A "Mickey's Christmas Carol" design theme.
I took inspiration from the Disney animated film Mickey's Christmas Carol, a retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol for December's design theme.
NOTE: While the pages are like those who setup their Bullet Journals (BuJo), I use this journal more as a memory keeper/diary. The BuJo-inspired pages encourage me to make note of the good things in life, even on the worst days.
The Design Theme
When I worked on my journal design, I was visiting family for the US Thanksgiving holiday. I worried I'd be too distracted with spending time with family that I wouldn't have enough time to work on a detailed design before uploading this post.
I wanted to keep it simple with Christmas string lights 'hanging' on every page. It was a simple enough concept that wouldn't take time away from family.
However, as I sketched my layout and design while watching TV one night, I decided Christmas string lights was too simple for me this month.
Instead, I decided to take inspiration from the Disney animated film Mickey's Christmas Carol for the design theme. I completed the coloring of the artwork late one night while the family slept peacefully.
Title
For the title page, I sketched Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit working cheerfully at his desk. I chose this image because I was going to write "December 2021" on the pages. I later decided to write "December 2021" above the image to fill-in the blank space above.
Before I visited family, I packed some art supplies including my old Firefly and Tombow brush markers. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that many markers were dried out. I couldn't use them to color full images, but I was able to use some to draw border lines and write text on the other pages.
Fortunately, I brought my watercolor set. Since the Firefly and Tombow brush markers were water based, I went ahead and used my water brushes to blend the marker colors the best I could.
The title page isn't my favorite, but at least I can tell it's Mickey Mouse.
Calendar Overview
The calendar overview is where I note important dates I want to document in my journal.
The larger calendar fills much of both pages. I note events such as birthdays, appointments, and holidays within the appropriate block that represents a day in the month. During the month, I'll make a short note of something that happened.
On the left, I have a mini calendar for next month and another box where I'll note next month's events coming soon. I like being able to visually see ahead to things I may need to be aware of before those days come.
I included Scrooge McDuck and a few ghosts on these pages. Goofy as Jacob Marley's ghost is at the bottom corner of the right page. Scrooge and his beloved money are to the left of Goofy on the same page.
Willie the Giant as the Ghost of Christmas Present is at the top corner of the left page. Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future is at the bottom corner of the same page.
The artwork on these pages is busier than what I normally sketch and color. The coloring part was so much fun, I should practice drawing artwork with lots of detail more often.
Highlights and Trackers
Every night, I write a line of text highlighting one good thing about that day on my highlights page. Usually, I write about a simple thing that made me happy. Even on the worst days, I try to think about a highlight of that day to write down. This page is intentionally left blank since I'll fill it in throughout the month.
On the trackers page, I note when I complete my favorite hobbies. While many journal enthusiasts track their habits, tracking my favorite hobbies reminds me to dedicate time for myself and happiness. The hobbies I track are:
arts + crafts,
writing, and
gaming.
I usually have a fourth mini calendar for tracking my workout, but I decided to be honest with myself and admit I haven't exercised in months. There's a great chance I won't exercise much in December either.
My dogs' care and happiness are equally important. I track the following for my dogs:
when they go for a joy ride,
when I've cared for their coat with a brush, leave-in shampoo, or bath,
when they received teeth care with brush chews or teeth brushing,
when they participated in extended, extra, or hyper playtime, and
when something unusual happens with my senior dog.
Since I'll fill the pages throughout the month of December, I kept the design minimal with just Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past below the mini calendars.
Quote and Mood
The left page was originally going to be my mood tracker page. I intended to sketch Christmas string lights across the top half of the page with the intent of coloring in a light each day to reflect my overall mood.
Below the Christmas string lights would be Scrooge after his realization that he would "honour Christmas" in his heart and visited Mickey's family (a.k.a. Bob Cratchit's family).
I wanted to have a happy, cheerful Scrooge and Tiny Tim on the page at the least. However, I attempted to sketch an image I found online that had all members of the family surrounding Scrooge.
I struggled so much with this image! Family distractions paired with my novice sketching skills made it challenging for me to sketch an artwork I was somewhat satisfied with.
Once I sketched the characters and no longer wanted to erase the entire page to start over, I didn't feel there wasn't enough space along the top for the Christmas string lights I wanted to include. Instead, I treated this as a quote page.
I treat my mood tracker page as a coloring page of sorts. Each night, I'll color-in something that represents my overall mood for that day: awesome, meh, bad/sad, or sick.
Because I couldn't think of a scene from the animated film that I could replicate as a coloring page of sorts, I simply sketched a quick Christmas tree donned with ornaments. I'll color-in an ornament based on my overall mood at the end of each day.
My Thoughts
This is not one of my favorite journal design themes, but I'm happy with the effort I put into it when I had time to do so. I love A Christmas Carol and enjoy Disney's animated retelling of it. I'm glad I incorporated the more popular characters of the film in my design.
What's Next?
With the Christmas holidays around the corner, I'll soon share some winter-themed arts and crafts with you! I may also share some personal stories about past experiences since staying in my old childhood home brings back lots of memories.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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