A cat-themed journal design.
Since September is National Happy Cat Month (US), I decided to doodle some cats for my journal design.
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:
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 celebrate National Happy Cat Month (US) with cat doodles as part of my design theme.
I was hesitant to go through with it at first because I do not believe I draw cats (or any animals) well at all. I also wanted to try making my own original art instead of recreating cartoon characters as I normally do.
This month's design, in my opinion, is not the best design. It showcases some of my weakest artwork. Shading is poor and some cats look like pigs on later pages. In my eyes, it is apparent there is a lot of room for improvement.
Despite not liking my own artwork for my September journal design, I am happy I attempted something new and different. I went outside of my comfort zone. That is better than not trying at all.
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 doodled a sleeping cat and some cat-related items along the bottom of the pages. I liked the way this cat looked compared to the cats on the previous pages.
Unfortunately, I fumbled a black marker leaving some unwanted marks on the highlights page. I paused to consider potential fixes. Grabbing a white marker came to mind immediately, but I did not know how that would impact written text through the month of September.
Maybe I should have stepped away to think about fixes, but I wanted to finish the design then and there. I went ahead and added more black marks to make it look intentional. I do not know if this was the best solution, but at least I made it consistent on all pages.
Mood Pages
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 is the page I hate most of all! The cat heads look like disproportionate pigs with whiskers. I should written the numbered days below each head instead of in place of the noses.
However, my Dad insisted that this was the best page of the bunch. He also pointed out that the heads will look more like cats when I start filling them in with some color. I still believe it will look like a cluttered mess of strange animal heads at the end of September.
What's Next?
Today is a great day to learn more about cats, spend quality time with your cats, watch cat videos, or doodle better cat images than I did! I will practice doodling cats more often in the next month.
Have you setup your September journal design? Comment below to share what theme you went with and what materials you used to create it.
Don't forget to subscribe below to be notified by email when I post something new.
Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
Comments