hello everyone ! I've a little question : are there some of you who use a bullet journal ? I would like to create one but I don't really know where to begin. I've seen that there is notebooks with dots, some with lines. The notebooks with the dots seem to be easier to use to draw but I'm not a good drawer... Maybe the lines notebook is better. On other sites, there are files that you can print. As you can see, there are lots of informations and I'm a little lost. That's why I come here because I'm sure you will have good advices for me. Thank you everyone !
I use a Happy Planner instead of a bullet journal, but I print my own stickers. Certainly, we have lots of do-dads and elements in our TLP stash that work in a bullet journal. I use full sized white sticker paper and I use clear full sized shipping labels. The clear is nice if you are printing something you want to be see through such as paint or perhaps a saying. I use scissors to cut mine out but I know some use a Cricut or similar tools.
I have done bullet journaling for 5 years! I love it! I started with a cheap book...just to see if I would stay with it! Did for 4 months and loved it! then I got a Leuchtturm1917 Classic Hardcover Squared Medium Notebook Red-I have used dots, squares and really they are the same to me. Last year I picked up a cheap one (just looked and it has the dots)at Walmart $8 it is smaller and fits better in my purse. It is my brain, I keep our budget in there, calendars, weekly calendars, Lily Pad obligations, kids schedules and I take copious notes during sermons and they go hand in hand with my prayer list.
My teenage daughter has used a dot style book for the last few years (like you mentioned, there are so many kinds - the lined ones are so much cheaper and easier to find!) to do her bullet journalling. It was an organised kind of creative outlet so i went with it! She likes calligraphy & uses brush pens (we were buying the Tombow Brush Pens individually, she'd pick 2 or 3 colours at a time because they're expensive too!) to do titles and things. I have photos somewhere of a few of her 'month themes' that she saw ideas for on Pinterest or Instagram or somewhere - let me look for them; back in a bit
I'm recently into bullet journaling. I think dotted notebooks are the best. I bought my previous notebooks plain (because I don't like to have lines on my page and I want it to look clean) but I can't write straight and when I want to draw boxes or to set up calendar I feel the need to have a guide. Using a ruler or having a guide page underneath is too much of work for me so I ended up ordering some dotted notebooks from Moleskine. And I love how this woman on YouTube sets up her BUJO planner. If you're into sketching and drawing maybe you'd like her style too.
I don't have a bullet journal. I did buy one of those resuable notebooks in grid paper and dot paper. I like the dots because it's easier to skip a line than in the grid paper. It looks cleaner skipping lines in the dots.
The water is DEEP and WIDE with bullet journaling, lol....SO many ways you can implement it. That said, you won't know what works for you/what you like until you just start. I'd point you to the original Bullet Journal site, if you haven't already checked it out: https://bulletjournal.com/, grab a few notebooks (I've seen a fair amount of sets that come with one each of lined/grid/dot), and like @AnneofAlamo said, just try it out for a few months to see if you like it. Have fun!
my main addiction to Bullet Journaling is Washi Tape! For each month, or tracking thing, I have different Washi tape on the outside of the (edge of page) I found it! I did a Blog post when I first started...oh I was so neat then!
i'm back - i found her last year's 'BuJo' & one of her old 'practice' blank page, ring bound art books where i was like 'what do you need a dot book for? i've never seen them in shops and why can't you just use one of the many visual arts diaries that are basically empty. Show me what you're talking about doing with it". I've seen her 2020 one and it has more 'stuff' in it and it's more a memory book, like with little photo stickers printed out with the Sprocket printer, and there was no school-provided diary this year so she uses it more for school reminders etc but it must be in her bag at school with her because i can't find it. Anyway, if you zoom in, you can see the dot grid on most of the pages. She likes big themed title pages each month, and quotes and drawing and banner looking things but from what i've kind of learnt about it, there's no wrong way to do it. I totally agree with Anne about the washi tape. She has washi tapes in her pencil case and uses it for borders and such as down the side of April and March. And as you can see from September, sometimes she forgets or is too busy to keep up with it (our school year is end of Jan until mid Dec)
I want to meet your daughter @bellbird ,she is a girl after my own heart,and her ideas and art rocks.
Oh my gosh! I love your daughters journals too Justine! She's so talented!! @bellbird and what a great blog post full of information @AnneofAlamo ! I love all your key/legend, tabs and different sections! So cool!
I don't do a bullet journal, but I do a daily journal (usually TN sized) and like Justine I make all my own stickers now. I think I have about as much fun making the stickers as I do with the daily journaling entries along with my little 2x3 sticker pictures from my Sprocket printer. If you need any pointers for that type of stuff, I could chat for hours. @Ga_L
@bellbird oh my gosh, I LOVE her party hat icon for Birthday!!!!! And how she sketched out what her design plan was...I have done that many times. I love the flexibility of the BuJo but I also don't want to spend time creating spreads so I'm more basic in my application. I have collected parts/pieces from different places that work well for me and I hope to create my own Franken-planner. Also, I apparently need to go back and read up on printing my own stickers and looking into a Sprocket! I have waffled so much on if to invest in a mini printer and which one to get it I do make that decision.
I love your blog post, @AnneofAlamo, thanks for sharing! The 3 column tip for the monthly page is a good one, I'll have to try that out. I agree about using a journal with pre-numbered pages and color coding - both are big helps for me too! Love, love, love your prayer pages with photos of who you're praying for and for what specifically. Love it. Lots to think about as I start to plan my next years journal/planner!
I tried. Really I did. But I got no satisfaction out of decorating a journal. So I moved to One Note in conjunction with Google Calendar, and am all digital now. I have the app on my iPhone and iPad, so whatever/where ever...I have my info. It's not pretty...very plain. But some people DO add drawings, calligraphy, pretty papers, etc. to their One Note pages...even stickers. I do pretty on scrapbook pages and greeting cards.
They brought out the Sprocket 2 or Plus or whatever the second one's called late last year and i got a good deal on the original one as one shop was clearancing them and bought them for my nieces for xmas too - so far she hasn't run out of the other packs of sticker paper i bought to go with them - it was easy to set-up and stuff & at the time i think i was comparing the Canon Selphy & the Instax mini printers and the deal was too good to pass up and swayed what i bought - the comparing of any shopping is always such a stumbling block for me and makes my indecision worse! No regrets though and she's dropped it so many times that i will say i'm surprised it still works! (Also i love that you're calling yours a Franken-journal! Perfect name!)
i hear ya! i would be exactly the same! i am completely amazed by some of the planners and journals i've seen in the last few years. i don't get how they can have any time left in the day to do the stuff they've bulleted and listed that they've got to do, because it would take me forever to make such pretty and intricate pages! DD used to take her journal and pencil case with her washi and stuff in with us while we sat thru DS's swimming group (pre-covid), i guess it was more productive than me reading and if you really want to do something, you find the time somehow
