even get the thick and thin lines when I want them yet. I'm still experimenting to find just the right pen position, paper position, and pen pressure for me.

Still, I wanted to give this tip (pun not intended) for anyone else who opted for the cheaper Artist's Loft markers instead of Tombow. Before I get to the tip, maybe you're wondering why I chose to go with the Artist's Loft markers.
 

 For one thing, I'm just beginning and don't know if I'll persevere long enough to get the technique down perfectly. As such, I don't need the expensive markers. A basic set that has decent reviews from people who are far better at brush lettering than I can ever hope to be is good enough for me to start with. (And yes, there are some YouTube hand letterers who use these.)

For another thing, with a coupon, these markers came out to about $0.60 each in a pack of 12. That's just slightly more than I paid for markers from Dollar Tree, so the price seems more than fair.

Now let's get to the point of this blog post: how to label these markers.

I'm a detailed person. If I'm going to use these markers in my bullet journal, I'll likely be using a set color scheme each month or so. With that in mind, I really need to be able to grab the right marker the first time. A few of these were not the color I expected by the pen cap, so labeling was a must for me.

Since they have no color names that I could discover on a quick Google search, I decided to make them up myself. To do that, I did a basic lettering page and named them, based on what the color looked like to me. (Please refer back to my previous statements: I am a beginner. I just started last night.)

Then I used some of my lifetime-supply of sticker paper that I recently picked up at a yard sale ($1.50) to create labels with these color names. I just created a table in my word processing software. My columns were 1-1/4" wide, and my rows were 1/4" tall. The Times New Roman font worked perfectly in 11-point type.

Then I simply cut them out and applied them to the pens, right between the images of the pen tips.

If these decide to start coming off in the future, I'll just add a piece of clear tape over the top of them to hold them down.

New Bullet Journal: Inside Front Cover and Contact Page

In case you didn't notice from my last post, I'm a little excited about my new bullet journal (Artist's Loft from Michaels). If I can wait, I don't plan to officially move into it until January. I have enough space in my current bullet journal to last me through the end of the year.

So, to alleviate my excitement a bit, I've been planning how to make it perfect. And I decided that some of the pages can be made a few months ahead without any harm. Two such pages are the inside front cover and the contact page.

Here is what I came up with for these pages that would normally go to waste:



I received this gorgeous card for my 40th birthday a few months ago, and I knew I wanted to use it where I could see it a lot. This was the perfect use!

I recently found this quote [shared on Facebook, but no author mentioned - I'd love to know who came up with it, if you happen to know] and I couldn't agree with it more. I also thought it was the perfect companion to the card image.

Just yesterday, I found a lifetime supply of A5-sized sticker paper at a yard sale for $1.50. I printed this onto one of those sheets.

Stay tuned for more pages to come. I have several pages on my list that can be done ahead of time.

$5 Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal Alternative at Michaels

If you're a member of any bullet journaling Facebook groups, you've probably heard about this already. However, I only follow a few minimalist bullet journalists on Instagram, so I hadn't heard of it until I hopped on YouTube for something else (bullet-journal-related) a few days ago. So, in case you're like me and have been hiding under a rock, let me tell you some pretty exciting news:

Michaels has come out with a $5 alternative to the Leuchtturm1917!





Funny thing is, I was just at Michaels looking at their notebooks the day before I heard about it on YouTube. I didn't see them. So, I happened to be in the neighborhood the next day (honest!), and I went searching for them. Would you believe I had actually stood in front of the display the day before and didn't know what I was looking at? There was nothing to indicate what they were inside. They looked like all the other sketchbooks that Michaels carries, and they were actually below eye level on the end cap.

If your store doesn't have them yet, you can order it online. But trust me - our stores are always the last to get anything, so your store probably has it.

And here's the ironic thing about it all: I was doing research on journals because I was thinking about adding a fancy one (hello, Leuchtturm1917) to my Christmas list. At this price, I don't need to wait until Christmas. And I can go through two in a year (if needed) without putting a crimp in my spending money.

But a few burning questions remained: How does it compare to the Leuchtturm1917? Is the paper a lot cheaper? Will my pens bleed through the paper? Will the pages fall out? Will it lay flat as I work through it?

YouTube came to the rescue again. PlanningWithLove did research and discovered that it's made from the same paper quality as the Leuchtturm1917. Bonus: It's bright white instead of off-white. I much prefer bright white paper.

There is a very slight size difference, but it probably all evens out in the end. It's slightly bigger than the Leuchtturm1917 one way and slightly smaller the other way.

There are several colors to choose from, but I chose basic black for this first one. It goes with everything I own, so it made sense. If there was a yellow, I probably would have opted for that instead.

There are two ideal bullet journal insides to choose from: dot grid and graph. I prefer the added structure of the graph lines because it helps me to keep my writing straight, instead of angling upwards or downwards (a bad habit of mine). The lines (or dots) aren't an overpowering color, just enough to guide you without distracting the eye when you're looking at the completed page.

I'm not planning to start using my new journal until 2018, but I've started working on a plan for what works, what doesn't, and what I need to add to my next bullet journal. In preparation, I also decided to do a pen test page. I chose the last page in the journal, as some other bullet journalists recommend. This way, if something bleeds through, it's no big deal. You're not ruining a usable page. Here's that page so far:





A note about how long this will last me: My current journal (a graph composition book from Wal-Mart) has 200 pages. I've been doing six months in each of those before starting a new one, but there have always been a decent amount of empty pages leftover (just not enough for another six months). This has 49 more pages, so I may be able to get a whole year out of it. I'm a math geek, so here's how I figured this:

249 pages - 12 months (2 pgs/monthly spread) - 52 weeks (approx. 2 pgs/week), 12 months of check registers (approx. 2 pgs/month) - 12 monthly budget pages - 4 future log pages (for the entire year) = 168 pages used, with 81 pages left for collections

That sounds like it might work, but I'll see how full it is when June rolls around. As I said earlier, it won't break the bank to use two per year.

One thing I wasn't sure about was how to carry a pen around with the new journal. Then I saw a few hacks on Pinterest. The first one involved a binder clip along the side of the journal, mounted out just far enough for your pen's cap clip to fit through. Sorry I don't remember where I saw this one, but it's probably been around for awhile with several people re-blogging it.



The other idea involves angling the elastic closure across the front of the journal and hooking your pen onto that. I actually saw this on one of Ryder Carroll's YouTube Q&A's.



I'm trying to think of something nice to do with the first page after the index. I'm leaning toward adding in a beautiful cardfront that was given to me for my 40th birthday two months ago. That way, I can enjoy it all next year. If you bullet journal, I'd love to hear what YOU do with your first page.

P.S. If money isn't an issue some year, I'll probably buy an official bullet journal as a thank you to Ryder Carroll for developing the bullet journal system and offering all the information for free. You can find them here, if you'd like to show your gratitude that way, too.

New Bullet Journal Weekly Spread

This week I'm trying out a new spread in my bullet journal. This was inspired by journalphine from Instagram.

I wanted something a little more decorative than my usual minimalist rolling weeks. I hope this works well for me because I love the look of it!

Supplies: washi tape: Dollar Tree; pens: Triplus Fineliner (small details), promotional PaperMate Flair (headlines); highlighter: Promarx; journal: cut down from a Wal-Mart graph composition book

Custom Bullet Journal

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post. A lot has transpired, and I may post about it someday, but I'm going to just get right to the point of this post: my newest bullet journal.

I'm a paper snob. I have always loved paper, but I have always wanted paper to feel a certain way when I write on it. I'm also frugal (i.e. sometimes too cheap for my own good), and I can't bear the idea of spending nearly $20 or more on a notebook whose paper may not feel good to me.

If you're familiar with the bullet journaling community, you probably recognize names like Moleskin and Leuchtturm. I don't have a local source to feel them before I buy, and I've already found a paper that I love that doesn't bleed through when I use my PaperMate Flair or Triplus Fineliners on it. Surprisingly, I found it at Wal-Mart. It's a graph composition notebook with 100 sheets, and it costs a whopping $0.97 as of today.

The only problem is that a full-sized composition notebook is a bit big to carry around with me everywhere. I used one (actually two different notebooks) for the last year, but I now need portability, too.

I've thought about this for a few days. I need a new journal for July, and I don't have much time left. Fortunately, the right solution came to me last night. Basically, I tore apart a new graph composition book (the exact one that I love), cut it down to the size I needed, and then put it back together.

Let me walk you through the process, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel if you ever want to do this yourself.

First of all, I used a seam-ripper to cut the threads that hold it together in the middle.

Then I pulled the pages away from the cover and clipped the threads that wouldn't pull off.

Now it was time to cut down the pages and the cover. I needed it to fit into this folio cover, so I measured the ideal dimensions:

Then it was time to cut the pages and cover. I measured out from the "spine" where the binding holes were and cut everything to the right size. My paper cutter can handle the composition book cover, but you need to know if yours can handle it. If not, you may end up breaking your paper cutter. That would make your notebook signficiantly more expensive, so please don't make that mistake.

With all of that out of the way, it was time to reassemble everything.

The first thing you want to do is use a large, sharp needle to poke holes on the cover from the inside out. Otherwise, you won't know where to insert your needle from the outside, and the process will be very frustrating.

Now you should be ready to sew it back up. Use a large, sharp needle and strong thread. I used upholstery thread, but hand quilting thread should work fine, too. And, of course, bookbinding thread would work perfectly, if you have some on hand.

Here it is, all sewn up:

I chose to round my corners, too, but that's just a personal preference.

And that's really all there is to it. Here's my new bullet journal, all ready to start writing in:

I hope that helps someone else. If nothing else, it will remind me next time how I did it!