The Inspiration for this Month’s Bullet Journal Theme: Pirates

I’m so excited to show you my planner set up for February. I use the different spaces in my planner to learn and try new techniques and styles. The pirate theme this month in my bullet journal was so much fun and opened the door to many ideas and styles. Overall, I am so pleased with the outcome. By the way, after months of seeking the perfect notebook, I love this notebook by Archer & Olive.

I’m a fan of finding inspiration and then adapting to my own needs or tweaking until I can make it my own. I learn visually so I find inspiration all around me. What I’d like to do is show you my inspiration for my monthly spreads to help inspire you!

Watch the unfinished version of the flip through below.

Cover Page Inspiration

Inspiration for this adorable boat welcome page: I have to admit that it came from Baby Shark’s related videos on Amazon Prime. My two-year-old is obsessed with this song, and I occasionally turn it on and watch it with him. Then they sing counting songs and other silly lyrics. There is a counting song that shows cute little boats and inspired this cover pate.

In June 2018, I did a cover page that I love to this day. Palm trees, flipflops, coconuts and a sign pointing the way to June. I added a little homage to my favorite cover page this month. Complete with a giant red X marking the spot – because that’s where you find the buried treasure!

Here’s a link to my June Plan with Me Playlist on YouTube

Monthly Calendar

Using the idea of masking off areas like I did in July 2018 I used sticky notes to ‘mask’ off areas and paint/draw over them.

This result turned out beautifully. I love the look of old-looking parchment paper and the ship’s wheel. They really add a fun twist to the pirate bullet journal theme I was going for. Since I’d been dying to paint with some ink, and the Iridescent Coppery Plate Gold added such a subtle shimmer to the pages.

Below you can see how I blocked off the squares so I could draw out the design ‘behind’ the monthly calendar squares.

Here’s a link to my July Plan with me on YouTube.

Pirate-Themed Bullet Journal Habit Tracker

If you could see me now. I am so EXCITED about this page and the possibilities and ideas that came from creating this page. My bullet journal pirate theme is not about plundering and pillaging, it’s about seeking treasure. Rare gems in my life to make me happier. And when something works PERFECTLY the first time I try it, that’s exciting stuff right there.

First of all: I LOVE circle habit trackers & other circles in my planner (read my blog post on how to create circles in your bullet journal) they’re just so well rounded (sorry/not sorry about the pun).  So when I created this page, I wanted it to be like a compass rose and then add the goals to the center.

Once I drew the compass rose & painted/colored it in, I didn’t want to cover it up! So I created this circle tracker on my computer. After resizing it on the screen once or twice, I printed it out. Viola! It was THE perfect fit. No adjustments needed. But I printed it on white paper so I still couldn’t see the compass behind it.

Enter: tracing paper.

Side Note: Don’t try printing on tracing paper with a laser printer since those use heat to adhere the toner to the paper and the tracing paper will likely melt and ruin your printer.

But I knew my inkjet could handle thin paper (I printed on a dictionary page one time as an experiment). It printed beautifully. Since I designed it on the computer, look how even those lines are!

I think this is going to happen more in my life. I better stock up on tracing paper.

Pirate Theme Weeklies in My Bullet Journal

Oh, I had so much fun creating each of these weekly spreads: Treasure chests, Gems, Telescopes, & Bottles, oh my!

The biggest intimidation I had was the gems. I left this page as the last to do. Ok, let me explain. No…there is too much, let me sum up. (Thank you Princess Bride for that quote.) I’ve wanted to draw gems FOREVER (over a year – isn’t that forever?), and I found a Skillshare class that taught very simple ways to understand light and dark through transparent objects like gems. But I never did the assignment.

Finally, after a year of avoiding the assignment, I included gems on a weekly and just made myself do it. There’s room for improvement – for sure! But isn’t it always the first step that’s the hardest. I can’t wait to try more. Also, the white highlights are my favorite.

Collection Pages

Every month I include a journaling page that I call “all the things.” Where I record memories and other items that I did throughout the month. More circles on this page – this time in the form of pearls. Soft, subtle colors add a bit of fun to the page.

In real life, I never liked pearls before I wore them. When you wear real pearls, you know. They are heavy, but not burdensome, and warm to the skin. I love how they make me feel (I feel beautiful when I wear them). So including pearls on a page that I jot down beautiful memories is immensely appropriate in my mind.

I feel like pirates would love pearls – which naturally makes them perfect for my pirate bullet journal theme.

Brain Dump Page/Idea Log

X marks the thought! I love new names for brain dump pages, and I love brain dump pages in general. There are too many thoughts in my head to try and keep them in there. I found that this page is 100% necessary so I can organize and review all the thoughts and ideas. Every six months or so I will review past brain dump pages and see what ideas I missed in the past. It is one of my most used and underutilized pages. I think I will make an effort to review the concepts more often and work on developing the ideas even further.

If you hate the name ‘brain dump’, check out this post with over 150 + different names for brain dump!

What’s your favorite page? I’d love to know what themes you’ve tried in the past!