New Printable Calendar 2019 Available

Just a quick announcement: I just uploaded my new printable calendar for bullet journals, junk journals etc. and you can print it out or download here - and it.s free:

• Free printable calendar and month labels to print out/download

I also made a quick video to show how I made two mini journals using my printable calendar and monthly labels:

• YOUTUBE - DIY Quick mini journals

Happy journaling!

My junk journal bullet journal

Let me introduce my "next generation" bullet journal - the junk journal bullet journal! I challenged myself to use my extensive stash of  junk paper and I managed to create a very nice A6 sized journal using 99% upcycled junk.

The main ingredient of my journal was my stash of used copy paper, that is to say old photocopies, old computer prints and blank pages that are wrinkled or stained for one reason or another. I also used old book pages, junk mail and assembly instructions from Ikea, just to name a few upcycled materials.

I used just a little bit of washi tape as embellishment (that's not junk), but mainly I decorated the pages with cut outs from old magazines or from junk mail. I also used stamps, coffee stains and a little bit of acrylic paint.

WHAT'S NEW

So what's the difference between my new junk journal bullet journal compared to my original bullet journal - in addition to using old copy paper as material?

In my opinion, the most important difference is flexibility. My new junk journal is extremely flexible as it contains several pockets and tuck spots for holding replaceable, loose paper. It's rather small and there aren't many pages for writing, but the main advantage of this type of journal is that you can add and replace lists and inspirational images whenever and wherever you need.

Having used my first bullet journal for more than a year I now know what I need and what I don't need. In my experience there's no need to save most of my lists - to do lists, shopping lists etc. - so I'm expecting my new junk journal to be more functional and more appropriate for my needs.

In terms of appearance my new junk journal is also different from my old bullet journal. I wanted it to have a grunge vintage look, so I tea or coffee dyed most of the pages and I even made a couple of yummy lace pockets to it - tea dyed of course.

I made a flip through video, if you like to see how my junk journal looks and how I made the pockets and how I tea and coffee dyed the pages.
- YOUTUBE: 99% upcycled junk journal tutorial, ideas & flip through >

I also made another video to show a quick and easy way to bind a journal with a needle and thread.
- YOUTUBE: Binding tutorial - How to bind a junk journal >

To find detailed instructions, you can visit my website gamescraftscoloring.com.

• Instructions - How to bind a junk journal
• Junk Journal & Upcycling ideas 

Actually, I love my new junk journal so much, that I'm definitely going to make another one soon. I can see a lot of use for a wide variety of junk journals for both daily use and for specific use, like a Christmas junk journal or a journal for making travel plans etc.

See you on my Youtube channel!

Five Months Of Bullet Journaling

Yes, I'm still using my bullet journal. Not daily, but I'm still using it, and I find it very useful. One of the main reasons to keep it is that it helps me pick up something that I'm going to focus on, and so far I've managed to achieve all my monthly goals.

Monthly spreads

After January I decided to have two months on one spread. My monthly spreds are very simple, as you can see. The main thing is to state my goals, which I have limited to three.

That's my February - March spread above.

And this is my April - May spread.

I have used my month spreads for storing my sticky notes as well, which I find very handy. As a matter of fact, I have sticky notes all over my bullet journal. I don't feel it's necessary to write down every single thing in my bullet journal. Instead I use disposable sticky notes, so my two monthly spreads or idea spreads are big enough for everything that needs to be remembered. I even bought these tiny sticky notes by The Happy Planner that you can see an example on the right side of this spread. They're so small you can stick them anywhere and use several sticky notes on the same page.

Daily entries not daily

At first I added daily entries daily, but not any more. I add daily entries when I feel it's needed - that is when I have too many things to do at the same time, and I need to sort them out and see what I really can do during one day and the rest will go to to-do-lists.

This is my daily spread from April - May.

From Bullet Journaling to Art Journaling

The one thing that caught my eye about bullet journals was that they were colorful and pretty and creative. They still are, but I'm more and more into art journaling these days.

If you look at my May page, you'll see that one of my goals was to make at least three Youtube videos, and that's what I did. At the moment I've published six videos and I've already got plenty of them waiting to be edited.

You'll find my videos on my Youtube channel, which you will find here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3llEptFdV06K2t7hWcPRg

I'll probably make a video about my bullet journal later on this year, but meanwhile I welcome you to my channel to watch videos on art journaling, scrapbooking, card making and mixed media!

See you!

Idea Collections In Bullet Journals - An Example Spread

Almost as soon as I had started my bullet journal, I knew I would need to make a collection spread for my ideas. It would include the word "Ideas" inside a large cloud and I would write keywords of my recurring ideas around it. I had this vision in my mind, when I finally made that bullet journal layout today.

In my opinion, writing ideas down would be helpful for two reasons. First of all, my ideas would be saved. I would find them in one place, when I would have time to start new projects. Secondly, I thought it would help me focus on my current tasks better, if I could get those ideas out of my mind and put them on paper. It's no use spending time thinking about all these ideas that I cannot process right now, because I'm busy doing something else.

These ideas may or may not turn into reality one day. At this point it's not important - it's important just to save them. Having this in mind, I added this witty quote from Karl Lagerfeld: "I'm very much down to earth, just not this earth." What a perfect quote for this bullet journal spread! Ideas are ideas. Let them fly. They are not down to earth. Plans are.

As one spread probably will not do for all my ideas, I placed two sticky post-it-notes below the main area. I'm going to write down only short keywords like "art" or "start a shop" or "write a new book" on the upper part of the pages and I´m going to add details on sticky notes. In time, I'm going to harvest my notes and replace the original post-it-notes with new ones. Hopefully I'll be able to turn some of my ideas into plans during this year.




To help me find this spread fast, I marked the page on the right side with golden washi tape. I also added a beautiful swan stamp beside it - just because it looked nice and it coordinated with the color theme of this spread. I just happened to notice the stamp while I was making the ideas spread of my bullet journal and now it's there.

I made the thick lines with a thick gold marker. First I chekced out, if the marker would bleed. It didn't, so I thought it would be safe to use it. Dashed lines around the Ideas cloud and Karl Lagerfeld's quotes are made with a golden gel pen.

I'm very happy with this beautiful spread and it will probably be one of the most used in my bullet journal. This spread is for general future ideas. I'm going to make separate pages for Valentine's day ideas, Christmas ideas and some other specific themes later on.

See you in the next post!

Bullet Journal Week One - First impressions

After one week of bullet journaling I have good news and bad news. Good news first: I´m still in love with my bullet journal and I´m definitely going to continue this project. I have always used lists to get things organized, but it was never my routine to start a day taking a planner or a journal in my hand. Now it is. I create the daily task list - or the beginning of the list - right after morning coffee. I´m sure it has helped me to achieve better results already.

This is my first bujo spread. Week one is on the right side and the page I made for January is on the left side. I added a motivational quote on the January page just to cheer me up. "Respect the struggle and grow from it." My life has been a great struggle for the last ten years and it still is. I hope my bullet journal will help me get my life back.

The bad news is that I felt I had failed, if I could not complete all my daily tasks. It made me feel frustrated.

I think it will be easier to set realistic target over time, though. Some of my tasks were too large and contained too many subtasks for one day. I´m going to add tasks in more manageable chunks to my future lists. After all, one of my problems is that many of my goals seem to be so large that I feel overwhelmed, and then I end up doing nothing at all.

One of these hard projects has been studying CSS. I finally got started yesterday - and I thank my bullet journal for it. My goal is to spend one hour each day studying a giant book on CSS. It will be my top priority this week.

I still have empty spreads in my notebook, though I have added them to the Index. For example, there´s nothing in my bucket list or in the running to do list for things that need to be done, but not on any exact date. I have yet to learn to write down things, if something pops up in my mind while I´m doing something else. That is why I created those bujo pages for!

All in all, I´m happy with the first week and I know I´m going to achieve better results as I get used to using my bujo whenever I feel the need to save an idea or a thought. See you soon!

---

---

How To Make A Bullet Journal

I promised on Sunday to give a detailed description of how I made my bullet journal and now its time to do so. As a matter of fact, I had planned to do it yesterday - that is why it was on my Monday bullet list. As it happened, I had overestimated my abilities to get things done in just one day. So today I had to clean up yesterday´s bullets and here we are - finally.

When I started my bullet journal, I did not have to buy anything new because I had everything I needed at home. I chose an old notebook with soft, black cover and decided it would be my bullet journal. Then I printed out two calendars: one large and the other one small. You´ll find the link to my free, printable calendars at the end of this blog post.

I glued the small calendar inside the front cover of my bullet journal with a gluestick. To make it stick better and to make my bullet journal look pretty I framed it with silvery decoration tape.

In my experience, it´s easy to find your last journal entry quickly, if there´s a ribbon to point it out. So I attached a ribbon to the back cover of my bullet journal with pieces of very sticky double sided tape. I was very pleased with the way it turned out. Now my black notebook looks like a real journal!

Next I created the index page. I listed all months and some collections pages that I thought would be useful. I haven´t got any habit trackers yet, but I´m going ro list them on the left side of this spread later. I´m going to add some other pages as well, as I get them started. I used the 2017 banner from the large, printable calendar on top of the page.

Next I jumped to page 5 to create my first month page. As I only list the most important events, plans and goals at monthly basis, I thought one page would be enough. I´ll list my accomplishments on this page at the end of this month. I used my own free printables to make the page look more colourful and nice. In addition, I cut out January from my small printable calendar an attached it on top of the page. I am going to mark important dates there, if something comes up.

I´ts day three of my bullet journaling project today, so that´s about all I was going to say this time. I´m excited to see, if my bullet journal will help me prioritize my life, as I have so much going on right now. I have huge amount of ideas about bullet journaling as well, so I´ll be back soon!

Free printable calendars, month labels and other stuff will be found here:

• GCC: Bullet journal setup and printable freebies >

---

Project Bullet Journal 2017 Officially Started

Today is the first day of 2017 and I finally got started with my new bullet journal. It took me about 30 minutes to create the bullet journal and a bit longer to create the printables that I had planned to use. I´ll give you a detailed description tomorrow with photos of my journal and links to the free printables that I intend to share on gamescraftscoloring.com.

Tomorrow will be the first Monday of the year, so it will be the perfect day to start planning. See you tomorrow!