A design in a new journal.
I doodled a winter-y mountain landscape scene for my January 2025 journal design theme! I also wanted to share a look at my new [to me] dot grid journal.
I used calendar stamps, stamp inks, archival ink pens, watercolor pencils, watercolor paints, white gouache paint, and paintbrushes. I also used a pencil and eraser for my initial sketch.
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:
My New Dot Grid Journal
I got my SeQes A5 Dotted Journal because I wanted to see if I could recognized a difference between the page quality of different brands I previously used. To my surprise, this journal handles watercolor paintings very well!
There were different color options available, but I chose teal fabric color with the ginkgo leaf design on the front cover. The ginkgo leaf inspired me to create a quick doodle design as an ink test page of sorts.
I used archival ink pens, watercolor pencils, and a waterbrush for a "2025" ginkgo leaves page design. I went light with the water for this test since I did not know how much the page would wrinkle or curl.
Fortunately, this page remained flat. I felt brave enough to attempt full page watercolor landscapes for my January journal design theme!
Calendar Overview Pages
I doodled the hills, pine trees, and mountains with an archival ink brush pen. I primarily used watercolor paints for the doodles, but I opted for a watercolor pencil for the sky. I also used white gouache paint to add snowy highlights to the trees and mountains.
Only the page corners curled after I painted all six pages for my journal design. So far, it seems like this journal holds water and watercolor paints better than other journals I have used.
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
These two pages took the longest to complete because I spent time deciding what hobbies, hopes, and guesses I wanted to add to my BINGO game. For the "free" space, I doodled a mini winter-y landscape to match the rest of the journal design.
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 fill by the end of the month. Since I did not have much room for doodles on this page, I made sure to fill as much of the mood page with tall mountains. 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 a simple landscape sketch or doodle!
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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