Throughout the long school breaks, I lay out as many upcoming months in my bullet journal so I don't worry about setting up spreads needed during the semester. I managed to complete through March, which is when my Spring Break begins (when I'll lay out April and onward.
Above are the "stickers" I used for February and March, with a few stickers for New Year's and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. When printed at 100% scale, they'll be the same size as seen in my own journal below. Download these PDFs here for free (for personal use only):
How I make these PDFs:
Scroll onward to see how I put these stickers to use in my bullet journal! Please enjoy my February & March spreads below~★
Download February-March 2019 Plan With Me Stickers 1
Download February-March 2019 Plan With Me Stickers 2
How I make these PDFs:
- Grab images from various sources (Google, Instagram, Pinterest)
- Paste them into a Blank Document in Pages or Microsoft Word
- Edit images to the correct size or color needed to match my washi tape
- Print them on regular paper, cut them out, and tape them into my bujo—however, you can save time by printing on special sticky-backed paper, like this Avery Sticker Paper 20-pack from Amazon.
Happy New Year 2019
Theme: Bright rainbow colors, Year of the Pig
First, my Word of the Year. I chose ‘kaleidoscopic’ as an acknowledgment of ever-changing life. The rest of the page is a journal entry about 2018 and my hopes for the new year:
“[A] reminder that nothing is ever constant [and] when it seems like all there is in life is unforgiving or hopeless, just as rapidly as it darkened can it always shift into something bright, colorful [and] radiant. In order to make the most of 2019, let me embrace the beauty of the world's ups & downs by enjoying, savoring, its precious moments and riding its rough waves with the utmost grace and persistence.”
Above is my homage to the Lunar New Year, the year of the Pig; a few 'Aspirations for 2019' in lieu of new year resolutions; and the memorable, inspirational quote by Shia LaBeouf, "Just DO It!!"
The image of the watercolor pig was originally quite darker. By playing with the picture's exposure and brightness, I achieved this pastel color seen above, which matched the color scheme of the smaller image (ornaments in the shape of pigs) and the colors used in my Word of the Year.
February 2019
Theme: Whimsical daydreaming, soft colors
I typically write in some interesting facts or information that's loosely based on the month's theme. Here, I divulged into possible reasons why humans dream at night.
Can you spot the cover-ups? I accidentally cut the wrong page for my monthly spread, taking it from the front decorational page instead! I ended up using this abstract pink-cream-seagreen washi to tape it together. There's also the top-right corner where I went crazy with markers before even testing it out; I didn't like the results, and so extra washi strips went over it, too!
Overall, I'm still pleased with how this cover page turned out despite the minor errors. Bullet journaling should strive for perfection anyhow, and making mistakes like these are perfectly OK—I think of mistakes as opportunities for getting even more creative, to make them work for me.
I typically write in some interesting facts or information that's loosely based on the month's theme. Here, I divulged into possible reasons why humans dream at night.
Can you spot the cover-ups? I accidentally cut the wrong page for my monthly spread, taking it from the front decorational page instead! I ended up using this abstract pink-cream-seagreen washi to tape it together. There's also the top-right corner where I went crazy with markers before even testing it out; I didn't like the results, and so extra washi strips went over it, too!
Overall, I'm still pleased with how this cover page turned out despite the minor errors. Bullet journaling should strive for perfection anyhow, and making mistakes like these are perfectly OK—I think of mistakes as opportunities for getting even more creative, to make them work for me.
Out of all my monthlies in this journal (including the ones from last year) February 2019 is definitely my favorite! A lot of my washi tape has themes (green/spring theme, snow/winter, etc.) but this month, I chose a more abstract approach to use washi that didn't seem to match any theme.
The muted blues and greens in the cotton flower washi are so dreamy. This pastel, watercolor aesthetic is throughout the rest of the month's weekly spreads.
The first week is plant-themed. I had to modify the colors of the images I used as stickers, making them slightly more cool-toned to match the Crayola markers and washi tape.
The next two weeks are examples of how I use quotes—instead of stickers—to decorate my pages. BrainyQuote and Goodreads are great sites to find memorable sayings and quotes.
For the week of Valentine's Day, I anticipate taking pictures of whatever romantic celebration I'll hold with my partner. This is why the bottom-left space, where I normally write fun trivia and facts, is left empty.
The vivid green incorporated with the calm purples in this washi is such a beautiful combination. I thought a quote and simplistic doodles of lavender bushels would complement the washi better than a sticker image. This approach is best with washi with that has eye-catching high contrast and colors.
The last week of February uses a washi tape with bows of several hues of blue and bright sea green. It was a touch difficult to choose an image that matched this color scheme, as well as the watercolor aesthetic.
Besides presents, bows always remind me of girls sporting them on their clothes or hair—especially my homegirls the Sailor Senshi with their iconic outfits. I also thought that goddess Naoko Takeuchi's iconic art style would be a perfect pair to this particular washi tape.
I couldn't find original concept art that matched (without needing excessive editing to match color schemes). However, I stumbled @terry_haku's gorgeous artwork in Instagram who, inspired heavily by Takeuchi's signature style, creates stunning Sailor Moon fanart. This beautiful portrait of our dear Ami included the exact blues and greens as the washi tape, and she is even wearing a blue bow as a choker!
March 2019
Theme: Yummy fruit, delicious food
For my birthday weekend in early March I'm celebrating with my sisters and cousins in Napa! One of the things we'll be doing is wine tasting, so naturally I made March cover page's theme all about grapes and wine.
The next three weeks' washi tapes are from Daiso. While individually wrapped, they are a matching set featuring colorful food caricatures and fancy edges.
The first week has tomatoes, mainly because I wanted to use an off-handed quote from Card Captor Sakura's Kero, "Hit 'em with the fruits of your labor!" albeit he wasn't talking about actual fruit when he said this.
The next week has a washi tape that looked like oranges (or, donuts?) Either way, it reminded me so much of the illustrations from the children's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. At one point, this was my favorite book—having it in my journal is a nice homage to how far I've come since my kindergarten days!
This third week, I wanted to include a more extensive trivia section. What better way to write about the uses of banana leaves? I included this awesome illustration of Filipino desserts by artist Cynthia Bauzon-Arre, or @arncyn on Instagram. Much of her art is inspired by Philippine pop culture and heritage, and this pictorial of desserts I've eaten my whole life was too cute that I had to include it in my journal.
While March is only the beginning of spring... and the watermelon is best enjoyed in the heat of summer... this was the only other fruit-related washi tape I had on hand! I saved it for the last week of the month to mirror the pastel watercolor aesthetic the monthly has.
BONUS PAGE from January 2019
Only showing one week from January! This is a glimpse at what my spreads (sort of) look like after they've been filled in. The bottom-left bonus area has lyrics to one of my favorite winter songs, Blindsided by Bon Iver, which fits well with the winter forest scene on the washi.
This 4th week of January was super busy, so I added a Dutch Door mid-week for extra space. I went to a concert on Thursday and spent the weekend at a friend's out of town—I wanted to print pictures to commemorate these two events.
Besides bullet points of the original Bullet Journal method, I incorporate random doodles and information on tarot cards I pulled that week. Such little things can be used as filler if you have empty page space; throwing in these small things are really fun and eye-catching, and also make for interesting reads when looking back at your spreads in the future.
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Thanks for visiting! I realize my pages may not be as exciting as other bloggers, who experiment with a large variety of layouts each week—but even though my monthlies & weeklies have the same structure with different washi, it's much faster and easier for me to create them, and it really works for me. I hope taking this little peek fosters your curiosity and interest in bullet journaling. Feel free to download the PDFs of the stickers, or be inspired to curate and print out your own. Cheers, and until next time ~ ✾
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