#doodlewithus CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU #doodlewithus CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU

Instagram Challenge: #doodlewithusinjune2018

I'm excited to announce our Instagram Challenge for the month of June! 👏🏻

It's the #doodlewithusinjune2018 Instagram Challenge created by me and Alexandra (from @alexandra_plans).

It's going to be 30 days of doodles that will hopefully get you to be creative and have fun! We're going with a 'In The Garden' for this monthI seriously can't wait to start drawing!

Doodle-With-Us-Blog-Post--June-Prompts-2018.jpg

I'm excited to announce our Instagram Challenge for the month of June! 👏🏻

It's the #doodlewithusinjune2018 Instagram Challenge created by me and Alexandra (from @alexandra_plans).

It's going to be 30 days of doodles that will hopefully get you to be creative and have fun! We're going with a 'In The Garden' for this monthI seriously can't wait to start drawing!

As we did before, all the doodles are part of one big comprehensive picture. Imagine each day to be one piece of the puzzle. So, at the end of the month you will have one big doodle picture! :)

If you decide to follow this way, you'll have to create a table with 5x6 boxes and you shouldn't add the days on the top. You can also make the boxes and dates in pencil, if you don't want the lines to obscure the end result. It's totally up to you.

Of course, if you prefer to draw the doodles in the traditional way, that's absolutely fine as well. The important thing is to have fun!

You can also download a free printable with the daily prompts here.

June 2018 doodlewithus free printable.jpg

If you want to join us then:

  • Follow me (Christina) @christina77star and Alexandra @alexandra_plans over on Instagram.
  • Download the prompts below.
  • Draw something according to the day's prompt, take a photo of it, and share it with us on Instagram. 
  • Don't forget to add the hashtag #doodlewithusinjune2018 and spread the word.
  • Everyone is welcome!
Doodle-With-Us-Instagram-Challenge--June-Prompts-2018.jpg

We're excited to see what you'll share! 

Thank you for joining in!

Christina x

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Improve Your Handwriting CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU Improve Your Handwriting CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU

Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - June

I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"!

It's a fun way to practice daily, keep a photo archive of your handwriting and see how you've improved through time. You can also interact online with other people doing the same challenge, and also you can get inspired by others' handwriting too.

So, for June it's going to be 30 days of handwriting prompts that will hopefully get you to start practicing your handwriting every day. The theme for this month's words is 'Numbers'.

Blog-Post-Improve-Your-Handwriting-Challenge-June.jpg

I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"!

It's a fun way to practice daily, keep a photo archive of your handwriting and see how you've improved through time. You can also interact online with other people doing the same challenge, and also you can get inspired by others' handwriting too.

So, for June it's going to be 30 days of handwriting prompts that will hopefully get you to start practicing your handwriting every day. The theme for this month's words is 'Numbers'.

With this theme you can practice both your letters and numbers at the same time 

HERE'S HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

  • Follow me (Christina) @christina77star over on Instagram.
  • If you want, you can download and print the monthly prompts here.
  • Each day there is a corresponding prompt, that you simply have to write on a piece of paper. You can also choose to have a dedicated notebook for your daily handwriting practice. Try and focus on the word and the letters as you write them. You can repeat the word as many times as you want. Look at the way that you wrote the word the first time and the way you wrote it the last time. Is there a difference? Do you think you need to work on a specific letter? 
  • Take a photo of your practice and tag it with #improveyourhandwritingchallenge, so that it gets added to the feed.
  • At the end of each month look back at your practice pages and see how you've improved.
  • Make sure to encourage each other and have fun!
  • Please share this post to spread the word and invite others to join in the fun and improve their handwriting as well!

Thank you for joining in!

Christina x

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Bullet Journal CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU Bullet Journal CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU

Plan With Me: My June Set Up in my Bullet Journal + Video

I can't believe that May is almost over! Time flies by for sure! As always I had to get my bullet journal ready for June (Yay! 👏🏻)

I knew I wanted the theme to be related to summer, but I wanted something a bit different from the normal summer themes. So, in the end I decided to go with a 'Polaroid photos and Summer Time' theme. I also didn't want to use all the conventional colours that you'd normally use for this type of theme. I wanted to go more with a pastel palette. (You can check all the supplies I used for this theme at the end of this post 😉)

Plan With Me: My June Set Up in my Bullet Journal

I can't believe that May is almost over! Time flies by for sure! As always I had to get my bullet journal ready for June (Yay! 👏🏻)

I knew I wanted the theme to be related to summer, but I wanted something a bit different from the normal summer themes. So, in the end I decided to go with a 'Polaroid photos and Summer Time' theme. I also didn't want to use all the conventional colours that you'd normally use for this type of theme. I wanted to go more with a pastel palette. (You can check all the supplies I used for this theme at the end of this post 😉)

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post, because there's also a video, where I'm showing you exactly how I've created each spread.

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup

We start with the cover page of the month. As you can see it's full of photos of ice-creams, summer fruit and a cute little boat. 🍦 All things you associate with summer. Here you can also see the type of colours I chose for this theme. They are mostly blues with pinks and light purples. 

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup

The theme continues into my Monthly Spread. Again I used the separate boxes for this layout, and I've added lots of photo doodles with lots of summer elements to match with the theme. 

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup
June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup

As you can see my doodles are quite raw and far from perfect. And that is the look I wanted to go with. I wanted to show you that you can do something cute and fun without it being a masterpiece. You should create things in your journal that you enjoy and most importantly have fun.

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup

Again I'm separating my monthly goals into two sections: personal and business. Sitting down and writing all the things I want to focus on during the month in these two categories has proven very productive. It helps me clear my head and narrow down the things that I want to achieve each month.

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup - www.christina77star.net

The next page is my monthly focus. I've started using this spread in March and it has become a staple in my monthly set up since then.

I found it in 'Your Best Year 2018' by Lisa Jacobs and decided to added it in my bullet journal. These are my monthly objectives summarised in 5 categories that include Financial, Spiritual, Mental, Physical and Relational. 

These are the five pillars of a harmonic life, as taught in 'Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of attracting the life you want' by James Arthur Ray. And on this page you basically write what you want to improve during this month in each of those categories. It's just another way to help you focus more on specific areas of your life in order to move forward and make changes. So, together with my monthly goals page they set up my intentions for each month.

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup - www.christina77star.net

Moving forward, this is my areas of focus / tasks to complete spread. It is the next step of my monthly focus and planning. One more spread inspired by 'Your Best Year 2018'. It helps you to organise your thoughts and what you have to do during the month and turn your plans into actionable steps.

On the left hand page is the areas of focus, where I write everything I want to do during June. To create this list, I look at the previous two spreads. Then I take it a step further and I write all the steps I need to take for each goal, in order for everything to be done. After that, I take those steps and I spread them as the tasks that need to be completed in the 4 weeks of the month. That way, I know exactly what I need to do each week in order to have a successful month, so that I will finish all my projects and tick off all the things from my to-do list.

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup - www.christina77star.net

Next comes my monthly finances spread as always. It's a basic spread for my blog/work income and my expenses. 

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup - www.christina77star.net

As always I keep a notes page in my monthly layout. I think every one should have a page like that in their monthly setup. It's such a useful page, that keeps all my random thoughts and notes in one place. And I think it turned out so cute this time with those polaroid photos! 

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup - www.christina77star.net

This is my 'two lines per day'spread. It is a spread that I use like a journal. I like to come here every night and write something I want to remember about that day - it could be a thought, it could be something that happened during that day, a quote I liked or anything else I want .  

I enjoy so much filling in this spread each day! And I love coming back at the end of the month to read all the things I've written. 

June 2018 Bullet Journal Setup - www.christina77star.net

And lastly, but not least, this is my first weekly spread for June. Again I used a very simple layout for the first week. I love the simplicity and functionality of it. And it's my go to layout when I want to create my weekly in a hurry. You simple create 2 lines on each page and then you add the days on each rectangle formed.




And that is one more month planned in my bullet journal. Have you decided on June's theme yet? Do you prepare ahead of time, or you like to start planning on the 1st of each month? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you use the same theme like me, please send me a picture of it at christina77star@gmail.com


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Bullet Journal CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU Bullet Journal CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU

Bullet Journal Ideas: 3 Weekly Spread Layouts for May 2018

Since a lot of you ask me about my weekly spreads, I thought to create a blog post and a video where I show you the 3 layouts I’m using for my weekly spreads in my bullet journal for May, and how I decorated them.

Today I'm showing you only the last 3 weekly spreads for the month. The first weekly spread you can find it in my monthly plan with me video.

I tend to have 3-4 layouts for my weekly spreads which I rotate during the month. And of course I try to make them more interesting by decorating them according to that month’s theme.

3 Weekly Spread Layouts for your Bullet Journal May 2018

Since a lot of you ask me about my weekly spreads, I thought to create a blog post and a video where I show you the 3 layouts I’m using for my weekly spreads in my bullet journal for May, and how I decorated them.

Today I'm showing you only the last 3 weekly spreads for the month. The first weekly spread you can find it in my monthly plan with me video.

I tend to have 3-4 layouts for my weekly spreads which I rotate during the month. And of course I try to make them more interesting by decorating them according to that month’s theme.

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post, because there's also a video, where I'm showing you exactly how I've created each spread.

3 Weekly Spread Layouts for your bullet journal - May 2018

This is the second weekly spread for May. It is a layout that is inspired by @penpapersoul⠀on Instagram. I continue the theme with the light bulbs here too and I’m also using the same colours as before. 

3 Weekly Spread Layouts for my Bullet Journal - May 2018


3 Weekly Spread Layouts for my Bullet Journal - May 2018

For the third weekly layout I decided to do something a bit different. A few days ago I bought the Uni Posca White Pen which i’m obsessed with and keep on using it all the time! So, I decided to use it for this spread and I made all the signs black with white lettering. I love the effect that it gives. It looks like little blackboards.

3 Weekly Spread Layouts for my Bullet Journal - May 2018 - christina77star.net

As you can see I tend to prefer the vertical layouts for my weekly spreads instead of the horizontal. 

I find that I can utilise the space more, and I think that my brain works better when my to-do list is vertical. Does this happen to you too? Let me know in the comments below.

3 Weekly Spread Layouts for my Bullet Journal - May 2018 - christina77star.net

The last spread of the month was inspired by the lovely @momruncraft  on instagram. I like that it separates your to-do list in categories. You can add any category you want. I added: work, personal and meals.

I also liked the section of the happy daily thought that she had in her speed, and I decided to keep it in mine too. 

3 Weekly Spread Layouts for my Bullet Journal - May 2018 - christina77star.net

On the left there’s a section that you can add any other part you want in your weekly, like the weather, or your weekly habit tracker and so on. I decided to have it as a notes section, where I usually add things I need to do during the week that don’t have a specific place to go, or they are not meant to be done on a specific day, or things I need to remember to do for next week.



So, these are the last 3 weekly layouts for May. I hope you liked this post and that you found some inspiration for your own weekly layouts. If you liked the theme and you'd like to recreate it, please send me some pictures. I'd love to see your pages!! You can always contact me at christina77star@gmail.com


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Improve Your Handwriting CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU Improve Your Handwriting CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU

Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - May

I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"!

It's a fun way to practice daily, keep a photo archive of your handwriting and see how you've improved through time. You can also interact online with other people doing the same challenge, and also you can get inspired by others' handwriting too.

So, for May it's going to be 31 days of handwriting prompts that will hopefully get you to start practicing your handwriting every day. The theme for this month's words is 'Words with more than 10 Letters'.

Improve Your Handwriting Challenge

I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"!

It's a fun way to practice daily, keep a photo archive of your handwriting and see how you've improved through time. You can also interact online with other people doing the same challenge, and also you can get inspired by others' handwriting too.

So, for May it's going to be 31 days of handwriting prompts that will hopefully get you to start practicing your handwriting every day. The theme for this month's words is 'Words with more than 10 Letters'.

 
Improve Your Handwriting Instagram Challenge - March
 

Here's how to participate:

  • Follow me (Christina) @christina77star over on Instagram.
  • If you want, you can download and print the monthly prompts here.
  • Each day there is a corresponding prompt, that you simply have to write on a piece of paper. You can also choose to have a dedicated notebook for your daily handwriting practice. Try and focus on the word and the letters as you write them. You can repeat the word as many times as you want. Look at the way that you wrote the word the first time and the way you wrote it the last time. Is there a difference? Do you think you need to work on a specific letter? 
  • Take a photo of your practice and tag it with #improveyourhandwritingchallenge, so that it gets added to the feed.
  • At the end of each month look back at your practice pages and see how you've improved.
  • Make sure to encourage each other and have fun!
  • Please share this post to spread the word and invite others to join in the fun and improve their handwriting as well!

Thank you for joining in!

Christina x


 
Paper-Plane-Icon.jpg
 

Improve Your Handwriting Course 

Basic, step by step video lessons that help you practise and become more confident with your handwriting.


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Instagram Challenge: #doodlewithusinmay2018

I'm excited to announce our Instagram Challenge for the month of May! 👏🏻

It's the #doodlewithusinmay2018 Instagram Challenge created by me and Alexandra (from @alexandra_plans).

It's going to be 31 days of doodles that will hopefully get you to be creative and have fun! We're going with a 'Baby Theme' for this monthI seriously can't wait to start drawing!

Doodle With Us Instagram Challenge - May 2018

I'm excited to announce our Instagram Challenge for the month of May! 👏🏻

It's the #doodlewithusinmay2018 Instagram Challenge created by me and Alexandra (from @alexandra_plans).

It's going to be 31 days of doodles that will hopefully get you to be creative and have fun! We're going with a 'Baby Theme' for this monthI seriously can't wait to start drawing!

As we did before, all the doodles are part of one big comprehensive picture. Imagine each day to be one piece of the puzzle. So, at the end of the month you will have one big doodle picture! :)

If you decide to follow this way, you'll have to create a table with 5x6 + 1 boxes and you shouldn't add the days on the top. You can also make the boxes and dates in pencil, if you don't want the lines to obscure the end result. It's totally up to you.

Of course, if you prefer to draw the doodles in the traditional way, that's absolutely fine as well. The important thing is to have fun!

You can also download a free printable with the daily prompts here.

Doodle With Us Instagram Challenge - May 2018

If you want to join us then:

  • Follow me (Christina) @christina77star and Alexandra @alexandra_plans over on Instagram.
  • Download the prompts below.
  • Draw something according to the day's prompt, take a photo of it, and share it with us on Instagram. 
  • Don't forget to add the hashtag #doodlewithusinmay2018 and spread the word.
  • Everyone is welcome! 
Doodle With Us in May - Instagram Challenge

We're excited to see what you'll share! 

Thank you for joining in!

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Bullet Journal CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU Bullet Journal CHRISTINA KARACHALIOU

Plan With Me: My May Set Up in my Bullet Journal + Video

Almost another month is coming up to an end, and you know what that means? That I have to set up my bullet journal for May! Thankfully this month I was ahead of the game and I have already done all my spreads and layouts, which I'm going to share with you in this post. (Yay! 👏🏻)

I found it hard to decide on the theme for May. I had a lot of good ideas and I just couldn't choose which one I liked the best. In the end I went ahead with a light, love and lots of light bulbs theme! I just got inspired by a quote I saw on Pinterest, which I've actually used in one of my layouts as you'll see later on. It says 'Let Your Light Shine', and it really affected me when I read it. So, I wanted to incorporate it in my May's theme.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup

Almost another month is coming up to an end, and you know what that means? That I have to set up my bullet journal for May! Thankfully this month I was ahead of the game and I have already done all my spreads and layouts, which I'm going to share with you in this post. (Yay! 👏🏻)

I found it hard to decide on the theme for May. I had a lot of good ideas and I just couldn't choose which one I liked the best. In the end I went ahead with a light, love and lots of light bulbs theme! I just got inspired by a quote I saw on Pinterest, which I've actually used in one of my layouts as you'll see later on. It says 'Let Your Light Shine', and it really affected me when I read it. So, I wanted to incorporate it in my May's theme.

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the post, because there's also a video, where I'm showing you exactly how I've created each spread.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Front Page

For my cover page I decided to have a two page spread this month. On the first page I have the month with a little calendar and a single light bulb. As you can see, the colour palette I chose for this month has pinks, greys and black and white shades. I decided to not go for the traditional yellow shades that you normally associate with light. And I have to say that I love the way it turned out.

At the end of the post I always add all the supplies I used to create my layouts, so make sure to check it out.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Quote Page

The next part of my cover page has the quote that I mentioned earlier. I really wanted to include it in the layout and I thought that the very first page is the best place to add it. As you can see, I've added lots of light bulbs and I played around with different filaments, that make each light bulb unique and cute 💡

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Monthly Spread

The theme continues into my Monthly Spread. Again I used the separate boxes for this layout, and I've added lots of light bulbs with notes and signs to match with the theme. 

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Monthly Spread

I LOVE the black numbers in the boxes, and I think this is one of my favourite pages for this month!!! 

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Monthly Goals

Again I'm separating my monthly goals into two sections: personal and business. Sitting down and writing all the things I want to focus on during the month in these two categories has proven very productive. It helps me clear my head and narrow down the things that I want to achieve each month.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Monthly Focus

The next page is my monthly focus. I've started using this spread in March and it has become a staple in my monthly set up since then.

I found it in 'Your Best Year 2018' by Lisa Jacobs and decided to added it in my bullet journal. These are my monthly objectives summarised in 5 categories that include Financial, Spiritual, Mental, Physical and Relational. 

These are the five pillars of a harmonic life, as taught in 'Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of attracting the life you want' by James Arthur Ray. And on this page you basically write what you want to improve during this month in each of those categories. It's just another way to help you focus more on specific areas of your life in order to move forward and make changes. So, together with my monthly goals page they set up my intentions for each month.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - areas of focus - tasks to complete

Moving forward, this is my areas of focus / tasks to complete spread. It is the next step of my monthly focus and planning. One more spread inspired by 'Your Best Year 2018'. It helps you to organise your thoughts and what you have to do during the month and turn your plans into actionable steps.

On the left hand page is the areas of focus, where I write everything I want to do during May. To create this list, I look at the previous two spreads. Then I take it a step further and I write all the steps I need to take for each goal, in order for everything to be done. After that, I take those steps and I spread them as the tasks that need to be completed in the 4 weeks of the month. That way, I know exactly what I need to do each week in order to have a successful month, so that I will finish all my projects and tick off all the things from my to-do list.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - May Finances

Next comes my monthly finances spread. It's a basic spread for my blog/work income and my expenses. It's become a habit to track my finances, so this spread is a constant for each month.

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Notes Page

As always I keep a notes page in my monthly layout. I think every one should have a page like that in their monthly setup. It's such a useful page, that keeps all my random thoughts and notes in one place. 

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Two Lines Per Day Spread

As someone corrected me in last month's plan with me post, this is my 'two lines per day' spread (and not 'one line per day'). It is a spread that I use like a journal - it could be a thought, it could be something that happened during that day, a quote I liked or anything else I want to remember about that particular day.  So, instead of having different spreads for gratitude, journaling and so on, I only have this.

I enjoy so much filling in this spread each day! And I love coming back at the end of the month to read all the things I've written. 

Plan With Me - May 2018 - Bullet Journal Setup - Weekly Spread

And lastly, but not least, this is my first weekly spread for May. I used a very simple layout and I've added lots of light bulbs to decorate it. I find that I prefer vertical layouts for my weekly spreads instead of horizontal. So, I've found a few that work for me and I rotate them for the 4 weeks of each month.




And that is one more month planned in my bullet journal. When do you start thinking of next month's theme? And when do you actually start planning your month? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you use the same theme like me, please send me a picture of it at christina77star@gmail.com


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Free Phone Background for April

I decided to do something a bit different for this week's blog post.

If you know me, you'll know that I love design. I'm constantly doodling and sketching whenever I have the time. I wanted to create a background for my phone for April and I came up with the design you can see in the picture below.

Free-phone-Background-for-April---christina77star.jpg

I decided to do something a bit different for this week's blog post.

If you know me, you'll know that I love design. I'm constantly doodling and sketching whenever I have the time. I wanted to create a background for my phone for April and I came up with the design you can see in the picture below.

Wallscreen April Promotion 2.jpg

It's full of carrots and daisies, and happy springtime colours!

I decided to share this background with you, for FREE! You'll get a digital file optimized to fit most phone screens at 1080x1920.

JOIN THE GANG!

Subscribe now to my Newsletter to download the FREE phone background.

Plus get access to the Resources Library!

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If you're interested in more designs like this, please let me know in the comments below.

I hope you like it. 

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