Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - June 2019
I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"! ✨
This challenge is 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.
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 ‘Feelings & Emotions'.
I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"! ✨
This challenge is 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.
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 ‘Feelings & Emotions'.
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 Bullet Journal Monthly Setup for June 2019
Hello everyone!
It’s already time for me to share with you my bullet journal monthly setup for June. All the layouts and spreads that I've chosen to use this month.
Finding a theme for each month’s setup in my bullet journal is not always easy. I like to find fun themes that I enjoy to create, but also themes that will give you some inspiration in order to plan your own monthly setup in your bullet journal. A lot of people ask me how I come up with my themes. The answer is very simple, really. I have a sketch book where I doodle all the time. I get my inspirition online (mainly from Pinterest), and I just doodle anything I want. Halfway through the month, when I start thinking about the theme for the month ahead, I just open my notebook and choose a theme (or design) that I like to recreate and start from there.
This month I’ve chosen a theme that makes me smile. And that is ‘Cute Couples’.
Hello everyone!
It’s already time for me to share with you my bullet journal monthly setup for June. All the layouts and spreads that I've chosen to use this month.
Finding a theme for each month’s setup in my bullet journal is not always easy. I like to find fun themes that I enjoy to create, but also themes that will give you some inspiration in order to plan your own monthly setup in your bullet journal. A lot of people ask me how I come up with my themes. The answer is very simple, really. I have a sketch book where I doodle all the time. I get my inspirition online (mainly from Pinterest), and I just doodle anything I want. Halfway through the month, when I start thinking about the theme for the month ahead, I just open my notebook and choose a theme (or design) that I like to recreate and start from there.
This month I’ve chosen a theme that makes me smile. And that is ‘Cute Couples’.
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.
As always we start with the Cover Page of the month. I think that one of the most classic cute couples has to be ‘Cookies and Milk’. I love how this page turned out and these little guys put a smile on my face! ☺️ I used only my Tombow markers again for all my pages. You can check all the supplies that I’ve used, at the end of this blog post.
There are so many cute couples that you can add to this theme. And for the pages of my bullet journal I had to choose only a few to add. If you’d like to see more cute couples, you can check out the stickers that I've created for this theme in my Etsy Shop. Aren’t they adorable?
You can now find the Cute Couples stickers in my Etsy Shop and add some cuteness in your bullet journal too. 😘
Next comes my Monthly Spread. I decided to keep this layout very simple and I was inspired by the amazing Helen. I love the way she uses the space on the page and I decided to do the same. I also love that she keeps the space between each box smaller than usual.
I’ve also turned this spread into a printable that will be available to my Patrons in June. If you'd like to become a Patron too and get access to all the printables, then you can visit my Patreon page.
We have a lot of things happening during June, so I need the space to plan things properly! School Exams for my boy, Primary School prom for my little girl, English finals for both of them. Plus lots of birthday parties! A very busy month for sure.
Having those cute pancakes and syrup on the page will definitely make planning more fun! Another classic cute couple that I had to include in my bullet journal monthly layout for June.
On the next page I added something new. I’ve actually been using this layout for a while on a printable that I found from Annie Jeffrey. But this month, I decided to incorporate it in my bullet journal, so that I keep everything in one place. This is a Self Care Tracker. It’s similar with any other tracker, however instead of little boxes where you tick off everything you’ve done in the day, there are bigger boxes where you can add more information if you wish. For example, I can write what exercise I did during that day, or how many calories I burned. I can note down when I dyed my hair and if I used a skin care mask etc. I prefer this type of tracker because I have more information about everything I want to keep track of.
Of course I had to add a cute couple at the bottom of the page to tie with the theme. Aren’t they adorable?
And then move on to the first Weekly Spread of the month. This a new vertical layout that I am using. I got inspired by the lovely @lildots.bigplans. I love the concept to add the times on the side of the box. You can use this to actually plan appointments, or you can use it as a time tracker, where you track how you spend your time during the day by colour coding in categories. The space underneath can be used for your to-do list, for journaling, menu planning and so on. Such a good weekly layout, with very good use of space of the page. Love it!
In the video below, I’m also sharing how I fill in my weekly and monthly spread, so make sure to check it out 😉
SUPPLIES USED:
Tombow Dual Brush Markers (243, 451, 991, 673, 025, N75, N79, N95, N15, 977, 942, 815 and 947)
And that is my bullet journal monthly setup for June. I hope you liked it and that you’ve found some inspiration and ideas to setup your own. Let me know in the comments below what theme you’ve chosen for June.
Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - May 2019
I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"! ✨
This challenge is 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.
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 ‘Herbs & Spices'.
I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"! ✨
This challenge is 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.
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 ‘Herbs & Spices'.
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 May 2019
Hey there everyone! ✨
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. That way I save time and I have space to plan everything. The theme for May is 'Cacti' and you can see how I've setup my bullet journal for the month in this post.
Hey there everyone! ✨
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. That way I save time and I have space to plan everything. The theme for May is 'Cacti' and you can see how I've setup my bullet journal for the month in this post.
For my first weekly spread I decided to use a simple and clean horizontal layout, and add a small little cactus in front of each day. I love how individual each one looks and how unique with the different lines. As you can see, instead of the prickly lines that you usually associate with a cactus, you can use different shapes and get the same result. You can use vertical lines, zigzag lines, circles, rectangles, x’s or twirly things etc. It’s all up to you and your imagination!
For the second weekly spread I chose one of the layouts that I use almost every month. I love the way the space is arranged in this layout and how much room you have to add your to-do lists and your appointments. In the notes section I’ve added a very cute cactus with a quite big moustache!!! 🌵 (* If you really like him, you can find him as part of my cacti sticker set in my Etsy shop 😉)
For the third week of January I used another weekly layout that I use very often. It uses the space in a similar way as the previous one. Again I used green shades for my colours and in the notes section I’ve added a cute and cheeky little cactus. Very clean and simple layout that I can’t wait to use.
Lastly, the fourth weekly spread of May is one of the most simple weekly spreads that I have as a go to one, when I don’t have enough time. Each page is separated into 4 sections - one for a day of the week, and it leaves one more section for the notes. I’ve added a cactus in the middle of the lines to tie up the layout with the theme. Very simple and easy to do.
So, these are the 4 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
Hobonichi Techo Weeks 2019 - Review
Hey everyone!
In this blog post I’m coming with something new and exciting! I’ve recently purchased a Hobonichi Weeks planner and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you. Before I start, I’d like to mention that I’m not planning to stop my bullet journaling. However, I’ve been looking for a while now to add another planner in my everyday planning and organisation routine, and the Hobonichi Weeks ticked all the boxes. ☺️ I truly believe that you should be able to use more than one planning system, if that suits your needs and it will make you plan your days more efficiently.
Hey everyone!
In this blog post I’m coming with something new and exciting! I’ve recently purchased a Hobonichi Weeks planner and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you. Before I start, I’d like to mention that I’m not planning to stop my bullet journaling. However, I’ve been looking for a while now to add another planner in my everyday planning and organisation routine, and the Hobonichi Weeks ticked all the boxes. ☺️ I truly believe that you should be able to use more than one planning system, if that suits your needs and it will make you plan your days more efficiently.
So, I’m introducing you my new planner. It’s a Hobonichi Techo Weeks 2019. I’ve chosen the colour Strawberry Latte which is this lovely shade of pink. I’ve also went for the Spring version, which means that the planner starts from April. More specifically, it has a yearly index from April 2019 - March 2020 (2 pages), a monthly calendar from March 2019 - April 2020 (28 pages) and a weekly calendar from February 25th, 2019 - April 5th, 2020 (116 pages). I’ve ordered it from the original Hobonichi Website and it took a bit more than a week to arrive!
It has 240 pages and it’s incredibly compact and lightweight. It’s 9 mm thick and weighs under 140 gr.
The cover is made out of fabric which has a really nice finish. It is a hardcover planner, however the cover is not too hard and it has some give to it so it still bends. On the front you can see the 2019 printed in a strawberry red colour, which is very complementary to the light pink. The 2019 is also embossed on the spine of the planner, and there is also the Hobonichi logo embossed on the back cover.
When you open the planner you can see the endpaper, which has a design with the letters from the Hobonichi’s logo — shortened to HOBO.
A convenient double-page spread shows the Yearly Calendars for 2018, 2019 and 2020 at a glance for a useful reference when planning ahead. I personally like to plan my vacation on a yearly calendar, as well as any holidays, bank holidays and the days that the kids are off school.
On the next page there is the Yearly Index. It is full-page spread of the entire year (2019) and it is designed for long-term planning and tracking. On the top of each monthly column, there are seven blank lines where you can add more notes for each month. Maybe some goals, things you want to track etc. I’m planning to use this page as a tracker for my workouts and things like that.
Then comes the Monthly Calendar for each one of the months. They are grouped all together in this section, instead of having the monthly calendar at the beginning of each month, followed by the weekly spreads. So, this is a bit different for me. The header on the top left includes the year, the numerical month, the traditional Japanese name of the month, and the English name of the month. Each box is lightly printed with a graph design to make it easy to fill in a full day’s worth of plans. At the beginning of each week it shows the number of that week. You can also see that it includes the moon phases, the Rokuyo (traditional Japanese calendar) as well as the Japanese national holidays. At the bottom of each monthly calendar, there is some free space for notes etc. as well as 4 checkboxes for listing goals and tasks for the month ahead.
Then come the Weekly Pages. The weekly spread contains the weekly calendar on the left page and the blank graph paper on the right page. The daily pages include the number of the week, as you can see on the top right corner of the left page. There are some clever things on this page, that can help you to create sections and arrange your week as you want. There are two subtle dots on the weekly calendar, that you can use it to split each day into morning, afternoon, and evening. Or you can separate tasks for different categories. Of course you can also disregarding the dots altogether, if you don’t want to create any sections. The space on the right page of each weekly spread can be used in many different ways. The graph paper is very useful in making lines and creating sections. You can also draw lines across the page to correspond with each of the 7 days on the left to give yourself more writing room. There’s also a “Secret Line”. This is a vertical line on the memo page that allows such things as topics on the left and details on the right, or drawing out visual timetables and plans. The line is printed lightly enough that you can ignore it when using the page as a whole.
At the beginning of the notebook pages is a list of abbreviations often used for shorthand note-taking. Also, there is an index for your Notebook Pages.
Then there are 73 memo pages. They have a 3.55 millimeter graph paper and they also have the subtle vertical line that I mentioned before, which makes it easier to create sections.
Page numbers are listed on the corner of each page, which makes it very easy to index your pages. I plan to use these pages as my bullet journal and have both my planning systems in one notebook. ☺️
After that, there’s loads of Informational Pages in Japanese, which unfortunately I can’t use… 😕
The paper of the Hobonichi Weeks is really thin and light, and it has a nice cream colour. It’s called Tomoe River paper, and it’s supposed to be strong and resistant to bleeding. I have to say that I was really sceptical at first, because this is a very very thin paper. So, of course I had to create a pen test page at the back of the memo pages.
As you can see I decided to use the pens that I use the most, as well as my two fountain pens, and the markers that I like to highlight and draw with.
And to my surprise there is no bleeding!!!! 😳 Yes, there is ghosting, which I was expecting with a paper so thin, but no bleeding!!! I’ve also heard that you can even use watercolours on this paper and there won’t be any bleeding even then!
Things to take into consideration before buying:
At 3.55 mm, the graph paper’s grid is slightly smaller than that of the daily planners. So, if your handwriting is quite big, that might make it a bit difficult for you.
The Japanese writing, which is all over this notebook.
The thinness of the paper. Yes, there is no bleeding, but there is ghosting that might bother some people.
The size. It’s a smaller notebook, and if you’ve been using an A5 bullet journal up until now, the size might bother you at first.
When you order the Hobonichi Techo Weeks, you will also receive a clear, adhesive corner pocket and a mini-size fold-out Hobonichi Japan Railway Map 2019.
I also bought a clear cover, that is sold separately, to protect the planner.
It has convenient pockets where you can store notes, receipts or your stickers, like I did in the photo. These are mini notes stickers that I created specifically for the Hobonichi Weeks and you can find them in my Etsy shop.
There are more pockets at the back and a very handy pen holder.
I’m really pleased with my Hobonichi Techo Weeks and I can’t wait to start planning in it!!! Have you used a Hobonichi before? What are your thoughts about it?
Plan With Me: My May 2019 Setup in my Bullet Journal
Hello everyone!
I’m back with another monthly setup in my bullet journal. April is almost over and I’m super excited for May to come (because it’s my birthday month! ✨). For me the rest of April is extremely busy and I wanted to have everything setup in my bujo as soon as possible. Some of you might be celebrating Easter this week. Here in Cyprus we celebrate Easter the week after, so there’s lots of things to do and arrange until then. Also the day after Easter we’re flying with my family to Vienna for week! I’m super excited about this trip and I can’t wait to visit this amazing city!!! From the pictures it looks gorgeous 😍 ✈️ If you have any recommendations for Vienna - like coffee shops, things to do and of course stationery shops - please let me know in the comments below!!! ☺️
The theme I’ve chosen for May is ‘cacti’ 🌵.
Hello everyone!
I’m back with another monthly setup in my bullet journal. April is almost over and I’m super excited for May to come (because it’s my birthday month! ✨). For me the rest of April is extremely busy and I wanted to have everything setup in my bujo as soon as possible. Some of you might be celebrating Easter this week. Here in Cyprus we celebrate Easter the week after, so there’s lots of things to do and arrange until then. Also the day after Easter we’re flying with my family to Vienna for a week! I’m super excited about this trip and I can’t wait to visit this amazing city!!! From the pictures it looks gorgeous 😍 ✈️ If you have any recommendations for Vienna - like coffee shops, things to do and of course stationery shops - please let me know in the comments below!!! ☺️
The theme I’ve chosen for May is ‘cacti’ 🌵. It’s a theme that I wanted to do for some time now. However, it’s not a unique theme and there are some amazing setups online from some very talented bullet journalists. So, I wanted to create my own version of it and make it different somehow. I’ve decided to keep it as simple as possible and to strip it down to the very basic shapes of a cactus. At the same time, I wanted to show people that you can be as creative as you want in your bullet journal and choose shapes and lines that are not the usual ones that you would associate with a cactus.
Unfortunately there won't be a video for my Plan With Me this month.
As always we start with the Cover Page of the month. I created 3 cute cacti using the basic shape. However, I wanted them to be different and unique. So, instead of the prickly lines I used zigzag ones, little circles and triangles. You can still see that these are cacti, but by changing the normal lines you’ve given them personality and made them to stand out. 🌵I also didn’t want them to be very clean and precise. I wanted them to look hand drawn and rough around the edges. So, I used again my watercolours with my Pentel water brush, and I love the effect that the different shades of green give.
You can check all the supplies I’ve used, at the end of this blog post.
I’ve also turned all the doodles of this setup into stickers. Aren’t they adorable?
There are mini cacti stickers with 8 different cacti designs, that fit almost all planners.
There are also bigger - die cut stickers that are really cute and can be used to decorate your bullet journals and recreate this theme.
You can now find the Cacti stickers in my Etsy Shop and add some cuteness to your bullet journal too. 😘
Next comes my Monthly Spread. I chose to use again a 2-page layout with the monthly calendar, but I played a bit with the boxes and added some green shading to make it a bit more interesting. I like to have big boxes that give me plenty of space to plan my appointments and activities. At the bottom of the page I added 3 more cacti to keep up with the theme. Again I continue with the same concept and instead of the normal prickly lines I use rectangles, straight lines and zigzag lines to add texture and uniqueness. The different shades of green add to this effect and I love how it turned out!
And then we move on to the first Weekly Spread of the month. I’ve went with a horizontal layout and added a different cactus for each day. Each one of them is different and I’ve also tried to give each one a different shade of green. It might look a bit messy but I love how this turned out. 🌵 You can use the mini cacti sticker set to add a cactus in front of each day of the week, if you’d like to recreate this weekly layout.
And that is the May setup in my bullet journal. I hope you liked it and that you’ve found some inspiration. Let me know in the comments below what theme you’ve chosen for May.
Improve Your Handwriting Challenge - April 2019
I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"! ✨
This challenge is 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.
For April 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 ‘Desserts'.
I'm back with one more "Improve your Handwriting Challenge"! ✨
This challenge is 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.
For April 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 ‘Desserts'.
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 April 2019 Setup in my Bullet Journal
Hello everyone!
Isn't it amazing? Spring is finally here!!! Woohoo! 🌸 All these colours and smells always make me so happy ☺️ March has been such a nice month for me - both personally and professionally - and I’m so grateful for that! I drew a lot, created loads of new stickers (the Easter ones are my favourite!!!) for my shop and had some amazing time with family and friends ✨
Hello everyone!
Isn't it amazing? Spring is finally here!!! Woohoo! 🌸 All these colours and smells always make me so happy ☺️ March has been such a nice month for me - both personally and professionally - and I’m so grateful for that! I drew a lot, created loads of new stickers (the Easter ones are my favourite!!!) for my shop and had some amazing time with family and friends ✨
I also created an account on Patreon!!! Yay! After a lot of thought and deliberation, I now have a Patreon page and I’m super excited about that. 😊 If you like my work and you're interested in supporting me on Patreon, you can choose how much you want to pledge per month (for as little as 1$). In return you'll get some fun rewards! (check them out here). You can join anytime, edit your pledge anytime and cancel anytime, and you get access to all online content as soon as you pledge.
Getting back now to my monthly setup. April is letter writing month, so the theme I chose for my monthly setup in my bullet journal is ‘Happy Mail’! I think it’s so appropriate and I love how cute and nice it has turned out!!! 💌
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.
As always we start with the Cover Page of the month. For April I created a cute little snail that is carrying some happy mail on top of his shell. 🐌 I don’t know why, but this page makes me so happy every time I look at it. I decided to use only my Tombow markers this time for all my pages. I like the effect of watercolour that I used to create last month’s setup. However, I wanted something quick and easy for this month’s pages.
You can check all the supplies I’ve used, at the end of this blog post.
I’ve also turned all the doodles of this setup into stickers. Aren’t they adorable?
You can now find the Happy Mail stickers in my Etsy Shop and add some cuteness to your bullet journal too. 😘
Next comes my Monthly Spread. I decided to keep this layout very simple and I was inspired by the amazing @saricastudio. I love the way she uses the space on the page and I decided to do the same. We have a lot of things happening during April, so I need the space to plan things properly! We’re also going to Vienna at the end of the month - which I’m very excited about!!! ✈️ If you have any recommendations for Vienna - like coffee shops, things to do and of course stationery shops - please let me know in the comments below!!! ☺️
On the next page I added my Monthly Focus - which is where I'll write my monthly goals for April. I decided to change the layout of the page this month. Now it is a 2-page spread where I have a full page dedicated for each section - personal and work. I find that if I create dedicated sections for each category, sometimes I need more space and it ruins the layout. So, this time I gave myself enough space to be as analytical as I want, and I love the way it turned out. Of course I had to add some cute little envelopes to tie the page with the theme. 💌
And then move on to the first Weekly Spread of the month, which is one of my favourites I’ve created!! 😍 I am using a layout that I use every single month, and I added a cute little envelope for each day. I used my black N15 Tombow marker to create the lines, because I wanted them to be thicker than my usual ones, and I also added some pastel colours to each envelope. For the notes section I created a post box and I think the whole page looks adorable! I can’t wait to start using it!
SUPPLIES USED:
Tombow Dual Brush Markers (761, 451, 620, 062, 553, 491, 673, 243, N15, N95 and N75)
And that is the April setup in my bullet journal. I hope you liked it and that you’ve found some inspiration. Let me know in the comments below what theme you’ve chosen for April.