Idea Organization – Miscellaneous Pages I use in my Bullet Journal

November 11, 2018 3 Comments

November Already? Plan With Me Video & Idea Organization

Well, it’s a few days into November, and my new journal and I’ve already filled up to page 94. Well, this book won’t last long. I had a sudden burst of ideas and flurries of thoughts since I set up the journal and they needed a place to go, so nearly 100 pages later, here I am.

I’m working on organizing these ideas – but when you fill 75+ pages with notes it takes time! I can honestly say, I am glad to be back in a journal that I can use a pencil as my primary writing utensil. I couldn’t do that with the black page journal!

Watch the planning video below and then look through my list of additional brainstorm/notes pages below. I hope that sharing my ideas will inspire you to add some note pages in your planner/journal and get those ideas out of your head and into progress!

Watch the November Plan With Me Video on YouTube and don’t forget to Subscribe!

In addition to my regular monthly pages & weekly pages I have lots of idea organization spreads:

Layout Guidelines – perhaps one of my favorite pages and one of my most often referenced spreads. It’s not pretty, but it sure is functional. (Look for a later post on how I set this up.)

Finances – Frivolous Spending Record – I’m working on getting those little transactions under control

Savings Log – we have a goal to have one month’s expenses in savings. Then we’ll work on 3-6 months too.

Window Savings Log – replacing windows are expensive!

Budget – I planned out our regular bills, and which paycheck they came from so I knew how to schedule them. We use YouNeedABudget.com to track our finances online, but there’s something about writing it down that makes it feel more real and make more sense. Thus why I use a paper planner as well.

Goals – When I write down my goals, I am more likely to work on achieving them!

All the Things – this is my regular journaling page, and I love it. It’s simple, has just a few headers, and I don’t have to complete it every day.

Monthly Review & Next Month Planning. In my monthly review, I ask myself what I did well, what things I can improve, & things I left undone. I find this is a gentle way of redirecting any distractions since I tend to be very hard on myself.

Video & Blog Notes Pages – Just a note page dedicated for blog posts or video posts. These pages usually include items I need to link or things to do before the post going live.

General Blog to do. If you’ve visited before, you’ll notice that I redesigned my website this month. It’s still not 100%, but I like the direction so far. I made notes of things I wanted to include and things I wanted to avoid. I also add notes about minor changes or items I need to do in general. The following pages detailed my categories & plug-ins so I could see what changes to make there too.

Washi Tape Samples – just for fun!

Podcast notes – notes from an inspiring podcast. I always take too many notes (this one took up 4 full pages – 2 spreads in my journal).

Bullet Journal – what works and what doesn’t. List of things that do and do not work for me. I love having designs and art in the background of my notebook. Sometimes it’s hard to balance beauty and function. I have lots of ideas for this – and I’m trying to sort them out.

Retro to do – things I’ve done in the past that need some tweaks now.

Content Calendar Notes & Creation – I am working on streamlining a lot of processes in my life, but I need to list all the things that need to do so I can create a process for each of them.

Blog Post Schedule – days and ideas for posting content. I’m a visual learner, so this is perfect to show me what and when.

Idea Doodles – I LOVE doodling and find inspiration all around me. So I LOVE having a place to doodle ideas. I went back to my first journal recently and was astounded at the rich source of information I mindlessly jotted down. And I was ever-so-pleased to find even more ideas and past thoughts

Life Goals – I have a day job, and most days I’m just there, I don’t enjoy it on most days. So I wrote down a list of things I want to do and how I’d make money doing those things.

Product Notes – I wrote down a process for doing something in Photoshop because I find myself Googling it all the time. If I write something down, I’m more likely to remember it.

Production Notes – I’m asked regularly to create a particular product. So I wrote down my procedures so I could set my expectations and their expectations from the start.

Challenge Ideas – I love hosting challenges on Instagram (though I haven’t lately at work). This page is a list of ideas for challenges.

Blogs to Read – just like it sounds, a simple list of blogs to read.

Cleaning to do list – Lists of daily, weekly monthly, quarterly, & yearly chores

Product Posting – if you haven’t noticed, I have a lot of ideas. A lot. But I also have distraction syndrome. I will get a product almost done and forget to post it or need to make a few tweaks but never get it all the way done and published because I’m distracted by the next project. I’m working on completing projects 100%, and this page helps me do that. Also, I have a goal to finish 50 projects/products in the next 90 days. (That’s a LOT!)

Personal Goals & Aspirations – All the things I want to fit into my weeks/months/years on a personal basis. Just a general list so I can pare it down and figure out what matters.

More Product Notes – again trying to commit something to memory instead of Googling every single time.
Resources – a list of places to find sound clips, images, etc.
Email Automation – This one is kind of embarrassing. My husband has worked with email automation for various companies for the past 10 years. I struggle with it – probably because I haven’t written my ideal flow yet or ideas.
Travel Notes – planning a trip and all the fun things to do while there.
Video Schedule & Unposted Videos – I created a list of short videos on my YouTube Channel (not posted yet) and when I will post them. Many are tidbits or real-time videos showing a process in more depth

There is Consistency in my Mad ‘Idea Organization’

One thing that is consistent across all of my pages, no matter how random they may seem: I love to include headers. Headers help me further organize and remember where to find a particular spread.

I’d love to know what random pages occupy space in your journal. Let me know in the comments below!

From Drab to Fab #2 Finishing off the Fancy Title – Part 2

May 20, 2018 3 Comments

Now What?

In the earlier drab-to-fab headers post, I showed you how to create a header for a page – I use my fancy headers like this on collection pages where I might spend a little more time creating the page because I will refer back to it time and time again. The header looked great ‘as is’ but outlining around the edges of the text is another fun way to enhance the look of the header. Now we will create a border for the header.

Read the original post – “Have 10 Minutes?” 10-Minute task list, clear your mind and the clutter.

Create a Border for the Header

You could call it good. And it would be good! I decided to go a bit further and outline the outline of the text – essentially creating a border for the header. I had all the swirls and flourishes in place – so I knew where the edges were.

Step 1: Outline

To create this outline, don’t worry about all the nooks and crannies of the text, just stay an equal distance away from the edges of the design or text.

Step 2: Blend in a Shadow

After I did that, I wanted some edges on the outline so I could color it in almost as a shadow – but with the same blended technique used on the number 10. I did this just to add more color because the blue blended so beautifully together. So I added more lines along the bottom and the right sides of the outline. Then I added more and more outlines for more depth. I’ll use these lines to know when to start the color blends.

The darkest blend will be the closest to the outline in this case since that is where the darkest part of the shadow is. But you will still start with the lightest color on the outside then blend darker and darker.

Finishing off the Page:

Sub-Headers & Mind-Maps & Task Items

Sort the 10-Minute Tasks into categories by location and create headers for the categories. For my collection, I laid this out mind-map style (start in the middle with the main item, then sub-items expand out, then add list items beyond the sub-headers). I like this method because no one sub-header has more importance than other headers so I don’t neglect the tasks listed at the bottom and only do the items at the top.

I am practicing a new all-caps font so it was a perfect opportunity to do some extra practicing. If you look closely, you can see that I needed to move a couple of tasks. Whiteout tape is a good source for quickly masking mistakes.

So there you go! Please let me know what you think and what you do to dress up your collection pages.

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia

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Planning May: What’s Staying vs Changing + April Flip-through

May 10, 2018 1 Comment

Planning May: What’s Staying vs Changing from April

What’s staying vs changing (and why!) in my planner for May. My favorite thing to see from other’s journals are the flip-through segments. I decided to slow it down and do a flip-through of the pages that I like and what didn’t work out for me.

Sneak peeks from the video:

After the pen for “All the Things” page
Journals for my kids (one for each!) and a little flip-through of those
Circle Badges for all the months and days showing off the preview sketches – coming soon to the shop! Thanks to @Darknss (find the handle) for the recommendations!
‘After the pen’ weeklies
Writing on spreads that are ‘too pretty’ – spread from the eclipse after the pen
Habit by number
Declutter my life two spreads (Initial & Updated)
How I bookmark/tab pages with washi tape

Watch the video below and hit the subscribe on the lower right-hand so you’ll be notified when a new video comes out.

Welcome Page

Welcome pages are funny things to me, it took a while for me to start using them because they just seemed like ‘fluff’ pages. They might be ‘fluff pages’ but other planners have welcome pages or monthly separators. It’s usually where the tabs are attached. Last July was my first-ever welcome page and I’ve used one ever since. It almost became a summer seasonal welcome page, but I combined it to the Welcome May and Summer page.

Calendar Page

When I set up my current planner in March, I made the future log pages very large, one month to a page, two months to a spread. I intended to drop monthly pages and just jump straight into weeklies. That lasted all of one month. I need visual planning!

In April I tried again to create a monthly ladder layout, I really love the concept of listing everything in linear form (that’s why I keep going back to it). I think that’s what the original bullet journal was designed with, but a calendar grid works better for me at a glance. In May I’m experimenting with smaller boxes and larger notes areas.

Coming soon! All the months in circular badge format! April’s creation inspired me so much that I sketched out (and started working on the months in this format.

April Weeklies

In April, I chose a common color scheme and theme for the weekly pages. Using a common color scheme across the pages was definitely challenging. It was a fun challenge that I’ll accept month after month. Space and circles dominated my weeklies, I do wish they had a little more structure but that is something I can do in the future. Space is always a fun theme and I like using circles too! In fact, if you didn’t see, I have a whole post about using circles.

May Weeklies

The weekly layouts are the biggest changes for the month. I didn’t foresee using a spread per week as summer nears. So I decided to condense two weeks to a spread. Each day still has space for events and notes, it’s just condensed. So far, so good. The boxes are the right size for all the things I need to do, including tasks and events. This just might be a thing when I have less to plan.

For the month of April, I switched to a Sunday start on the weeklies. In May, I am switching it back to Monday start. The May monthly calendar page shows Sunday-Saturday, but the weeklies are Monday-Sunday. The biggest reason is to keep the weekend plans together, it just seems easier (and I like to make my weekends feel bigger).

Collections

All the Things

I created an “All the Things” page to replace the failed “One Line Per Day” page. It is my new favorite page of all, perhaps ever. It was rare that I wrote on the ‘one line per day’ page daily. Instead, I write in spurts when I have a moment to reflect and think. So I would end up with several blank lines and missed details. “All the Things” uses categories instead of days. One section I’m going to add a “to journal” to keep a blurb for the things to add to my kid’s journals.

Habit Tracking by Number

I started “Habit Tracking by Number” in April. Using numbers to define my habits made a huge difference in tracking them, but not just tracking, but the motivation to do them. Each habit had a definition and something measurable!

That shift plus the shift in perspective that I needed to give these habits priority instead of trying to do them all in the last moments before I went to bed made a significant difference in my attitude towards these acts I am trying to form into habits.

Personal Habits & Business Habits

I’ll track the same personal habits for May as I did in April and add a section for habits for chocolatemusings.com. Also staying: flip-out habit definitions. I might use that idea on other pages too. And I just realized that I forgot to add a quote to my habits page, that is something I miss. I like motivational quotes on the habit tracker page. Especially the one I created in January.

Things I Miss Already & Things I Love So Far

I loved April’s theme – space, circles and the colors. Lavender fields inspired May’s color scheme, and I really enjoy it, but maybe I need to do a lavender space theme. I enjoyed the whimsy and the free-flow of the different pages. I’m looking forward to the structure of the May boxes because I tend to write until I run out of room. Maybe that’s why I like circles, they are whimsical, but have edges to keep me inside, If I want to. I really like the two-to-a-spread weeklies so far.

Question:

What pages in your journal do you change-up every month and what do you keep?

~Tricia

From Drab to Fab #1 – Headers, Calligraphy & Outlines – How to Make Fancy Headers Part 1

April 12, 2018 3 Comments

Turn a Drab-Looking Collection into Something Fabulous by Adding a Fancy Header

I love to make pretty headers for my bullet journal. Here’s a guide to dress-up your collection. Organizing the information in the journal is another way to make it pretty. I like lists, but I also enjoy variety (thus a huge reason why I like bullet journaling – I can change things up every single day for variety). Here are some ways to make your lists ‘pretty’ or just change-up the format.

But I also know that another key part to refer back to information is to make it look amazing. Making fabulous headers is a very easy way to dress up the page – especially if a majority of the content is a list. I realize that a lot of lists are day-to-day tasks compiled on Daily Spreads or Weekly Layouts. Not every list needs a fancy header. Personally, I just list those out and check them off when done. Because the next day or the next week, I turn the page and rarely refer back to that page again.

A Collection is Different

A collection is something that you’ll probably refer back to time and time again and probably won’t be recreated regularly. These are the ideal page to dress up the titles and organize your lists into unique spreads. A collection is a little more special than a calendar spread. So it can look a little more special.

Side note: I have (for over a year) kept my collections intermingled with my weeklies and monthlies. Since starting my new journals, I have a planning journal and a permanent collections journal and I love it!

10-Minute Collection – Title

I created the “Have 10 Minutes?” collection page in my Bullet Journal on a whim. I started making a list in Google Keep on my phone (you can read the post here and a follow-up here) but then I decided to move the content over to my collections in my Bullet Journal because I knew I would use (more) it if I wrote it down.

My ideas are best started in pencil. Just like a rough draft when writing a paper, the pencil provides a good outline, but you can change it easily as the ideas develop and progress.

Ways I Dressed Up the 10-Minute Collection:

Title – added a fancy-schmancy title with blended colors outlines and swirly-twirly flourished fonts
Sub-Titles – separate sub-titles for each area of my room help organize the page
Organized Lists – Classify each item and list them under the correct sub-title
Mind-Map Layout – Change up the layout – the title doesn’t have to be at the top. Put the title in the middle of the page and spread the sub-categories out and around the title.
Uniform Font List – use a uniform font to write out all the items in the collection

Dressing Up the Title:

The Number

Starting with the number – I wanted that to be big and bold but have a unique look. I looked through my font list on my computer and chose Algerian. I think this is a pretty standard font on most computers. If not – you can find it on fontsgeek.com or myfonts.com or a variety of other font websites. I chose this font because it was thick in parts, thin in others, I liked the flip on the 1 (the serif) and the line on the right side kind of like a shadow.

I sketched out the number and made it bolder than the referenced font so I could blend colors from lightest at the top to darkest at the bottom and have more space to color it in.

Tip: draw inspiration from fonts, but if your font doesn’t look exactly like what you see – now it’s yours.

Blending Colors

Start with the lightest color as the base when blending. Then add the next darker color slightly overlapping the lighter color and so on. I added black to the bottom in this case. Use the lighter color to smooth the edges. Then use the colorless blender or a water pen to further even-out the color. Don’t blend too much or you might make the paper pill.

Tip: Blending colors can sometimes make messy edges on the outside. Outlining the text after blending can ‘clean up’ the lines or disguise uneven edges.

Finishing the Blending

I find that I when I use the next lighter color to blend – it ends up looking more even. But sometimes you need to use the colorless blender to smooth out the edges. The blending marker I have has a stained tip, but if you clean it after each use (just rub it along some paper until it goes clear) it will be fine. I have noticed that the tips of the lighter colors will stain, but that doesn’t matter.

Flourished Text

After sketching the number, I wrote the text in script font. But I didn’t add all the flourishes. I wanted the word ‘have’ to mingle in and out of the numbers – so I could rearrange the text to adjust placement. Once I liked the layout, I added the flourishes with a pencil. After working through the flourishes, I added the thick and thin lines of the text.

Normally I’d have used a brush pen to make the thick and thin lines, but I decided to use a mono pen and thicken the lines on the downstrokes because I thought it might be hard going across the center of the two pages.

Tip: Anytime you pull the pen or marker down, that would be the thick line. When the lines turn up or are horizontal, those are the thin lines.

In the next fancy headers post, I will show you how to outline the text and finish off the spread.

If you’re just anxious to have the header, you’re in for a treat. I have it available in my shop! Click here to visit.

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia

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Want to know what I used in this post? I’ll tell you. (Contains affiliate links – if you click-through and end up purchasing a product, I receive a small commission – though the cost is the same to you.)

Moving to a New Bullet Journal for March!

March 8, 2018 7 Comments

The well-loved golden-bound book has seen better days, and it is time to move into a new bullet journal. See this ruby beauty? I’m hoping it will last me more than a year for planning. And this lovely Azure book? It’s becoming my long-term collections journal. I’m moving to a new bullet journal. You read that right! I’m moving to not just one journal but separated into two for March!

Moving into TWO new bullet journals + Video set up

Why the Separation of the Journals?

I split my journals for two reasons – one I wanted a planner that lasted more than 6 months (I got almost 6 months from both the last journals (purple then yellow). But I didn’t want to move all my long-term collections to a new journal. Short-term collections I will keep in my red planning journal.

The Need for a Long-Term Collections Journal

About half-way through the last journal, I realized that I needed a long-term collections journal. There are lots of things I jot down that are not for the immediate short-term. Some things are years in advance. For instance, I created a ‘new home wishlist’ and a ‘repairs list’ for my current home. We are not purchasing in the next 6 months, and it will take longer than that short span of time to fix up our current house.

The split allows for longer-term goals and projects and does not get lost in the day-to-day planning minutia. I am very excited about this move and look forward to making beautiful, functional spreads for both my weeks and months and my collections.

New Journal in the Middle of the Year?!

I admit it would have been nice to start the new journal in January. But starting a new journal shouldn’t have to be done just at the beginning of the year. In fact, the more I thought about it, the bullet journal system is flexible so you can start in the middle of a year with no problems. If you need to go back and complete the previous month’s future logs, go ahead, there’s no reason why you can’t. In fact, I did that when I started my purple journal last April!

Moving to a New Bullet Journal - in the middle of a year

The New Journal Set-Up

Moving to a new bullet journal requires a little bit of what I call planning-the-planner. I write the titles of the page in pencil and plan the flow. Since it’s in pencil, I can adjust and move around some of the pages.

Future Log

I have two future logs in this new journal. Silly? Maybe. One is a very high-level overview, and the other one allows me more in-depth goal planning. I discovered something in my Leuchtturm1917 journal, and I am a little ashamed that I didn’t see it before. Keep reading, I’ll tell you.

Broad Overview Future Log

There are 52 columns on a spread in an A5 Leuchtturm1917 and 52 weeks in a year. I don’t know why I didn’t make this connection before, but I was interested in creating continuing year’s calendar with this information. Using my trusty Google Calendar which conveniently shows the weeks of the year, I created a full year’s continuous-flow calendar. To see the year’s broad overview in one peek.

FYI: The washi tape serves no purpose other than to cover up the marker from the opposite page where I was too heavy-handed and used too many layers to blend colors.

Goal Planning – Future Log “Common Area”

The second future log has two months to a page and 4 sections. Writing the month’s name down the middle of the page and separating one big area into 3 smaller parts for appointments, random dates to note, and blog post plans. The largest, unseparated section I plan on using for goal setting & notes.

I call this my common area – thinking back to my high school days where we had a big ‘commons’ in the center of the school. Many hallways and offices split off from this large space, so it was a place of gathering and meeting up after various events or classes. Just like my common area is a place to meet back after one month and gather my thoughts for the next.

Future Log: 1 month to a page - large goal planning areas & space for lots of to-dos

March Plans

For the start of March, I wanted to see If I could use the March ‘common’ future-log as a calendar. So the welcome page is minimal with just a bit of text, a wreath, and a calendar. I’ve been practicing drawing circular wreaths, and this was an excellent opportunity to use one.

Tip: If you draw free-hand circles, try to use your whole arm (from the shoulder) to make the circular movement. I find that I make a much better shape that way than trying to draw from my wrist.

The First Week

The first week of March started on Thursday. Lately, I’ve been keeping the months together (beginning each month fresh – no matter when the month starts). I created a partial week spread and decided that the other half would be for my habit tracker for the month.

Watch the setup video below for the first month and week of my new bullet journal. As I was editing the video, I realized that part of the problem with me getting things out on the timelines I set, is that I promise WAY too much from the video. I don’t have all the things done, so I will update this post and the YouTube description as I complete my promised items. 🙂 Learning to scale my projects to meet my deadlines is definitely a work of art.

I hope this gives you some confidence to start a new journal no matter what month it is or where you are in your life. Do not wait for the perfect opportunity. Make it the perfect opportunity.

Question:

How do you feel about starting a new planner in the middle of a year?

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t be afraid to find your inner muse.

~Tricia