Well it's more of a planner/ journal/sketchbook, a little black (or red) book to center my thoughts, plan out my events, brainstorm ideas and doddle.
The seed that planted this design was inspired by the work of Rachel Moani. Here is an example from her art journal that I feel in love with and decided I had to make my own!
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| Mine are not as pretty as hers |
The planner consist of three components
1- The calendar- I spread out the month on two pages, in equal spaces, except for Sunday which is smaller just so it fits in the pages. I usually decorate it with a quote or a theme sketch that goes with that time of year. This year I've devoted a theme to each month. Usually my favorite TV shows, movies, musical or miscellaneous favorite things.
Then fill in the spaces with the permanent or regular things in your life.
-Birthdays/Holidays/Anniversary
-Vacation days (I color code the weekend I'm working)
-Reoccurring Programs or events (storytimes etc.)
Use pen or pencil what ever your choice. I have a bag full of colored pens, pencils, gel pens, markers because I'm a big kid a heart. I try to write in pen, but I always makes mistakes. It took 30 seconds into writing in the storytime themes for January 2016 before I made a mistake...in pen! Then I had to search for white-out in our library which apparently no one uses any more!
I also leave a few extra pages between the months to jot down ideas/journal thoughts that are important to that particular time. I leave even more extra pages in June and July for Summer Reading.
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| Sherlock Themed for March |
2- The place for Lists/Goals- This is your planner, so do what you like. I usually do a doodle or an inspirational quote on the cover. I sketch out an infographic of how many books I read in the last year and make a space to list the books I'm going to read in the new year. I've listed my favorite foods, 100 favorite movies, a page of my likes and dislikes.
You can also jot out your goals. Whether it's a big list of New Years Resolutions or a month by month plan on what you want to achieve. The internet is full of ideas about this! Just google "journaling goals" to find many helpful articles on How to Reach Your Goals by Keeping a Journal
or 12 Reasons to Keep a Journal or any of the other 1,080,000 result.
Bullet Journaling, Smashbooks, Art Journaling, Scrapbooking find which one works best for you.
Stuck for ideas, turn to the internet and Pinterest. But don't worry if it's not perfect, because you are the one who is going to see it most. (But show it off if your proud of it)
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| Info-graph of the books I read in 2014 plus goals for 2015 |
3- Free Space Plan out everything else except this. Have the extra blank pages in your journal be for whatever you need them to be. A sketchbook for doodles, a place to makes plot notes about your novel, pages to write down recipes. Make a Pinterest board IRL or a vision board with a collage of all the things you like. Try zentangles. Print off coloring pages and paste them in so you have a place to color in times of stress.
Again this is your journal so make it however you like.
I'll level with you, guys. 2015 was not a good year for me, professionally (cough "mydirectorisadouchebag" cough ) I had some really rough and trying times in the work place that left me drained, depressed, angry and feeling helpless. If you read my entire journal, you would see several examples of this. I stopped writing and drawing for a while. My 2015 journal is more than half blank and I didn't bother writing or decorating anything for the December entry.
However, in my times of trial...I did have a space. One space that was my own. It was my retreat from my troubles and yes it turned into a bit of a burn book towards my co-workers at sometimes (no regrets) But I will keep it and look back on it to find a glimmer of inspiration, a favorite quote from a book I read, a funny entry to make me smile and let me know that (hopefully) this world isn't as crappy as I make it out to be.
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| But seriously....2015. Good riddance. |
