How to deal with Mistakes in your Bullet Journal #2
Since I started bullet journaling almost 2 years ago, I’ve made LOADS of mistakes! Don’t think that from all the amazing pictures you see on social media, that everyone else has the perfect bullet journal. No. Not even close!
I have to say that in the beginning it was very hard for me to deal with my mistakes. Especially when you start something new, and you have a brand new journal that you want to make perfect, even the tiniest mistake and make you feel that you need to rip out the page completely. Which is always an option, but I prefer to find other ways to fix and cover up my mistakes.
I have another blog post on how to cover up your mistakes if you care to check it out here. And this is the #2 post I’ll dedicate on this subject. So, let’s dive in!
Since I started bullet journaling almost 2 years ago, I’ve made LOOOOOADS of mistakes! Don’t think that from all the amazing pictures you see on social media, that everyone else has the perfect bullet journal apart from you. No. Not even close!
I have to say that in the beginning it was very hard for me to deal with my mistakes. Especially when you start something new, and you have a brand new journal that you want to make perfect, even the tiniest mistake can make you feel that you need to rip out the page completely. Which is always an option, but I prefer to find other ways to fix and cover up my mistakes.
I have another blog post on how to cover up your mistakes if you care to check it out here. And this is the #2 post I’ll dedicate on this subject. So, let’s dive in!
For little mistakes, like small lines around the letters, or lines that you didn’t measure correctly and you drew a bit out of size, you can use a white gel pen. This will offer you a more precise correction around those small areas that need fixing.
Black it out. Cover the mistake with a black pen and write over it with a white gel pen. You can also use black washi tape instead if you want.
Create some mini drawings on a separate piece of paper, cut it out and stick it on top of your boo boo. That’s a fun way to cover up your mistakes.
For big mistakes, use some scrap paper to cover the whole page with it. You simply measure the size of the page, cut the paper and use some glue tape to stick it on the page.
You can also find cute quotes on line like the one I created in the picture above, print them on sticker paper, cut to size and stick directly on your page.
You can now download this quote for FREE and add it in your bullet journal. You simply print it on a sticker paper and stick it on the page that you've made a mistake on. You can also print it on normal paper and add it in you journal with some glue tape.
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You can also use the page to create a collage with various images and scrapbooking supplies that will totally cover up your mistakes.
If nothing of the above works, simply glue the pages together and start fresh :)
How do you deal with your mistakes in your bullet journal? Please share in the comments below.
How to deal with Mistakes in your Bullet Journal
Imagine this. It's the beginning of the month and you are starting your new set up in your bullet journal. You've been planning for days what you'll include this time and how you are going to decorate it. You are so excited and can't wait to put your thoughts and ideas on paper. You spend all your afternoon creating and drawing. In the end you are so proud of your new set up, that you have to show it to your husband. And his reaction is: 'It looks amazing babe, but I think you got the month wrong!' ARRHHHH! Frustration beyond words!!!! That's exactly what happened to me while creating my July set up.
Imagine this. It's the beginning of the month and you are starting your new set up in your bullet journal. You've been planning for days what you'll include this time and how you are going to decorate it. You are so excited and can't wait to put your thoughts and ideas on paper. You spend all your afternoon creating and drawing. In the end you are so proud of your new set up, that you have to show it to your husband. And his reaction is: 'It looks amazing babe, but I think you got the month wrong!' ARRHHHH! Frustration beyond words!!!! That's exactly what happened to me while creating my July set up.
When you are bullet journaling, mistakes are bound to happen no matter how much you try to make everything perfect. And that's fine because you're only human. Me personaly, I've made all kinds of mistakes in my bujo - wrong date, wrong day, drew a line too big, typos (loads of them!), miscalculated the size of the table I wanted to draw - the list goes on and on!
So, how do you deal with those mistakes? Here are some of the ways I use that help me keep my sanity intact!
1. Try to correct the mistake (like specific letters or numbers) as subtly as possible.
This is for simple typo mistakes that you can quickly rectify by writing on top of them the correct letter/number, so that it doesn't show as much.
2. Oops! It's Tuesday!
Most of the times, when I make a mistake of a word (like writing the wrong day as shown above), I will just add an arrow and the correct word. I think this way, it looks cute and you get the desired effect without ruining the page or the desing.
3. Use the page for something else.
If you're lucky and quite inventive, then you can rectify your mistake by utilising the page for something else. For example, if you've created a table but you made a mistake with the dimensions and it doesn't work for what you were planning to do, then you can still use it to add for example quotes in the little boxes. That way you can still use the page and make it look good at the same time.
4. Correction Fluid
If nothing else works, good old Tipp-Ex comes to the rescue!!!
5. Cover them up!
There are lots of ways you can cover your mistake and make the page look nice and cute.
You can use washi tape. These little colourful tapes have saved loads of my pages in my journal. They add an instant splash of colour and cover up things pretty neatly.
Any type of stickers or mini post-it notes that can cover any mishaps that might have happened on your page. You can even print quotes or various designs (ie. mandala) on sticker paper and cover the whole page if you have to! I really like the ones by Kara on Etsy.
Apart though from covering up your mistakes, there are some ways that can help you to prevent them in the first place. You can use pencil instead of pen. I know some people might find this solution a bit over the top, but if you find that something as simple as that helps you, then why not?
Another solution is to pre-design everything in pencil and once you are satisfied with the result, then you can go over with a pen. It might take a bit more time than usual, but having an almost perfect page in the end, makes it worth it. I do this all the time, especially when it's a big and complicated spread.
You can use coloured pencils for your drawings instead of markers. I use them all the time in my bullet journal, and I really like that they give me the option to erase something that I don't like without ruining the design or the page.
You can also use those erasable pens and highlighters. They make your life so much easier! They come in various colours as well, so you can still create colourful spreads and lists. My favourite one is the Pilot Frixion Ball 0.7.
And lastly but not least, you need to learn to embrace your mistakes. They make your journal even more special, because they show you that you learn from them. Everything you create, right or wrong, is part of who you are and you should accept it. That way, even if you make any mistakes, they won't make your bullet journal journey any less enjoyable.
How do you deal with mistakes in your bullet journal? Please let me know in the comments below ;)
