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Chocolate Musings

Set your goals - make the plans - artfully create your life - live it beautifully. Grab the good chocolate and find your muse.

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Home » minimal

Fading to Fall Leaves – Bullet Journal September Plan With Me

September 10, 2020 Leave a Comment

Inspired by changing seasons, my bullet journal theme for September features simple color-changing leaves. Instead of summery, willow branch leaves like August’s plan with me, I used color (green, yellow, orange, red, and a bit of purple) in just a few places to show the transition from summer to fall.

Here is an overview of the pages in this month’s set up. I hope this September Bullet Journal Plan With Me gives you some inspiration for layouts, products, and other ideas you can use in your bullet journal. 

September Plan With Me - Fading to Fall Leaves Bullet Journal inspiration - acrylic marker painting & blending | Creative & Functional Bullet Journaling Spreads, welcome pages, monthly spreads, weekly spreads, trackers & brain dump (with alternate names) | ChocolateMusings.com

I’d love to know if any of these ideas spark your creativity or give you an ‘ah-ha’ moment. Let me know in the comments below or tag me on Instagram @ChocolateMusingsCreates.

Supplies Used For This September Plan With Me

  • Tumbitri Meri 220 Page 160 GSM Notebook 
  • Zebra Zensations Technical Drawing Pen 
  • Zebra Mildliner Markers 
  • Chalkola Acrylic Markers (get 10% off through this link)
  • Helix Circle Maker 
  • Circular Vellum Habit Tracker (coming soon in my shop)
  • Productivity Stickers (coming soon in my shop)
  • Foldable Portable Watercolor Set (not seen, but used later)
  • Correction Tape

September Plan With Me Video

  • Initial Flip Through Before The Pen/The Plan: 00:00
  • Welcome Page/Monthly Log Inking: 03:16
  • Welcome Page Quote: 04:33
  • Tracker Page (Habits, Productivity, Mood, & Goals): 06:11
  • Color Blends with Acrylic markers on Goals Page: 08:35
  • Weeklies: 12:23
  • Idea Bush (alternate brain dump name): 17:20
  • Journal Page: 18:08
  • Acrylic Marker Blends on Welcome Page: 19:41 (my favorite part!)
  • Final September Plan With Me Flip Through: 20:08

Welcome Page / Monthly Calendar Log

Combining the welcome page and monthly log page worked perfectly for this minimal leaf branch theme. Monoline text and a quote begging September to bring us something good before she fades away rounded out the ‘Hello September” welcome on the bullet journal’s left-hand side.

  • Hello September! Bring us some thing good before you fade away! Bullet journal welcome page quote | Planner Quote | September Quotes | Minimal Planning | Minimal Bullet Journal Design | Monoline Cursive Text | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Bullet Journal Welcome Page and Monthly Log Combination - minimal, functional, pretty, creative bullet journal layouts | Monthly Calendar, Monthly Log, Monthlies | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Color Changing Leaves with Acrylic Marker Blends on my Bullet Journal September Cover Page & Monthly Log | Simple, Minimal, Functional, Creative Bullet Journal Planning | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Close up of the color changing leaves for my September Plan With Me in my Bullet Journal - Color blends done with acrylic markers on the monthly log & September Cover Page in my Bullet Journal | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Actual planning with a monthly log | September Plan With Me Fading to Fall Leaves - painted & blended with acrylic markers | Monthly log, monthly calendar, monthly planning, September plans | ChocolateMusings.com

Instead of a monthly calendar with rows and columns of boxes, I opted for a horizontal monthly log.

If you’ve never used a monthly log in a bullet journal, the idea is to keep the minimal design and write events connected to the date. I like to draw a line out from the date to write an event and other minimal details about the event. In this case, I’ll use the top section for family events and the bottom section for my events.

The progression of pictures on the monthly log above shows the different stages throughout this September Plan With Me until finally, I add in events and transition the monthly log from a creative planner to a creative and functional planner.

September Plan With Me Mini Calendar on Welcome Spread/Monthly Log - love how functional & creative this page is in my bullet journal | ChocolateMusings.com

The only thing I didn’t think to add initially was a mini-calendar so I could visualize which date fell on a particular day of the week (i.e., 1st is a Wednesday, 18th is a Sunday, etc.). But that’s a simple enough fix, and I added the mini calendar later. 

My notebook came with this handy ruler, I love a good ruler, and *this* is a good ruler. Check out the notebook review post here.

The color-changing leaves are my very favorite part of this spread. Instead of using watercolor markers, I used acrylic markers. You have to work quickly with acrylic markers, but I’m surprised at how well the markers blended. I also LOVE how vibrant the colors are and that they don’t bleed through the page.

Color Changing Leaves - Blended Acrylic Paint Markers in my Bullet Journal - no bleed & vibrant colors. I love this functional & aesthetic planning page | ChocolateMusings.com

Habit Tracker & Goals

  • Blend Acrylic Markers in your Bullet Journal - A new way to add color transition and bright, vibrant colors to your bullet journal spreads | ChocolateMusings.com

If you track habits for home and work, you might consider splitting your habit tracker into two sections. For September, I split my habit trackers into two sets this month: personal & blog related. You might recognize my favorite circular habit trackers.

Around the outside, like a wreath, are 30 days of productivity and mood tracking. Each leaf around the circle coordinates with the day of the month, to easily match the date and the mood/productivity for the day.

Using the same idea from the monthly log, the goals page fades slowly from summer to fall as the colors transition from green to yellow to red to purple. Adding a black outline around the leaves gives a more whimsical feel to the spread, which I always love.

Functional & Aesthetic Fall Weeklies

  • Functional & Aesthetic Fall Bullet Journal Weekly Spread with simple leaves, trackers & space for notes | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Leaf Wreath for a fun & still functional weekly bullet journal spread | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Log appointments, keep track of productivity, & plan for the week in this bullet journal weekly spread | Simple & Functional with a bit of creative spice | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Weekly Bullet Journal - September Plan With Me Fall Leaves | Minimal, Functional, Pretty, & Creative Bullet Journal Weekly Spreads | ChocolateMusings.com

Even though each week has a different design, they all have common elements that tie the designs together. It’s my favorite way to create weeklies if you’ve seen my plan with me posts/videos. I can’t seem to settle on one design. Maybe that’s why I like bullet journaling so much is that I can change it up and never get bored.

I loved my one line per day spread from August but decided to include a one-line per day for each week during September instead of having a dedicated page for the short journal entries. 

Each day throughout the weekly spreads is separated by leaves or vines. Though I’d love to add color for each spread, I left it black and white. If I have time one day or need to doodle away some frustration after work, adding color is such a perfect way to relieve stress.

While I’m on the phone at work, I find myself doodling, so I could fill in the leaves there if I wanted to as well.

In addition to the weekday plans, the one line per day, I included a productivity tracker, meal planner, and notes section for each spread. This September plan with me turned out to be very efficient and ready to support my ambitions! I already love using my blogger productivity stickers I created to track my blogging activities.

Productivity Tip

Tip: If you are struggling with feeling productive, add a productivity tracker to record the things that you do. I think you’ll be surprised at how much you are actually doing. If you find that you’re procrastinating a task, you might find the motivation to check it off if you get to visually track that you’ve done it.

Productivity Tip: Give yourself a visual reminder of how many things you do! Track your productivity with little doodles or stickers and get motivated! Bullet Journal tips & tricks | ChocolateMusings.com

September Plan With Me Essential Pages

  • Different names for brain dump: This Month it's an Idea Bush - Keeping with my leaves theme, but I love the lightbulb bursting with leafy ideas. Bullet journal spreads & Ideas | ChocolateMusings.com
  • Journal Page - I love how these acrylic markers blend & create a bright, functional journaling page in my bullet journal | ChocolateMusings.com

Rounding out the month are some other essential pages for my bullet journal plan with me spreads: the brain dump page and my journal page.

The brain dump page is called “idea bush” this month. I love coming up with alternate names for the term’ brain dump’. Check out my post “Different Names for Brain Dump,” where I share 150+ name alternatives. I’ll have to add ‘idea bush’ to the list. I also love to coordinate the name of my brain dump page with the plan with me theme of the month.

Simple leaves in fall colors embellish the journal page. Little dots around the leaf doodles add some fun detail and dress up this simple spread even more.

Your Plans?

I hope that this September finds you well, and my plan with me spreads provide you a creative muse to follow May your month bring you something good before it fades away. We all need something good in our lives.

No Matter Which Notebook I use – You’ll Always Find These Supplies Close at Hand

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Filed Under: Artsy Planner Spreads, Blog, Bullet Journal, Get Organized & Start Planning, Plan With Me, Plan With Me 2020 Tagged: acrylic markers, Bullet Journal, functional, leaves, minimal, plan with me, PWM, september

Willow Branch Welcome Page / Cover Page in your Bullet Journal

September 3, 2020 Leave a Comment

How to create a willow branch bullet journal welcome page | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #coverpage #welcomepage #willow

Nostalgic Willow Welcome Page

If you’ve ever sat underneath a willow tree in the summer, this bullet journal welcome page brings the nostalgia of those draping vines. I lived my youth in the arms of our willow tree branches. Climbing as high as I could, building hammocks and singing at the top of my lungs from the top of that beloved tree. This welcome page brings me back to those times. I would love to share a bit of my childhood with you through this willow branch Bullet Journal welcome page.

How to Create a Willow Branch Bullet Journal Cover Page Tutorial | ChocolateMusings.com #willowbranch #coverpage #welcomepage

Supplies

  • Paper or Notebook (here is the notebook I used in this Plan With Me – see below for paper recommendations if you’re using a brush tip marker)
  • Pencil (my favorites are either this style or this one in 5 mm)
  • Eraser (I like this plastic eraser or this pearl eraser)
  • Drawing Pen (or you can use whatever pen you have on hand – if you watercolor over the ink, make sure it is waterproof)
  • Water pen
  • Crayola Markers or Watercolors (these are what I used)
  • Tombow Dual Brush Pens #228 Gray Green & #249 Hunter Green (if you want to match my colors)

Paper

  • 32 Lb Printer Paper (I like the HP brand)
  • Tracing paper
  • Rhodia Paper A5 Dot Pad | Rhodia Blank Notebook | Rhodia Size Varieties
  • Marker Paper Varieties | 6×8 Pad Size
  • Bristol Smooth Paper (the best Tombow Marker blending paper I’ve tried so far!)

So You Think You Can’t Draw

So many people say that they cannot draw and so they don’t try. If you feel that way, try creating this willow branch cover page in your bullet journal. The shapes are loose, the leaves aren’t exact, and the color is optional. The effect is purely whimsical & oh-so-summery.

Watch How I Created this Willow Branch Welcome Page

In August’s plan with me video – I show you how I created this willow branch welcome page – and how you can do it, too. Start at 5:07.

  • August Plan With Me Part I
  • August Plan With Me Part II (creating the weeklies)

Willow Welcome Page – Sketch

To create the willow branches, I lightly sketched some wavy lines in varying lengths in pencil. Remember, it’s just a sketch and your final willow branch version in ink doesn’t have to follow the sketch exactly. I wanted an outline to follow, but in the end, I didn’t follow all the lines.

  • Welcome Page Simple Pencil Outline | ChocolateMusings.com #welcomepage #bulletjournal
  • Loosely complete the vines in ink - you don't have to follow the pencil lines exactly | ChocolateMusings.com #howto #tutorial

Lettering the Title

Since I wanted the text to appear in front of the branches, I wrote the title first, using Tombow #228 & #249. After creating the title letters start inking in the branches. All illustrations on this page are very loose and not realistic, so don’t stress too much about making it perfect.

  • Handlettering Cover Page - my cover page lettering is usually larger and more fancy than other, more functional pages | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #bujo #welcomepage #willowtree
  • Adding leaves to the willow branch cover page in my bullet journal - this welcome page is easy to create - watch the tutorial here | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #tutorial #howto

You can add leaves to each branch as you go or come back and add leaves. I quickly drew leaves in basic oval shapes. But none of mine are perfect. You can include as much detail as you want. My leaves don’t include any details other than the form.

Note: You can choose to have the text appear behind the willow branches rather than in front of them like I did. For the letters in the back, it doesn’t matter if you draw in the letters or the branches first.

Erase your pencil marks, especially before adding color. If you want to leave this page ‘as is’ – then you’re finished!

Adding Color

Color in all the leaves or choose a few random leaves to color. I used a water pen with Crayola markers, which caused the page to bleed a little. But if I use watercolor or markers, the color won’t show through as long as I don’t press down hard with the markers or use a lot of water with the watercolors.

If you want to try some florals with your vines, add a few swirls near your vines and dot the swirls with a rosy pink or another color. Blue, purple, red, yellow would all look great! 

Try It Out!

You don’t have to be ‘artsy’ to make something fun and whimsical. This willow branch welcome page proves it. Even though your drawings might not be perfect, that’s ok, this page isn’t geared for perfection. If you’re just starting out, try something that doesn’t require precise lines or crazy amounts of detail. 

Here are some other posts & categories you might enjoy:

  • Favorite Bullet Journal Supplies for Beginners
  • Lettering Supplies for Beginners
  • Start Planning Here & Bullet Journal Plan With Me Archives
  • Get Creative (tutorials, art & doodles & handlettering)
  • How to watercolor paint with markers in your bullet journal

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Filed Under: 5 Minute Planner Spreads, Artsy Planner Spreads, Blog, Bullet Journal, Creating Art - Watercolor, Painting & Drawing, Get Creative, Get Organized & Start Planning, Plan With Me, Plan With Me 2020, Planner Spreads, Simple Planner Spreads, Tutorials & How To Tagged: Bullet Journal, cover page, create, how to, minimal, title page, welcome page

Plan With Me August 2020 – Overcoming Mistakes & Weekly Design Challenge

July 28, 2020 Leave a Comment

For the Plan With Me for August, I wanted to experiment with minimal layouts & using the same box shapes over and over again to see how many designs I could come up with throughout the month. Each of the weeklies use the same box dimensions (4 cm or 8 boxes wide by 9 cm or 18 boxes high) but each design is different.

Minimal and Functional Bullet Journal Plan With Me Set Up - Monthly Pages, Weekly Pages, Journaling Spreads, Cover Spread & Brain Dump in my Bullet Journal | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #plannersetup #bulletjournal

In This Month’s Plan With Me Includes:

  • Willow Branch Welcome / Cover Spread
  • Circular Vellum Habit Tracker + Quick & Easy Floral Wreath
  • Leaf Mood Tracker (New!)
  • One Line Per Day (New!)
  • Monthly Calendar (with washi tape to fix mistakes)
  • Weeklies
  • Journal Page
  • Brain Dump Page (called Don’t Get Boxed in – Grow Your Way Out)

I challenged myself to use the same shape for all the boxes in my weeklies. I love how many designs I was able to use throughout the month.

Minimal and Functional Bullet Journal Plan With Me Set Up - Monthly Pages, Weekly Pages, Journaling Spreads, Cover Spread & Brain Dump in my Bullet Journal | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #plannersetup #bulletjournal

Supplies Used for August’s Plan With Me

Summery Bullet Journal Color Scheme with Crayola Marker Bouquet | Chocolatemusings.com #plannersupplies #planwithme
  • Tumbitri Meri A5 Dot-Grid Journal | Blog Post Review | YouTube Review Video
  • Zebra Zensations Techincal Drawing Pen 
  • Tombow Dual Brush Pens
    • 228 – Gray Green
    • 249 – Hunter Green
  • Pentel Sign Brush Pens
  • Archer & Olive Paper Pads 
  • Crayola Super Tip Markers
  • Scotch Washi Tape
  • Correction Tape
  • Permanent Adhesive
  • Circle Maker
  • Water Pens

Supplies From the Chocolate Musings Shop:

Handlettering Books: 
  • Large Brush – Basic Strokes
  • Small Brush – Basic Strokes
  • 1-31 Number Stickers 
  • Circular Vellum Habit Tracker – Coming Soon!
  • Calendar Grids Coming Soon!

Welcome / Cover Page

Draping Willow Branches Welcome/Cover Page in my Bullet Journal - see how I create it in my plan with me video | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #august #willow

I imagine a willow branch flowing down the page for the welcome/cover page this month. It brought me back to my childhood during the summer sitting under my beloved willow tree hiding amongst the long and wispy branches which teased each other in the summertime breeze.

Using a water pen & Crayola markers, I marked a few leaves with blobs of color. Unfortunately, the color bled through a little to the opposite pages. I guess the water pen creates too much water, and it seeps through the sheet fibers. But if you use actual watercolor in this journal (check out the review I wrote here), it doesn’t bleed through.

Habits / Mood Tracker

Circular Habit Tracker with Modern Calligraphy Lettering in my Bullet Journal | ChocolateMusings.com #habit #habitracker #tracker

Using a circle maker, I created a floral wreath with a few branch sprigs and flowers. The tracker itself is a semi-transparent circular vellum sheet I created and adhered to my planner. I love how it shows the design underneath. Watch the plan with me video below to see how I created this design.

I’ve never used a mood tracker before and decided to finally give it a try after nearly four years of Bullet Journaling. Mostly, I wanted to give myself a reason to open my planner every day because I need to get back in the habit.

Summery & Simple Habit & Mood Tracker - watch the plan with me to see how to create it - vellum habit tracker & easy circular wreath | ChocolateMusings.com #habits #mood #planwithme #bulletjournal

BIG Mistakes in My Planner This Month

I think it’s important to share the mistakes we make in our Bullet Journals. Not everything is rainbow sparkles & cloud fluff perfect, and you can see how I fix my errors in August’s Plan With Me Video Part I.

In my plan with me video part I (which you can watch above), I show you how I overcame page bleeds, what I did when I forgot a page (eep! I forgot the monthly calendar). And when I screwed up (twice!) when mapping out the monthly calendar. I’d love to know how you overcame any screw-ups in your planner. Leave me a comment below.

In the August Plan With Me Video Part II (Below) – I show you how I use the same box dimensions to create four very different page designs.

Which one do you like the most?

The Weekly Spread Challenge:

  • Bullet journal weekly dragon flies & florals minimal design | ChocolateMusings.com #minimalweekly #weekly #bulletjournal
  • Minimal and Functional Bullet Journal Plan With Me Set Up - Monthly Pages, Weekly Pages, Journaling Spreads, Cover Spread & Brain Dump in my Bullet Journal | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #plannersetup #bulletjournal
  • Loose watercolor butterfly minimal bullet journal weekly layout | ChocolateMusings.com #watercolor #butterfly #weekly
  • Bullet journal weekly floating dandilions minimal design | ChocolateMusings.com #minimalweekly #weekly #bulletjournal

Beyond August’s Plan With Me mistakes, this month, I chose to use the same box dimensions for each set of weeklies but change the design for each week. Using the same set of elements over and over again throughout your design makes it more cohesive even if the plan isn’t the same on every page.

If you’re bored with your current layout, try giving yourself a set of rules to work with and see how you can change the pages around while still following the rules.

For example, the boxes for each of my weeklies are 18 dots or 9 cm high by 8 dots or 4 cm wide. I used relatively simple artwork with summery colors, the same color palette, and the whisper of summer throughout all of the pages. Each design is very different but follows all the guides.

Journal Page / Brain Dump

  • Brain Dump Floral Wreath - Don't get boxed in - grow your way out Bullet Journal Spread | ChocolateMusings.com #bujo #bulletjournal #braindump
  • Journal Spread - specific journaling questions & space to free-write to record thoughts & memories about the month in my bullet journal | ChocolateMusings.com #journaling #journalspread #journal

If you get stuck looking at a blank journal page but want to write a snippet about the month, try asking yourself a few questions. This month, I included a small box for goals, a box labeled ‘happiness in action’ and the last one titled ‘how can I improve next month?’.

Happiness in action celebrates the small moments that we often overlook while trudging through the minutia of day-to-day tasks. For instance, I would include a sentence or two about my three-year-old talking on a banana like a phone. Or my oldest two kids playing happily with their legos and building towns complete with streets and miniature Lego cars. Those joyful moments are the ones I want to treasure when they get older. And every once in awhile I need a little nudge to record them.

What challenges do you give yourself throughout the month?

Want More Planner & Bullet Journal Inspiration?

Find more plan with me ideas | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #ideas

No Matter Which Notebook I use – You’ll Always Find These Supplies Close at Hand

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Filed Under: Blog, Bullet Journal, Dress-Up Your Planner Spreads, Get Organized & Start Planning, Plan With Me, Plan With Me 2020, Planner Spreads, Simple Planner Spreads Tagged: August, challenge, how to, minimal, overcome mistakes, plan with me, weekly challenge, weekly design challenge

April Plan With Me Citrus Recipe Art Inspired

March 31, 2019 4 Comments

April Plan With Me - Recipe Art Inspiration | ChocolateMusings.com #planwithme #video #lemons #thyme #watercolor

April Plan With Me 2019 – The Inspiration: Citrusy Water Infusion Recipe Art

After a couple of months taking a break to refocus, I’m excited to show you my planner setup for April. The inspiration this month’s plan with me: Recipe Art I’m completely obsessed with the idea of taking old family recipes and doodling the various elements and creating a visual recipe card.

This month I took that idea with a modern twist – each of the spreads for April are different fruit & herb water infusion recipes. I’m happy to say that it resulted in bright colors and mouth-watering blends. While researching the combinations, not only did I choose beautiful colors, but I look forward to trying these flavor combinations.

  • blackberry + sage watercolor bullet journal weekly inspiration | ChocolateMusings.com #crayola #watercolor #minimal #weekly
  • blackberry + sage watercolor bullet journal weekly inspiration | ChocolateMusings.com #crayola #watercolor #minimal #weekly

When I showed my husband, he looked excited and asked me when I was going to sample the recipes.  It’s an excellent opportunity to get back on track with my weight loss goals. Diet Dr pepper is my vice. I’m looking for a way to break its grip and cut the soda. Flavor-infused water sounded tempting and delicious all in one!

Watch the April Plan With Me video below and make sure to subscribe in the lower corner of the video!

Fun characteristics from this month’s plans:

In addition to bright, citrusy colors, and recipe inspirations, I’m excited about several different items featured throughout the month. After looking at some pictures of herbs (my friend Amy (@PurplescapeDesign) also did a challenge a couple of months ago featuring herbs), I tried to include their distinct characteristics and colors as I painted them. In the video, I mention the mint leaves, and if you look carefully at the mint leaves, it’s almost like they have a leaf within a leaf.

If you notice the way I painted the thyme leaf, I used the tip of the water pen and pushed down, leaving a leaf imprint. I discovered that trick a few months ago with some Tombow Dual Brush pens. I plan on showing you the specifics of this technique in a later post.

Lemon Thyme Bullet Journal Theme | ChocolateMusings.com #inspiration #bulletjournal #bulletjournaltheme

Circle Habit Tracker on Tracing Paper

The circular habit prints.  Using tracing paper, I printed a circle habit tracker and taped it over top of a large cut section of a painted orange. Since the paper is partly transparent, you can see the detail of the orange through the tracing paper. I did this in February too, and it’s going to happen more and more because I LOVE the look.

Note: If you try this at home – PLEASE be very careful with printing on tracing paper and DO NOT print using a laser printer – it will probably melt the paper and ruin your machine. I still have some kinks to work out to make it perfect, but I’m pretty excited.

Transparent Habit Tracker - Print, Paste & Mark | ChocolateMusings.com #habittracker #bulletjournal

Monthly Overview + Habit Tracker

I combined my monthly page with the habit tracker because I rarely referred to the monthly page by its self. I like the overview of the month, but I live mostly in my weekly plans. So I created a small monthly calendar with room to write out dates or monthly to-dos or notes below the calendar.

By the way, if you’ve never used a habit tracker before, I was skeptical, too. But once I started, I never stopped. It’s like it unlocks a secret magical will to improve your life one day at a time. And if you neglect it one day, week, month, you have the power to try again the next month.

For the longest time, I tracked ‘doing dishes’ because this household chore was a struggle every single day. Eventually, after several months, I created a steady habit and haven’t tracked it since, and I still do the dishes. I don’t like them, but I do the necessary evil thing.

Citrus Recipe Monthly Bullet Journal Inspiration | ChoclateMusings.com #monthly #planwithme #bulletjournal

Painting With Crayola Markers

If you’ve seen my other plan with me videos, you’ll already know that I LOVE painting in my journal both with watercolor and with Crayola Markers. It’s one of the reasons I tried out every notebook I could get my hands on and why I finally fell in love with my current notebook, one by Archer & Olive. If they had an affiliate program, I’d join in a heartbeat. The paper is 160 gsm (which means it’s very thick) and is so beautifully white instead of ivory or cream. Their paper can handle watercolor paint – most notebooks soak the paper and then bleed through to the other side.

There are two main reasons why I prefer painting in my journal with Crayola Markers:

One – They have so many colors! Two – there’s no paint texture left after painting with markers, so I can write over it with any marker or pen that I want.

A bonus reason why I love painting with Crayola Markers: I use less water on the page, so there’s less overall wrinkling and buckling.

Want to learn to paint with Crayola Markers too? Click to read my blog post – it’s really easy and you don’t need a lot of supplies to start adding pops of color to your planner.

  • watermelon + mint weekly planner spread| ChocolateMusings.com #crayola #watercolor #minimal #weekly
  • Raspberry Orange Bullet Journal Weekly | ChocoalteMusings.com #bulletjournal #weekly #theme
  • Basil Lemon Blueberry Infusion Recipe Weekly Theme | ChocolateMusings.com #inspiration #bulletjournal #bulletjournaltheme

Minimal Weeklies

As you can see, I didn’t include a lot of boxes or separated areas on my weekly layouts. I am trying some new layouts, but they’re all pretty minimal. One thing I added to most of the weeks was a line dedicated to each member of my family. My kids have ‘specials’ at school. They rotate classrooms or activities and need to bring or wear different items each day. In an attempt to be a well-put-together mother, I jot down each of their specials so I’m better prepared for wardrobe or equipment requests each day.

Large Space for Journaling/To-Dos

One reason why I’ve stuck with bullet journaling as my planner for so long (it’s now about 3 years since I started using a bullet journal to keep track of my life!), is the flexibility and creativity it offers. Last month I added quite a lot of journaling to each page and loved it.

Creating pages with minimal outlines allow me more flexibility for the needs of the week. So if I have a lot of miscellaneous to-dos, I have space to fill the week with these items. If, instead, I have a lot to record (more than just fits on my “All the Things” journal page”) the space on the weekly easily accommodates. If I need to add more space for journaling, as I did last month, I literally tape in a page or a section of paper so it lifts like a flap. Washi tape for the win!

Lavender Journaling Page | ChocolateMusings.com #inspiration #bulletjournal #bulletjournaltheme

I love sharing my plan with me videos & monthly planner set up. I hope I’ve given you some ideas and inspiration for adding function and fun to your planner.

Let me know what you think of my April Plan With Me in the comments below. I’d love to know which flavor infusion do you want to try.

Check back later this month for how to create flavor infusion doodles!

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Filed Under: Artsy Planner Spreads, Blog, Bullet Journal, Creating Art - Watercolor, Painting & Drawing, Get Creative, Get Organized & Start Planning, Plan With Me, Plan With Me 2019, Planner Spreads Tagged: #BuJo, Bullet Journal, Circle, circles, inspiration, minimal, plan with me, recipe art, water infusion

Medicine Tracker – I Don’t Have to Remember Everything!

February 8, 2018 2 Comments

It’s So Nice to NOT Have to Remember Everything!

A few weeks ago, my baby was not feeling well. I took the poor little guy to the doctor and came home with 3 separate medicines 3 times per day for two weeks. I knew that I would have to wrack my brain to remember when I had given him the last dosage. Then try to remember if I gave him all nine dosages of medicine the day before. I just knew I was going to forget dosages. Then knowing when to stop was the other issue. So what did I do? Created a quick medicine tracker spread in my Bullet Journal of course!

medicine tracking spread, use your bullet journal to remember for you

The Medicine Tracker

Each column has the dosages per day and the rows were the dates. Each day I would mark off the medicine without too much effort to remember what I did or did not do. Except for maybe one day, I successfully administered all the dosages and thankfully, the little guy is feeling better.

Before I started planning with a bullet journal – I would have just tried to remember. Thankfully, now I don’t have to remember everything. I write it down, then out of habit, I check my planner and do the things I am supposed to. What a relief. Medicine tracker to the rescue!

medicine tracking spread, use your bullet journal to remember for you

I’d Love to Know: What uncommon trackers do you use in your planner or bullet journal?

Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

~Tricia

2 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Bullet Journal, Planner Spreads, Trackers Tagged: #BuJo, brush lettering, Bullet Journal, bullet journal spread, children, clever, collections, Inspire, leuchtturm1917, medicine tracker, minimal, minimalistic, page layout, trackers, weekly spread

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About Me


Hi! I'm Tricia, the creative behind ChocolateMusings.com, I know how it feels to lose your inner muse. After years of darkness (which I call the dark ages of my life), I found my inner muse hiding in the forgotten corners of my soul, I vowed never to lose sight of her again.

Bullet journaling helped reignite the passion for art and living life again while organizing my days. I also discovered modern calligraphy and watercolor. Since then, my use of the bullet journal system has evlolved and I call it 'creative planning'. Here on the blog, I show you how to use your planner to ignite your inner muse and explore creativity and art while staying beautifully organized and living a joyful life.

I invite you to grab some good chocolate and dive into my musings. Let’s ignite your inner muse.

Read more on the about me page. You can also find my policies and disclosures here.

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