A ghost doodle-themed journal design.
I painted the pages black and doodled ghosts with a white paint marker in honor of the spooky season.
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.
In case it's helpful, below are the topics covered in this post:
Painting the Pages
Unlike past journal designs, I thought it would be a fun challenge to paint the pages black. This meant I lost the bullet markings that make drawing calendars and other block-shaped sections on the pages. I would let the paint (technically gesso) for an hour before moving onto another page.
I separated the pages with wax paper. I regret doing so because the wax paper stuck to the pages. Some of the paint bled onto other pages. I should have used washi tape to mask areas I did not want painted. It is a lesson learned.
Before I started my design, I tested some of my stationary items to see what looked good on black paper. I found my Posca paint markers, Sigma gel pens, Spectrum Noir metallic pens, and Crayola colored pencils worked well. My Micron pen worked well over the white paint marker.
Calendar Overview Pages
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.
Productivity-related notes like to-do lists are managed in a separate and more simplistic Bullet Journal.
I wanted to keep the design quick and simple. I doodled a few ghosts and stars to fill in the blank areas. I primarily used my white paint marker for the doodles and various block shapes on the pages.
I used a ruler to measure and draw the various block shapes. For example, the blocks for the larger overview calendar were 1-inch by 1-inch. The blocks for the mini-November calendar were 1-centimeter by 1-centimeter.
I wiped the ruler frequently to prevent paint and ink from smearing. When it did smear or I made a mistake, I masked it with a little black paint.
Highlights and Hobbies & Dogs' Pages
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 hobbies & dogs 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.
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 dogs (e.g., upset stomach).
I left the highlights page mostly blank. Without the bullet markings to reference, the numbers I wrote were larger than normal. I had no room to add a simple doodle at the bottom of the page.
I used tracing paper to trace a mini holiday calendar from a previous month. I did not want to make the calendars too large for the page. With my senior dog's aging issues and challenges, the dogs' tracker is the most important section to include. My notes are helpful documenting issues I can tell the doctor about during consultations and appointments.
Mood Page
I treat my mood tracker page as a coloring page of sorts. Each night, I'll color-in a part of an image that represents my overall mood for that day: awesome, meh/OK, sick, or bad/sad.
This was the easiest page to design. I doodled thirty-one teardrop shapes to represent ghosts. At the end of each day, I will color-in a ghost with colored pencil based on my overall mood and add a face with a black pen or marker. If I felt like it, I could make a ghost multi-colored if I deal with a range of different emotions.
What's Next?
This journal design got me excited about Halloween. I think I may focus a lot of my upcoming art projects to the spooky season.
Have you set up your October journal design? Comment below to share what theme you went with and what materials you used to create it.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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