With a fantasy galaxy design.
I painted hearts, colorful clouds, and stars for my February 2025 journal design theme!
I used calendar stamps, stamp inks, archival ink pens, metallic gel pens, gouache paints, paintbrushes, black gesso, and white acrylic paint marker.
NOTE: While the page layouts are similar to Bullet Journal (BuJo) setups you have seen online, I use this journal as a diary/memory keeper, not for productivity. The BuJo-inspired pages encourage me to make note of the good things in life, even on the worst days.
In case it's helpful, below are the main points covered in this post:
Calendar Overview Pages
I painted the pages with black gesso before starting my design. Why? Because I had not decided on a design theme before recording my video, so I hoped starting with a black background would spark an idea.
The black background eventually inspired me to attempt a fantasy galaxy design. I dabbed gouache paint onto the page to create a cloudy look. I splattered the paint to give the illusion of stars.
Once I remembered Valentine's Day is in February, I added floating hearts and star doodles. This filled the empty spaces and added a touch of visual interest to a simplistic design theme. I struggled with contrast in some areas, but I believe it was acceptable considering that this was my first attempt at a fantasy galaxy design.
The calendar overview is where I note important dates I want to document in my journal. For example, I will make a short note of something that happened on different days.
I also highlight the best and worst things to happen during the month. I primarily want to document positive things on the decorated pages, but I feel it is also important to document bad things, especially if it is a lesson learned.
Hobbies & Dogs' Pages
I again struggled with contrast on these pages. While the white boxes 'pop' against the black background, it did not have the same effect against the colorful clouds. I used a black outline where the white box 'touched' the colorful clouds, but my application was poor.
The calendar and chart headers do not 'pop' against their white or black backgrounds. If I were to redo this page, I would have the calendar headers as white text against a black background. I also would have the chart headers as black text against a yellow or gold background.
While many journal enthusiasts track their habits, I track my favorite hobbies as a reminder to dedicate time for fun. I also track things I want to do for my dogs to ensure their happiness and well-being.
The hobbies I track are:
art + crafts,
writing, and
gaming.
I also track the following for my dogs:
when they go for a joy ride (their favorite thing to do),
when they go for a long walk,
when I care for their coat with a brush, leave-in shampoo, or bath,
when they receive teeth care with brush chews or teeth brushing, and
when they get to relax with a picnic in the park.
I especially wanted to track my young dog's training progress. We will focus on mastering a few skills. I would love for her to become a Canine Good Citizen one day. Unfortunately, I am horrible with training. We have a long training road ahead of us.
I created another BINGO game. This is just a goofy activity to fill what would otherwise be negative space. It serves as a wish list of things I would like for the month.
Highlights and Mood Pages
Although these pages look bare, the highlights page will be filled by the end of the month. I drew simple heart shapes on the mood page. Both pages will look busy by the end of the month.
Every night, I write a line of text highlighting one good thing about the day on the highlights page (left). It forces me to think on the bright side, especially on the most challenging days when my depression hits hard.
I treat my mood tracker page (right) as a coloring page of sorts. Each night, I will color-in a part of an image or shape that represented my overall mood for that day.
What's Next?
Struggling to come up with a theme for your journal design? Consider simple icons and splashes of color!
Have you set up your journal design? Comment below to share what theme you went with and the materials you used.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
~Simply Jelly Jam
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