art – Page 3 – Keeping it creative

art, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, creativity, lifestyle, memory keeping, Planning and journaling, watercolour painting

Setting up my Bullet Journal for December 2023: Christmas, snow globes and decorative glass domes theme

Posted on Dec 2, 2023 by Laura

This month’s theme contains a mixture of elements related to Christmas and winter. Whilst visiting the haberdashery and craft selection at Boyes Department store, I came across some sweet sets of seasonal stickers. This snow globe and glass jar themed pack really caught my eye so I treated myself to a sheet (despite it being no spend November!). I decided to use the stickers for my calendar page and my first weekly but I wanted a large image for my cover so I’ve had a go at creating a watercolour snowy scene in a snow globe to scan, print and glue in which is in a similar style to the stickers. After that, for the remainder of the month, I’m going to be using general Christmassy stickers made using images from Canva Pro. I hope you enjoy looking at my spreads for December and I would love to hear what theme my fellow bullet journallers have chosen for the month.

Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative blog

The front cover

The front cover image was painted on watercolour paper using my Winsor & Newton tubes, plus some gold and silver from my Finetec palette. Unfortunately the gold and silver don’t show up very well in the scanned image so I used some sparkly gold paper as a background with the addition of some holly leaf and berry borders at the top and bottom. I was debating having a go at painting over the top of the sticker paper with the gold and silver paints but I’m worried it won’t turn out as well as the original or it might end up getting spoilt.

Monthly calendar

This page came together really quickly and I think it looks really eye-catching. Along with the stickers, I added some sparkles using a gold glitter Uniball Signo and a strip of glittery stars to separate the December 2023 title and fill in the gap underneath. I used a Pigma Micron PN pen in a very dark red to number the boxes in the calendar. I love how the month finishes on a Sunday so that the calendar for January will go neatly across the top of the page in my next spreads!

Finances

The set of stickers had a few separate groups of trees so I’ve used these to decorate my title for my finances spread. I’ve also used one of the larger snow globes and another strip of glitter stars to finish the bottom of the page.

Winter Bucket List

In my previous post, I shared how I was going to create another bucket list for winter as I thoroughly enjoyed creating the autumn one and journalling about the process. I’ve included the actual list in my bullet journal but, like last time, I’ll be making a wide TN journal book to go in my Carpe Diem Traveler’s Notebook to record what I did for each item on the list. This will be instead of doing December Daily as it means I can work on it from the beginning of December to the end of February 2024.

Winter Aesthetic Inspiration Board

Again, I created one of these for Autumn and had great fun setting it up, using photographs from Canva Pro and phrases created using Cricut Design Studio. This one looks just as good I think and was well worth the time and effort involved. I wanted to add some more snowflakes in different shades but I’m having problems with cutting small items using my Cricut Joy so I’ll have to add them at a later date.

Christmas Gift List

The first of many Christmas related spreads that I hope to get done this month. This is a space to record gift ideas, purchases and expenditure for family and friends. All of the stickers were created in Cricut Design Space and made using my Cricut Joy.

Weekly Spread One

I’ve been changing my weekly spreads each week according to how much work I have on at the university but I’ve decided to create a two page spread for the first week of December because I was eager to leave room for some stickeration! I’ll probably do the same for the remaining weeks because I’ve got a big stash of general Christmas themed stickers in a mini envelope on my craft desk.

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my December BuJo spreads for 2023. I’ve seen some lovely set ups on YouTube already but I look forward to seeing many more. I know many people use digital planners nowadays but I love setting mine up in my notebook each month and you can’t beat being able to flick through the pages to keep organised.

Wishing you all a happy and stress free December and an enjoyable time with your family during the holidays.

art, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, creativity, Planning and journaling, watercolour painting

Setting up my Bullet Journal for November 2023: Squashes theme

Posted on Oct 30, 2023 by Laura

This month, I’ve gone with a pumpkins and squashes theme which includes stickers I made using my Cricut Joy and my own watercolour painting. I got most of the layouts done about a week ago but spent a good while yesterday playing with my paints and then creating my front cover. I hope you like my art work as I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

Front Cover

The idea for the theme and cover this month comes from my experience of going to a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. The wheelbarrow is based on the actual one we used to put our squashes in but I used artistic license to create a the different varieties of pumpkin as we only picked out three small ones to take home.

Before painting I sketched out the wheelbarrow and placement of the squashes with light pencil. I also practised doing the straw and mud on the ground by creating a darkish yellow wash and then using a dry fan brush to create a messy effect. I think it works nicely and I hope you can tell what I was trying to achieve. The sky was created with a pale blue turquoise wash and I used scrunched up paper towel to lift the paint to create a loose cloud effect.

The original artwork – the paper has curled so I need to put it under a heavy book!

Rather than glue the thick, watercolour paper in, which would add too much bulk, I’ve scanned it in on 110gsm paper and stuck in it. The colours aren’t exactly the same, but I’m happy with it.

Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative

Calendar page

The calendar is made of my usual 6 x 6 boxes using a 0.3 Pigma Micron. The November title was created using a brown Tombow brush pen and I added the year for reference so I can quickly see when it was produced (I’m getting quite a collection of old BuJos now!) The squash designs were from Canva Pro and I made the stickers using my Cricut Joy. The offset isn’t perfect as usual but I think they look okay.

Finances page

This month, I’ve only created one page instead of the usual double page layout. This is because I’m taking part in No Spend November and so my only personal expenses should be for essentials rather than luxury items. The page to the right of it will be for a spot of journalling about how we get on with our challenge.

First weekly plan

I’m trying a different layout this week to see how I get on with having more room to write each day. As part of the set up, the second page is folded in half and this is so that I can see my task list all week and can transfer items from it to my daily plan as and when I decided which day I want to complete or start a particular task. I’ve taken a couple of photographs to show how it works.

The washi tape is part of an autumnal set I picked up at The Range. It’s not wonderful quality but there are some nice designs and colours.

Final words…

Thank you for taking the time to check out my bullet journal spreads for November. I hope you like them all. It’s been a while since I did some watercolour painting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Using watercolours is a wonderful mindful activity and, for me, it was a great way to spend a few hours over the weekend whilst the weather was completely miserable. You don’t even need to paint an actual picture, just messing about with the paint and different techniques is enough to calm the mind.

Wishing you all a wonderful November,

art, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, creativity, Planning and journaling, stamping

Setting up my bullet journal for September 2023: Arts and crafts theme. Plus tips on using stamps and ink.

Posted on Aug 30, 2023Aug 30, 2023 by Laura

This month, I debated doing an autumnal theme using my own stickers. However, I’m yet to give sticker making a go on my Cricut Joy so I’m going to save this idea until October. For September, I decided to create my pages using a range of stamps from a set I got with a craft magazine a few years ago. The images feature a range of crafting tools, many of which I use myself when I’m journalling. This is the first time I’ve used stamps in my bullet journal and I’m really pleased with how my spreads turned out. Today, as well as showing my September set up, I thought I’d also share some tips on using ink stamps effectively.

Front cover

I started my cover page by stamping September in the centre using typewriter style alphabet rubber stamps from Hobbycraft, and then adding the year underneath. I then took the larger of the stamps and added the images in pre-determined spaces. After this, I filled in with the smaller stamps. I used StazOn black ink throughout as I’ve found that this produces crisp images and doesn’t soak into the page. Following the drying time, I coloured in using the brush tip of some of my Tombow Dual Tips and also added a box around the month.

Calendar pages

This is my usual calendar set up for the month with the grid drawn out using a 0.3 Pigma Micron and a 0.05 for the numbers. Again, I planned where to put the larger stamps and them filled in the gaps with smaller images.

September finances record

Again, this is my usual finances record of my income and outgoings with some decoration using the same stamps set.

Weekly plan for the first week

As I have quite a few appointments, a training session and hopefully some university sessions next month, I will be creating a weekly plan as well as my usual rolling to do list. I’ve got the first one ready and will make the others as and when I need them.

Covering up a big mistake

Sometimes, even when you’ve spent a while planning a page, an ink stamp print messes up completely and can’t really be fixed. When this happens I like to use my correction mouse to cover over the printing and then find something pretty to cover the page. I found this positive message as a free download and resized it to A5. I then printed it on sticker paper and stuck it in.

TV series watched record

I’ve just completed my first TV tracker so I made a new one for the rest of the year. Not only does this serve as a reminder of what we’ve watched, it’s also good for TV series recommendations to give to others. As this is not part of my September pages, I chose a pretty floral stamp to finish things off and then coloured the images using a dusky rose colour Tombow.

Tips for using ink stamps in your Bullet Journal

Stamps are a great way to quickly decorate your bullet journal pages but they take a little getting used to. Here’s some beginner friendly tips to help you get the most out of your stamping experience:

choose good quality ink I love the StazOn ink, and although it’s more expensive, you get what you pay for and this one prints beautifully creating a thin and crisp image.
dress appropriately Stamps can be quite messy and it’s easy to get ink everywhere. I recommend putting on an old top before you start. I have several tops and pairs of leggings which I wear whilst doing any form of crafting and there are various marks and cuts on them
allow drying time When you print, the ink sits on the page and so takes a while to dry. This means you need to allow time for it to dry. If you don’t, you may smudge your images and make a mess of your page.
make sure your BuJo has thick paper If you don’t want bleed through or ghosting, I recommend only using stamps in BuJos with thicker GSM paper. My current notebook is 160 GSM and is the perfect thickness
test and practise Before I use the stamps, I always test them out on scrap paper. This gives you the chance to see if there are any areas of the image which tend to not print properly and need a little more pressure. Testing them is also a good opportunity to practise and refine your stamping skills
plan your page and stamp placement Spend some time planning out your page and where you want to put your stamps before you ink them up. Visualising your finished page before you start is the best way to create a spread you love.
ensure the whole of your stamp is covered in ink Getting your stamp fully inked but not too covered takes some practise, but after a while, you will become more confident in doing this. This is another reason why I love the black StazOn ink because the pad is firm which means you don’t end up over-coating your stamp.
place and lift your stamp carefully Again, this takes practise but you want to ensure the stamping block presses on evenly and that you remove the block slowly and precisely.
fill in any unstamped bits If there are small areas which didn’t quite print properly, use a thin fineliner to draw them in (make sure you wait for the ink to dry first!). Always make sure your pen is waterproof if you plan on colouring in the images. I use a Pigma Micron in a 0.1.
use water based pens to colour in I use Tombows to colour in my images. Again, it’s best to practise as you may find that some smudge the ink. For example, despite being water-based Zebra Mildliners are notorious for smearing.
clean your stamps Always take the time to clean your stamps and place them back on the storage sheet. This means that they won’t get lost and you have an image guide for each stamp
cover up Don’t forget to place the lid firmly on your ink to prevent it drying out.

Final words…

Thank you for taking the time to look at and read about my pages for September – I would love to know what you think of them. If you’re keen to try out ink stamping, I hope my beginner tips prove to be useful. If you have any more questions about stamping, drop them in the comments and I will try to answer them as best I can.

Wishing you all a lovely September,

art, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, creativity, Planning and journaling

Setting up my BuJo for July 2023: Summer holidays theme

Posted on Jul 3, 2023Jul 25, 2023 by Laura

This month in my bullet journal, I’ve cheated with the décor again and bought a couple of sets of stickers to make things quick, easy and colourful. I was so impressed with the quality of the gardening themed set, that I chose to purchase from the same shop LunarLucie on Etsy. I ordered in plenty of time so that they arrived before we headed off to Norfolk on holiday. I managed to create the cover spread which I shared on Instagram but the calendar and financial pages had to wait until we returned which is why I’m only getting around to sharing them today.

Front cover page

The style of this month’s cover is very similar to the one from June but I used all of the stickers from the tropical summer holiday sheet and a few from a tropical flowers set which complemented the others beautifully. The designs are so lovely and I’m really pleased with how the page turned out. I wasn’t happy with my lettering so I used some dotted grid paper to practise, then cut it out to stick in the centre.

Calendar page

I had plenty of tropical flower stickers left so use these to decorate and then filled in the spaces with sparkles.

Finances

I want this month to be a low spend one so I made my expenses section shorter. This left me with room to add a few financial affirmations in the space at the bottom.

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my spreads for this month. I haven’t drawn up any weekly spreads yet but they’ll be pretty minimal in terms of decoration. I might just create a running task list as the only events on my calendar for this week are my usual exercise classes.

Wishing you all a lovely and fun-filled July,

art, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, lifestyle, Planning and journaling

Setting up my Bullet Journal for May 2023: Travel theme

Posted on May 2, 2023May 2, 2023 by Laura

This month, we’re finally going on our long awaited holiday to Vienna in Austria. It was originally planned for August 2020 but in March of that year, obviously COVID-19 hit and our flights were cancelled. My husband re-arranged for May 2021 but restrictions were still in place, so we made the decision to wait for another year. Everything is now booked (including an overnight stay in a hotel in Manchester as our flight is from there) and during the last month we have again started to think about what we’re going to take with us in the hold and in our hand luggage and what we want to see and do over the 5 days.

As we were making our plans, I decided it would be nice to create scrapbook style spreads with photographs of our hotel, plus must visit locations including parks, buildings and attractions. I’ve not finished all of my travel planning spreads yet but I’m making good progress and I’m happy with everything I’ve done so far.

My cover page

After printing mini photographs on my Canon Selphy printer, I chose 5 of them to include on the front cover. Whilst searching through my journalling supplies, I found a small travel themed sticker book with mini word and icon stickers plus some tiny hearts to fill in the spaces. I also treated myself to some new washi tapes from Stationery Pal and they arrived just in time for me to use one of them in my spreads.

Monthly calendar

I’ve gone back to the slightly larger boxes for this month so I have plenty of room to record my university work, fitness classes and travel plans. Again, I’ve included mini photos of popular places in Vienna to visit and then filled in the spaces with more of the little stickers from by booklet. I didn’t really come up with a colour scheme but I wanted to go for different shades of blue to match with the bright blue skies in some of the photos.

May finances

I’m sure we’ll be spending lots in May with all the bank holidays and our trip do I’ve made my expenses section a little bigger than last month. I decided to include a photograph of the amazing rooftop bar in our hotel as I reckon we’ll be spending time and money there relaxing with a cocktail or two!

Travel information spreads

I want us to be super prepared for our trip as it helps to keep travel anxiety at bay. The booking information is all in various emails so I asked my husband to forward everything to me so I could add everything to my bullet journal. I understand why everything is done electronically now but I used to like paper copies so that I could stick things into my Traveller’s notebook as part of my scrapbooking.

So far, I’ve got our Manchester hotel booking information, the outbound and return flight details and our hotel booking information for Vienna. I’ve also written details of the train we can catch from airport and the stations we can alight at. I’ve pixelated the specifics for privacy reasons!

On the next page, I’ve included a map of Europe which shows Sunderland to Manchester (as the crow flies!) and the route from Manchester Airport to Vienna International Airport. It was also good to learn more about the countries which border Austria too. The ink I used for the stamping is Stazon which claims to allow you to use it on any surface so I tried it out on the top of one of my grid washis and it printed and dried really well.

Over the page, I’ve listed the must see and must visit places on a double page spread. This has helped me to create an itinerary for the first full day we are there.

The next spread I have planned is a list of veggie / vegan cafes and restaurants which we might go to. I’ve tried looking at the menus for various places but most of them seem to be in German. I hope they have English menus as well as I can only speak / read about five words and none of them are food names.

My final travel spread will be my comprehensive packing list. I always do one of these no matter where we are headed and for how long as it ensures I remember everything and helps me to stay calm during the packing process. In the past, sorting everything out for a trip has made me really stressed out so I now do whatever I can to make the process easier and less fraught. Does anyone else find packing and organising for a holiday stressful?

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my spreads for this month and that they’ve given you some ideas for travel planning and preparation. Obviously, for privacy reasons, I haven’t shown the exact dates for our trip or any specifics related to our journey or accommodation but I’m sure you get the idea and I may share my filled in pages on social media when we return.

Wishing you a wonderful May, whatever your plans are for the month,