Plan With Me: My December 2018 Setup in my Bullet Journal
Today I came to the realisation that this is the last month we’ll be planning for 2018!! And that we have only 34 sleeps until Christmas!!! 😬 Eeeekkk!!! I’m ready for all the lights, and trees, and love, and family, and food, and presents, and parties!!!! 🎄 I’m also already setup in my planner for the rest of the month! I knew with all the Christmas shopping, decorations and events I won’t have enough time to plan as I want to in my bullet journal, so I took the time to do it now, that everything is more calm and relaxed.
Today I came to the realisation that this is the last month we’ll be planning for 2018!! And that we have only 34 sleeps until Christmas!!! 😬 Eeeekkk!!! I’m ready for all the lights, and trees, and love, and family, and food, and presents, and parties!!!! 🎄 I’m also already setup in my planner for the rest of the month! I knew with all the Christmas shopping, decorations and events I won’t have enough time to plan as I want to in my bullet journal, so I took the time to do it now, that everything is more calm and relaxed.
So, for December I knew I had to go with a Xmas theme! 🎅🏻 But I still wanted to make it fun and a bit different. So, the theme I chose for this month is ‘Gingerbread Cookies’. I had so much fun creating these pages (and now I can’t wait to make and more importantly EAT gingerbread cookies!!! Yum!). I also used a different technique with a combination of my coloured pencils and my Tombow markers to create the cookies.
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.
We start as always with the Cover Page of the month. I added lots of different types of gingerbread cookies. I like how cute they look and that the colours make them pop on the page! I used a technique that blends my coloured pencils with my the Tombow markers and that gives a more blended and vibrant effect . You can watch how I do it in the video, at the end of this post. I really like how they turned out and this is one my favourite cover pages of 2018!
The next spread is my Month at a Glance. Even though I've been using a smaller one-page layout the past few months, I knew that for December I had to go back to my 2-page spread. With all the events and things that are happening during the month, I need more space to write things down. I decided to use red lines all through the month, instead of black and of course to decorate my pages with a gingerbread cookie or two…!
Next comes my list with the Monthly Goals. I always separate mine in personal and work related ones, but of course you can add more or less categories, according to your needs. I added some beige lines to add more colour to the page and I finished the layout with the two cute gingerbread cookies at the bottom of the page.
Very conveniently, my weekly tasks moved to the page opposite and now it’s very easy to see what I need to do and allocate a specific timeframe for that task. Since I started using this method, a few month back, I have seen such a big improvement in my productivity! I finally get more things done!
As always I added a page for notes. It’s the page for all those miscellaneous stuff you have in your head and you don’t know where to write them down! I know I have loads of those in my mind and it feels so good when I have somewhere to place them! And the funny thing is that, once I write something down, I remember exactly where it is! Does this happen to you too?
A December setup would not be complete without a Christmas present list or page! I want to be very organised this year and plan all the presents way ahead. Also, I want to do all the Xmas shopping really early, to avoid the chaos that happens the closer you get to Xmas time! Let’s see if I’ll do it this year! 😉
Lastly comes the first Weekly Spread of the month. I used a layout that I’ve been using for the past few months and I love! I kept it pretty simple with a few Gingerbread Cookies on top and red lines instead of black.
SUPPLIES USED:
And that is the last month of 2018 planned in my bullet journal. Have you setup your bullet journal for December yet? What theme did you use?
Bullet Journal Ideas: 4 Weekly Spread Layouts for November 2018
Happy November everyone! ♥ I feel that the countdown towards the end of the year has officially started! The last two months usually fly by with all the preparations and the planning. Therefore, it’s the best time to focus and to plan the last 60 days of the year in order to make them count and to make sure that you achieve everything you wanted to before the end of 2018!
Happy November everyone! ♥ I feel that the countdown towards the end of the year has officially started! The last two months usually fly by with all the preparations and the planning. Therefore, it’s the best time to focus and to plan the last 60 days of the year in order to make them count and to make sure that you achieve everything you wanted to before the end of 2018!
As always one of the things that I love to do in the beginning of each month is to plan my weekly spreads, so that I have them ready to fill in all the information, appointments etc. during the month. That way I save time and I have space to plan everything. The theme for this month is 'November in the City' and you can see how I've setup my bullet journal for the month in this post, or you can watch the video here.
The first weekly spread is one that I’ve used in October as well and I loved, so I thought to create on for November as well. I got inspired for it by the lovely @sheylara_shen who you should definitely check out! ☺️ I made it very simple this time, adding only a few birds at the top of the page to tie it with the them and used light blue and grey for the colouring. I love how simple it looks!
The second weekly spread of the month is again a dutch door one. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I love using this layout for my weeklies. I’ve changed a bit the middle section, where I’ve added spaces for my meal planning and my exercise log. I’m trying to lose some weight before the holidays, so this is perfect to keep me focused and to help me plan ahead my meals.
At the notes section I added some grey lines and a few houses to tie it with the theme.
I’ve also made use of the section of the page that I cut off, and turned it into a very handy shopping list that I can now take it with me in my bag when I go shopping! 👏🏻
For the third weekly spread I’m using again a vertical layout that I really like to use. It’s simple to create and there’s space for everything and I like to add little details at the bottom section according to the theme each time.
And the last weekly spread of the month is the one with the table layout where you can create lots of sections, according to what you want to plan during the week. And that’s what makes it one of my favourites!
SUPPLIES USED:
Tombow Dual Brush Markers (N95, N89, 451, 373, 158 and 192)
So, these are the 4 weekly layouts for November. 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
Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - November 2018
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 November 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 'Being Thankful'. I thought it was very appropriate for this time of year. The list consists of words of gratitude and also of ways you can say ‘thank you’.
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 November 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 'Being Thankful'. I thought it was very appropriate for this time of year. The list consists of words of gratitude and also of ways you can say ‘thank you’.
HERE'S HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Follow me (Christina) @christina77star over on Instagram.
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
Plan With Me: My November Setup in my Bullet Journal + Video
November is just around the corner and that means that it’s time to setup our bullet journals for the month. I love doing it early so that I have time to plan for the theme, the spreads and the layouts that I’d like to use. As always I get inspiration from everything around me and I prefer to choose themes that are not the “usual” ones that you associate with certain months. So, for November I decided to go with the theme ‘November in the City’. However, it’s not the traditional city with the big buildings and the skyscrapers that you usually expect, it’s a smaller city with cute houses.
The thing that took me the most time, was to decide on the colours that I was going to use. I started using my pastel colours, but I wasn’t feeling it. I wanted to show the winter through the colours and my colourful pastel Tombows were not the right ones. Then, as I was looking through my feed on Instagram, I saw this picture and I loved the colours, so I decided to use a similar palette for my theme for November. Therefore, expect lots of light blue and turquaz as well as shades of grey.
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.
We start as always with the Cover Page of the month. I added lots of different styled houses, one next to the other. I like how cute they look and the colours give it a more cold and ‘wintery’ look. For some of the colours I used a technique that turns the Tombow markers into watercolours. I tend to use this technique when I want a more light shade of a certain colour. You can watch how I do it in the video, at the end of this post. I also added the silhouettes of some birds on a wire and I chose a more calligraphic font to write the month with. I really like the way it turned out!
However, as you can see in the image above, the watercolours bled through the page. 🙁 I always try my pens and watercolours at one of the back pages of every notebook, to make sure that they’re ok to use. When I tested the watercolours this time, it worked well with no bleeding. However, I think I used more layers of watercolour on the cover page and maybe my brush was more wet than it should… But I still like my pages, no matter any shading or bleeding through. In the image above you can see my Month at a Glance page. I like the single page layout and I’ve used it for a couple of months already. I’ve added some houses and birds to follow with the theme.
Next up is my Goals page for the month. As always I created my two categories for personal and business and I added some light blue lines this time to add colour. I also like how simple and cute the silhouettes of the birds look! Since we’re coming at the end of the year, it’s really important to set up some goals for yourself, in order to catch up with everything you’ve setup to accomplish in 2018.
Then next spread is where I allocate different tasks per week, in order to accomplish my goals. I find the incredibly useful and it helps me to stay on track with all my planning. I highly recommend to try this page for yourself to see the difference.
On the page opposite is where I keep all my notes during the month. I always like to add light coloured lines and some doodles to add some elements of the theme in it.
Lastly, but not least, comes my first Weekly Spread of the month. I’m using a layout that I tried in October and I loved! I got inspired for it by the lovely @sheylara_shen ☺️ I kept it quite simple with minimum colouring and doodles, and I love the simplicity and the functionality of it.
SUPPLIES USED:
Tombow Dual Brush Markers (N95, N89, 451, 373, 158 and 192)
And that is one more month planned in my bullet journal. Have you setup your bullet journal for November yet? What theme did you use?
My 2018 Bullet Journal Flip Through + Video
After my video of my 5th bullet journal setup, a lot of you asked me to make a flip through video of my 4th bullet journal. I’ve been bullet journaling for almost 3 years now and I always like to go back through my previous bullet journals and see how I was creating my spreads then, which pages I preferred to add to my monthly setup and generally to see how much my layouts have evolved through time. So, I thoroughly enjoyed creating this video and going through all the pages I’ve created in 2018 so far.
After my video of my 5th bullet journal setup, a lot of you asked me to make a flip through video of my 4th bullet journal. I’ve been bullet journaling for almost 3 years now and I always like to go back through my previous bullet journals and see how I was creating my spreads then, which pages I preferred to add to my monthly setup and generally to see how much my layouts have evolved through time. So, I thoroughly enjoyed creating this video and going through all the pages I’ve created in 2018 so far.
I’ll show you now some pictures of a few of the spreads that I created in my 4th bullet journal, but make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post, where you can find the Flip Through Video.
For my 4th bullet journal I used a Scribbles That Matter notebook and I loved it! You can read my review of this notebook, to see it’s features in more detail.
As i’ve mentioned before, I like to create a quote page on the very first page of my notebooks. And for 2018 I chose the one you see in the picture above. I have a video where I show you exactly how I created this design.
I also have a whole Course dedicated on ‘Creative Journaling’, where I show you step by step how I setup my 4th bullet journal. This course is full with information, advice, tips & tricks as well a workbook and lots of printables.
For more information about the course click here.
If you follow the link, you can also get a printable of this design, plus some of my other quotes and drawings I’ve created in my previous bullet journals.
This notebook also has a pre-made Key page and an Index, which is very handy. I kept things minimal this time and to the point.
One more spread you can find in my 4th bullet journal is the one I created about my Word of the Year. For 2018 the word I chose was Believe and I decided to create a whole spread dedicated to that word, in order to remind myself of it throughout the year, and to really start believing in myself and my potential! Adding some relevant quotes and a nice drawing makes this spread really inspiring every time I look at it. I’ve written a blog post on how I choose my Word of the Year each time.
One of the most functional spreads in my bullet journal is my shopping list spread. This is where I have created a master shopping list for both my supermarket and my vegetable shopping. And the way I use it is to go through it, while I’m creating my shopping list each week, to make sure I don’t forget anything. I have a post-it note on the left hand page where I note down everything I need as I remember it within the week, and when I need to go shopping I just take that note with me. Simple!
Lastly, this is one of the many weekly spreads that you’ll see in my video. I prefer creating weekly spreads instead of daily ones. You can see in the picture how my spread looks when it’s filled in. Actually this is one of my favourite layouts that I use all the time. And you can see all the weekly layouts I like in the following video.
How to make the Last Months of the Year incredibly Productive
It’s hard to believe that this year is actually in its final few months! It seems that 2018 has literally flew by and I can’t believe that 2019 is just around the corner. With the holidays upon us, days seem to go by faster than ever, making you feel like you have a lot less time on your hands than you’d hoped.
A lot of people have already started thinking about their new year’s resolutions! January 1st has a fascinating effect on most people, acting as an opportunity to change everything. But 2018 is not over yet. So, instead of worrying about what changes we can make next year, let’s focus on what we can still achieve in the next few weeks.
It’s hard to believe that this year is actually in its final few months! It seems that 2018 has literally flew by and I can’t believe that 2019 is just around the corner. With the holidays upon us, days seem to go by faster than ever, making you feel like you have a lot less time on your hands than you’d hoped.
A lot of people have already started thinking about their new year’s resolutions! January 1st has a fascinating effect on most people, acting as an opportunity to change everything. But 2018 is not over yet. So, instead of worrying about what changes we can make next year, let’s focus on what we can still achieve in the next few weeks.
With 77 days left in the year, you still have time to achieve more. Go through the goals you had set for yourself in the beginning of the year and check what you’ve already achieved. Then, see what’s left and decide on the most important goals. Choose the ones that you really want to accomplish before the end of the year, and focus on those. You still have time!
However, in order to be super productive and achieve as much as possible in the time you have left, it’s important to be focused and to have a plan. Today, I’d like to show you 5 ways that can help you boost your productivity and finish 2018 with a bang!
1 | Workflow Chart
I am a creature of habit. I love setting up routines and to have some sort of system for my various tasks. I find that when I have an order of operation, I finish tasks faster and in a more efficient way. I like to know what I’m doing and when, and I prefer to follow a step-by-step process whenever possible. When I have projects that require me to do a set number of tasks in a specific order, I like to use a workflow chart.
This is a chart where I create a list of each step of my process horizontally and then I can make another list, with all the different projects where this process can be applied to, vertically. Then I just cross off each step as I’m doing it. That way, I can take on multiple projects and keep up with everything that needs to be done. I apply this to my freelance work, but also to my blog and my YouTube videos.
The Workflow chart definitely helps me to boost my productivity! It helps me to keep up with all the tasks at hand and to make sure I don’t miss anything.
2 | Weekly Improvement Plan
I’ve been reading ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ by David J. Schwartz and I’ve been impressed by how much this book has inspired me! One of the things that I’ve implemented after reading this book is the ‘Weekly Improvement Plan’. This is a plan that helps me to do things better as each week rolls around.
Usually I would do a monthly review at the end of each month, to see what has worked and how I can improve my performance in the next 30 days. However, after reading this book I realised that doing a review once a month is not enough to see the details. And it takes too long until the time comes to make changes. So instead, I decided to do a review at the end of each week. That way, I can make changes fast and be more aware of what needs to be done.
I ask myself these questions:
How can I do more?
How can I do things better?
What can I do to increase my productivity?
How can I work more efficiently?
I also have a notebook where I write any ideas I have during the week. At the end of the week, I review all these ideas and then I choose the ones that can be helpful with what I’m working on that the moment. Then I make a plan to implement those ideas in the next week.
And I tell you what… it works! I’m more aware of new ideas when they come me and I make sure to note them down, in case I forget. Also, I’m constantly checking what works and what doesn’t, to see what I can improve for next week.
Give the Weekly Improvement Plan a try and you’ll see for yourself how it can help you to achieve more in a short space of time.
3 | Journaling
After stopping for some time, I decided to start my morning routine again. However, instead of adding all these various things that I’m “supposed” to be doing first thing in the morning, I decided to adjust it to my personal needs and the time I have available.
My morning consists of me waking up at 6am every day, getting the kids ready and taking them to school. When I come back I do some of my housework and then I work from home until the kids come back. I remember before, I was pushing myself to squeeze in a morning routine that included 5-6 different things that I “had" to do. However, I realised very soon that it was not helping me. On the contrary, it was making me very stressed and upset. The reason for that was, that the time I have in the morning when the kids are going to school is my most productive time of the day. That’s the time that I have the peace and quiet I need in order to work on my projects and deadlines. Instead, I was spending it on doing my 2-hour long morning routine and by the time I was done with it, I didn’t have enough time to finish my work.
I decided to be honest with myself. I realised that I don’t have the time in the morning to exercise, read, meditate, journal, visualise, do affirmations and lots of other things that I included in my morning routine. I can still do all these things during the day if I want to, but not in the morning. So, after some thought I decided to add only one thing for 30 minutes in my morning routine and that is journaling. And that has made all the difference!
So, for half an hour every single morning I take my notebook and write down all my thoughts. I journal about whatever is in my head at the time, and that puts my thoughts in order and helps me start my day right. It is unbelievable how positively this has affected my thought process and my productivity.
If you choose one thing to do in the morning, I would highly suggest that you do some journaling. Spend some time with yourself and your thoughts and see how this will help you with your day and your productivity.
4 | Screen Time
When Screen Time was added on the iPhone, I was amazed to see how much time I was spending on Social Media every day. You might think that you go on Instagram for 5 minutes here and there, but when at the end of the day you add everything up, you’ll be surprised with the amount of time you spend on there!
So, after seeing how much time of my day I was procrastinating online, I decided to do something about it. I set up a downtime period and I added limits to specific apps during the morning, when I’m working. That way, I block all the apps that prevent me from using my time efficiently. And let me tell you, I’m amazed with the results and how many more things I manage to do in the same time that I have available each day!
Get more productive by switching off notifications, avoid picking up your phone every 5 minutes and focus on getting things done.
5 | Wake Up Early
When I wake up early, I feel that I have more control over my day. I have more time for planning, strategic thinking and getting organised. I feel more energised and more focused.
Did you know that if you were to get up just one hour earlier each morning you would gain 15 days in a year? When you put things into perspective, it’s amazing to see how many days you can ‘gain’ if you just set up your alarm a bit earlier than usual!
So if you haven’t already created the habit of early rising, start tomorrow. Build the discipline and set your alarm to wake you up very early. You’ll soon realise that you are more creative and more effective in the early morning hours. It may take a couple of days to adjust, but stick with it. You’ll be amazed with the results!
Start implementing these effective productivity-oriented strategies today and see your life transform.
What are some practices that help you stay productive? How do you make the most out of your time? Let me know in the comments below.
Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - October
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 October 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 of course 'Halloween'. And I thought it was very appropriate for this time of year 🎃
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 October 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 of course 'Halloween'. And I thought it was very appropriate for this time of year 🎃
HERE'S HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Follow me (Christina) @christina77star over on Instagram.
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
Bullet Journal Ideas: 4 Weekly Spread Layouts for October 2018
Happy October everyone!
I’m wishing you all an amazing month full of planning and organisation 😉 I love when a new month starts, because it gives me the chance to re-focus and start new! October also starts on a Monday, and this is perfect for us bullet journalists! New month, new week and everything fits on the pages like a dream ☺️
As always I like to plan my weeklies for the month in advance. That way I can plan everything properly and make sure that all my appointments and tasks are scheduled.
Happy October everyone!
I’m wishing you all an amazing month full of planning and organisation 😉 I love it when a new month starts, because it gives me the chance to re-focus and start new! October also starts on a Monday, and this is perfect for us bullet journalists! New month, new week and everything fits on the pages like a dream ☺️
As always I like to plan my weeklies for the month in advance. That way I can plan everything properly and make sure that all my appointments and tasks are scheduled. For October the theme is 'Laundry' and you can see how I've setup my bullet journal for the month in this post, or you can watch the video here. For October I had to create 4 weekly layouts.
For the first weekly layout I chose to use again the dutch door system.
I used this layout last month as well and I loved it! So, I thought to use it again for October. I added 2 sections for my meals and my shopping on one side of the middle page, instead of my tracker. As you might have guessed it, the tracker didn’t work again so I’ve given up!!! 😬 I find that when I use any type of tracker I get stressed and upset with myself if I don’t do the things that I’m tracking or if I forget to fill in the tracker. Therefore, no more trackers for me - at least for now…
On the other side I added the sections for this and next week’s notes, as I always do. I find this type of layout really functional and I love the way it turned out!
For the second weekly, I used again the horizontal layout I saw from @organisedhustler . This is one of very few horizontal layouts that I really like to use, and the reason for that is that little line in the middle of the each day. It helps me to create 2 different to-do lists and separate my personal and work tasks! Love it!
The 3rd weekly spread is my most favourite of the month! I love the space, the functionality, the fact that I have room to decorate it the way I want… everything! I got inspired by the lovely @sheylara_shen ☺️ If you don’t know who she is, then you must go and check her out! I love her pages and her doodles! 😍
For the last weekly spread of the month I chose a layout that I use almost every month! I like the simplicity of it, plus the pastel colours and the doodles make it look so cute! The only thing that bothers me is that wobbly line…. 😬😫 I’ve decided for some time now not to use a ruler for my bullet journal and to embrace mistakes and wobbly lines. However, that line between Thursday and Friday is way more wobbly than I can handle, and I was ready to erase it and redo it. But, I decided to keep it and to be reminded that it’s ok not to have absolutely perfect pages. 😉 So, the line stays!
SUPPLIES USED:
Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen in M, S, F
Tombow Dual Brush Markers (703, 761, 620, 243, 673, 553, 491, N75, 192, 942, 990, N89, and 992)
So, these are the 4 weekly layouts for October. 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