creativity – Keeping it creative

Analogue activities, creativity, gratitude, reflective journalling

Writing a love letter to something in your life that you really appreciate

Posted on Aug 24, 2026Aug 24, 2026 by Laura

Today I’m sharing something a little bit different. It’s a creative take on writing a love letter, but, instead of addressing it to a person, I’m expressing my gratitude to something in my life that brings me comfort (you could also address your letter to an item that brings you joy or meaning too). Last year, I purchased a neck fan and I’ve found it really useful when it’s hot – either in the house, outdoors, or when I’m working out. About a week ago, the fan stopped working efficiently, and the air was only coming out of one side. I took it apart to try to fix it but unfortunately, I couldn’t get it working again. In the end, I ordered a replacement for click and collect but it took 48 hours to arrive at the store meaning I was without my neck fan for my Zumba workout and I really missed it.

So, here’s a love letter thanking my fan for it’s long service over the last couple of years. I’ve also included a description of when I used it and how it made my life better. This wasn’t my own idea, it stemmed from my July Bingo Board challenge in which Kelseyleigh over at My Abiding Journal invited us to write a love letter to our air conditioning. Although having air con at home is common in the USA, over here, we tend to use fans instead (although I believe we’ll need air con in years to come). We have a number of fans in our house, all of which help, but as my neck fan was beyond repair, I decided to focus on this particular one. I’ve also seen other love letters online, including one in which someone wrote one to their morning coffee!

To My Dearest Neck Fan (of almost two years),

I’m writing to you today to explain how much I’ve loved having you in my life for the last couple of years and how much I’ve appreciated the comfort that you have provided.

I was inspired to buy you when a friend of mine at my yoga class let me have a go of hers on a particularly hot spring afternoon and I just knew I needed a neck fan in my life! I did lots of research online about best buys and you came up as excellent value for money and super effective within my budget. I ordered you straightaway and couldn’t wait to pick you up from Dunelm and give you a go.

You fit around my neck perfectly and were easy to put on due to your flexible back. You were lightweight and comfortable, and although it felt weird wearing you at first, I soon got used to you and your cooling properties. I really appreciated your 5 different speeds and I often found myself turning you up when in my Zumba classes due to the intensity of the workout. Lots of other participants in my classes were fascinated when I first started wearing you and I let many of them have a try of you so they could experience how good you were for themselves.

Although you occasionally pulled my hair and made me wince when a strand got stuck in one of your blades, and you dropped from 50% charge to turning off without warning, your benefits outweighed these little issues and I really appreciated your cooling effects during the very warm weather in the summertime. I tied my hair up most of the time when I was using you and made sure I topped up your power on a regular basis.

I looked after you carefully, putting you away in your slightly battered box for a rest over the autumn and winter months. As soon as late spring arrived and the temperature started ramping up, I set you to charge using you USB cable, so you were ready when needed. As well as using you in my zumba classes, I also put you to work whilst on the treadmill at the gym (even though they have air con!) and during walking workouts at home. I also found you nice and cooling when doing housework, particularly when ironing as the steam made me feel overly warm.

In the height of summer, it reached 29C in Sunderland which is the hottest I’ve ever known it. I was glad of you every day then, wearing you for walks, whilst cooking and even on a quiet speed whilst watching TV or doing some journalling. I made sure to keep you charged up for daily use as the temperature was pretty unbearable during busy days, but you made things feel a lot more pleasant.

One day, in my Zumba class, I still felt really hot and uncomfortable, and I thought the air con mustn’t have been working properly. However, when I removed you from around my neck in the car, I checked you over and discovered that air was only coming out of one of the vents. I thought there must be a loose wire, so, when I got home, I used a precision screwdriver to carefully prize you apart. I cleaned up the inside and checked the circuitry, but I couldn’t find where the issue lay. I spent a while adjusting things but unfortunately I couldn’t fix you so I had to accept that you’d reached the end of your use.

RIP neck fan number 1, you were the best!

Lots of love,

Laura xxx

Final words…

I hope you enjoyed reading my slightly unusual love letter. I really recommend it as a gratitude exercise, as well as a wonderful creative writing opportunity. If you were to write a love letter to an item in your life, what would you choose?

bullet journal, Bullet journaling, creativity, Cricut Design Space, Cricut Joy Xtra, goal setting, intentional living, lifestyle, planner girl, planner lifestyle, Planning and journaling, productivity

Setting up my Bullet Journal for July 2026 – Strawberries theme

Posted on Jun 23, 2026Jun 23, 2026 by Laura

Hi all! It’s been a while since I last shared my monthly BuJo pages, but, as I’ve finished my July spreads super early (I actually finished the last few bits over a week ago!), I thought I’d get the various pages photographed and uploaded to my blog so you could see my finished designs and chosen theme. Obviously I’ve used stickers but you could quite easily simplify the pages and hand draw and colour different strawberry (or other fruit) themed images.

The front cover

Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping it Creative

I wanted to create a slightly thicker grid than the one above but I only had a Tombow pen in the colour I wanted so I used the bullet tip for it. I created strawberry stickers with no white border for a clean look and I was pleased with how well my Cricut Joy Xtra cut out the images. Overall, I think the page looks quite cute!

Monthly calendar

I already have quite a few things happening in July so I was glad to have my calendar ready early so I had a space to put them after initially adding them to my future log. I love how bright and colourful the spread turned out and, if you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that strawberries are my absolute favourite fruit and so this theme was a great option for me this month.

The calendar is the usual six by six dot grid spaces as I find I have just enough room to write in all (or most) of whst I need to add.

Finances – income and expenditure

This month, you may have noticed that I appear to have forgotten to use a ruler. Actually, I did it on purpose and it made it sooooo much quicker to do the grid for my calendar and the finances log. And, to be honest, I think it looks okay, and I might do it again and again for the rest of 2026! I saw a tip on a YouTube video (might have been Shayda Campbell) about using two hand drawn lines to show that the wobbly bits are intentional and it certainly doesn’t look as messy if you’re ruler accidentally smudges things or if you accidentally move the ruler.

Reviewing the previous month and getting ready for July

I started creating this spread as a way to think about how things went the previous month including what went well, what didn’t go as planned, changes I might make the next month and anything that I needed to look into to help me going forwards. It’s also a space where I can record any actions I want to take before I start to work towards my monthly goals. For example, this month, I need to read information on the Brockbushes website to find out when the strawberry picking is, how much it costs, what’s on the lunch menu at the cafe there (we can’t just eat strawberries all day), how long it takes to get there and what photos I might want to take so I have a nice record of what we did and any displays they have.

Monthly goals and space for evaluation

I tend to choose about 4 or 5 goals each month, sometimes related to hobbies or experiences I want to have, usually at least one related to my blog or Etsy shop (not included this time as I did a lot of work in June and now, a personal curriculum aim. These fall outside of the time I spend at work and I’m mindful of how much time I will have depending on my hours. In July, I have quite a lot of commitments and I’m getting sessions through regularly (2 since I photographed my spreads) so realistically, I can’t made my goals too lofty or I’m setting myself up to fail.

Weekly plan

I made all of my weekly plans the same for July so I’m just sharing one of them as an example. I kept the decoration very minimal but I do have some spare strawberry stickers if I want to add some later.

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my pages for the month of July and are suitably impressed with how early I’ve got them finished (ha ha!). I appreciate that not everyone has the time and inclination to create such highly decorated spreads but for me, it’s really one of my hobbies and something I find a fun, relaxing and mindful activity. I also think I’m more likely to use my planner functionally if it looks pretty! I check in with my bullet journal every day, and throughout the day if I’m at home, and it really works to keep me organised and on track to succeed in creating a life I love.

Wishing you a joyful July,

creativity, goal setting, intentional living, lifestyle, planner girl, planner lifestyle, Planning and journaling, Setting goals and intentions

Falling for a New Season: My Autumn 2025 Bucket List

Posted on Aug 28, 2025Aug 29, 2025 by Laura

As August is fast coming to a close, my thoughts have turned to the approaching Autumn and what I’d like to achieve and have fun doing over the next three months. My mind is brimming with ideas, and, as has become my routine for the last couple of years, just prior to the beginning of a new season, I work on writing a bucket list, planning things to ensure I live intentionally and in line with my core values.

In today’s post, I’m excited to share my bullet journal pages in which I’ve created a bright and colourful double page spread for my Autumn 2025 bucket list which serves as a reminder of my plans and provides inspiration to keep me on track. I’m also going to explain a little bit about the process I go through to come up with the best, personalised ideas which reflect what I want in my life currently. Finally, I thought it might be helpful to provide some detail about each of the items on my list and why I chose them.

How I prepared myself for creating my autumn bucket list

Reflection and reconnect – I took plenty of time to look at previous bucket lists and plans. I asked myself lots of reflective and orientating questions such as – what did I enjoy in the summer time? are there any activities that I would like to continue doing? what did I focus on in previous autumns – do I want to revisit any activities, or, are there things on my lists that I didn’t get around to but would still love to try? I also checked in with my vision board for the year, again asking more probing questions including what are my priorities and intentions for 2025? what kind of seasonal activities fit in with these? which classic activities and pastimes do I associate with autumn? what do I most love about the autumn season? what memories do I hope to create? what do I need emotionally right now? (e.g. comfort and cosiness, connection with others, rest and recuperation, creativity and expression, a fresh perspective, a new sense of purpose, self compassion etc) which activities are likely to instill these?
Gather inspiration – I asked friends and family members to share their favourite autumn traditions and talk about what they look forward to the most about the season. I also went online seeking ideas – Googling ‘autumn bucket list ideas’ checking out Pinterest for all things autumnal and searching tags on Instagram including #autumnaesthetic, #autumnvibes, Finally, I took time to explore what’s on in my local area over the coming months and if there were any events I’d like to attend.
Jot down anything that resonates with me – as I did the above, I jotted down anything that came to mind or resonated with me, include activities to try out, things to start doing this autumn, moods or vibes I want to create and how I wish to feel.

My Autumn 2025 Bucket List illustrated in my BuJo

I chose a neutral colour background from the 12×12 paper pack I purchased Dovecraft to ensure all of the items on my bucket list and the decorative stickers I made stoodout and created the most impact. I also selected a colour palette of deep red plus shades of orange, yellow and brown to give the pages an autumnal feel.

My chosen bucket list items explained

Choose a new seasonal decor item to display in our home – I love changing up our home decor each season and I’ve got quite a collection of autumnal items to display. I do think it’s nice to pick out one or two new items to add each year and I’ve already been looking online for inspiration. Although it’s not quite autumn yet, I’ve already spotted a pumpkin garland on the Lisa Angel website that would make a lovely addition (okay, I might have cheated and ordered it already but it won’t go up until September 1st!).
Buy a vegan scented candle kit and make own jar candles – I love scented candles and I’ve been wanting to have a go at making my own for a while now. I’ve found various suitable beginner kits and I think candle making is a really nice, cosy activity to do with my husband one weekend. Crafting together is always fun and a wonderful way to strengthen our emotional bond. I’ll be opting for a scent that I associate with winter time so that we can use our handmade items later in the year.
Create an autumnal hanging basket using pansies or violas – We’ve been making our own summer hanging basket arrangement for the past couple of years and I love the charm that it brings to the front of our house. I thought it would be nice to have a go at making an autumn one this year in rich seasonal colours, and my mum said that pansies or violas would be good choices.
Make a list of TV series to watch this autumn – There are always lots of great dramas on the TV as the nights draw in and to ensure we don’t miss any must sees, I like to make a list in my bullet journal. My husband and I both enjoy crime and psychological dramas and watching an hour of TV together is a nice way to relax after a busy day.
Make the vegan rocky road fridge cake from The Veganuary Cookbook – In January, I made a vision board for the year and something I wanted to do in 2025 was eat more plant based. We’ve made lots of recipes from the cookbook so far, but until recently, we’ve mainly done main courses. After flicking through the dessert and bakery chapters in our cookbook I found the perfect quick and easy to make recipe that I can’t wait to try.
Have a go at making the leaf mandala from Painting Calm (using own paint colours) – I found a lovely book in a National Trust shop last year which focuses on connecting to nature through the art of watercolour and my husband bought it for me for Christmas. There are so many different exercises and projects to try and, as I’m keen to spend more time developing my watercolouring skills, I’ve added an autumnal idea to my bucket list.
Try a new recipe with pumpkin in it – For almost a year now, my husband and I have enjoyed the taste and health benefits of lots of home cooking. As part of this, we try as much as possible to eat seasonally. During the autumn, the supermarkets are full of nutrient rich pumpkins and other squashes and we love trying different varieties and experimenting with different recipes.
Enjoy an autumnal treat at Costa or Starbucks – Going to a cafe for coffee and cake is a regular pastime of ours but we tend to opt for the same drinks and sweet treats each time. It’s always good to try something different and both of these chains bring out seasonal flavoured drinks and limited edition bakery items so there’s bound to be something new to try.
Complete an autumn themed jigsaw – There are so many benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles and I find them great for helping me to maintain good mental health. I’ve already browsed a range of autumn themed jigsaws online and I’ve picked one out to treat myself to next month so I made a sticker from the Amazon image and added it to my bullet journal spread.
Visit Castle Lake for seasonal bird spotting – My husband and I love spending time in nature and one of our favourite outdoor activities is bird spotting. Last week, I was looking online to see if I could find any nature reserves that we haven’t yet visited, and I came across a place called Castle Lake. Their conservation group website describes the place as ‘a haven for wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers’ and promises an enjoyable circular walk so I added it to my list straightaway!

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my bucket list for this autumn and reading about why I picked each of the items on it. During the season, I will look at my bullet journal double page spread regularly when planning out my weeks and days. For any items that fall into the project category (such as candle making), I’ll sit down and do some goals planning, such as turning them into SMART goals and outline key action steps. I also like to tick off items as I go along (yes I made myself some little tick stickers on my Cricut!), whilst at the same time remembering that my list isn’t something to work through and ensure I get finished by the end of November, but simply a collection of intentional living ideas to help me and my husband make the most of the coming autumn months.

Wishing you an amazing autumn season,

art, Bullet journaling, coloured pencil, creativity, goal setting, intentional living, lifestyle, line drawing, planner girl, planner lifestyle, Planning and journaling, productivity, Setting goals and intentions, Uncategorized

Setting up my Bullet Journal for July 2025: Summer flowers theme

Posted on Jul 1, 2025 by Laura

Happy July everyone! This month, I’ve opted for a floral theme for my bullet journal, taking inspiration from nature, particularly wildflowers and those found in our garden. I initially found some simple flower bouquet stickers in my collection and planned to have a go at recreating them but, I decided that doing some drawing for my front cover was going to take enough time so I used the stickers themselves in my following pages. I know I said when I moved into this notebook that I was going to try to avoid too many stickers in my BuJo but the vinyl is very thin so I relented!

The front cover

For the cover page, I sketched out a number of flowers and leaves focusing on different shapes and sizes of bloom as well as different colours for both the flowers and the foliage. I took some inspiration from my own garden as we currently have some lovely bright orange poppies next to our pond, lavender in one of our pots and some pink flowers with white tips in our hanging basket.

After sketching, I used a size 0.2 Pigma Micron to outline before using coloured pencils and a blending pencil to add some nice, bright colours. I kept the stems black so the focus was on the blooms themselves.

The monthly calendar

This is my usual calendar layout with stickers added as decor. I wanted to do something in the white spaces between and decided to add a few loose petals. I opted to do the title in a different font from my usual choices and I selected a nice bright purple which I felt complemented the flowers.

July finances

I like to choose quite a pale colour for the lines in my finances log and I picked out this minty green to go with the mid pink colour of the title. I also used one of my stickers leftover from the calendar and added a few petals to look like they’d fallen from the bouquet.

Monthly goals

A goals page has become a regular feature in my monthly bullet journal pages. I look at my vision board for the year and also my bucket list to help me choose a small number of goals to work towards. When I first started adding goals, I would come up with around eight in total, but I soon discovered that this was too much and for the last few months, I chosen five which I feel is a lot more attainable, even if I’m busy with work and fitness classes.

I’ve actually created some more little stickers to add to my goals pages but unfortunately Cricut Design Space is currently down for maintenance and I wanted to get today’s post up at soon as I possibly can so I’ll have to print and cut them later and add them tomorrow.

Weekly spread

This has become my favourite layout for weekly spreads as it allows plenty of room for events and to dos. Sometimes, I’ll add decor at the bottom of the boxes and sometimes it’ll just be a long list of things I want to get done that day so I’ll skip the decor. Often, I’ll add more information or to do lists to the boxes as the days go by. Also, on a weekend, we might make last minute plans so I’ll write in what we got up to in retrospect. This helps me remember any days out so I can include photographs and text to my highlights journal when the month is over.

Final words…

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog to look at my bullet journal set up for July. I’m super excited to use my pages this month as I love how bright and colourful they are. As well as drawing flowers, I’ve also treated myself to a flower press and I’ve been busy pressing blooms from our garden. I’ve had mixed success with it so far, with some of the flowers falling apart when I’ve removed them from the greaseproof paper, but I’ve also had some which look fantastic. I’m hoping to get my watercolours out to have a go at painting the results but this was one of my goals for June and, so far, I haven’t dedicated any time to it. I have my second lot of flowers pressing and they’ll be ready by mid month so hopefully, I’ll give it a go at some point in July or, if not, August.

Wishing you a relaxing month where you find time to do some of the things you enjoy too.

creativity, journalling, lifestyle, memory keeping, Planning and journaling, reflective journalling, TN journaling, Traveler's Notebook, Traveler's Notebook Spreads

How I journal about my holidays: creative ways to record travel adventures

Posted on Jun 13, 2025Jun 20, 2025 by Laura

(N.B. image heavy post this time)

Last month, we spent a lovely week in Faro, the capital of the Algarve region of Portugal. Whilst I usually do a double page traveler’s notebook spread each month, documenting the main highlights, when we go on holiday somewhere new, I will dedicate a whole notebook to the trip which includes journalling, lots of photographs, ephemera and general momentoes which can be stuck in. Today, I’m sharing how I prepare for my journal before I go and whilst away and I’m also including examples of double page spreads showing the different creative ways I document my holiday.

What I do prior to and whilst I’m away

So, let’s start with my preparations so that working on and completing my journal is much easier when I get back home. These are key to ensuring I have all the information and need and key details that I might otherwise have forgotten.

Before I head off on my holiday

Before I go, I make the journal itself. I create a TN wide size insert choosing colours, patterns or images on the scrapbooking paper which suit my coming trip. So, for example, this time, I opted for a bright and cheerful flamingo, flower and leaf themed paper from the Paradise Crush collection of 12×12 papers (200gsm heavyweight cardstock even though referred to as paper). This was because I had read that there are flamingoes to be seen in the lagoon (Ria Formosa). I love selecting the cover paper myself and then hand-stitching blank white paper for the inside. I choose quite thin white paper so the journal doesn’t get so thick that it won’t close properly when I add to my pages.

Shortly before travel, I add a small notebook to my handbag and make sure I have a pen too. This is useful for writing details during my holiday so I don’t forget things when I return. Just a word of warning if you’re going on a flight though – be sure to select your pen carefully as the liquid ink in my V5 Pilot Hi-Tecpoint pen must have expanded whilst in the air and when I got it out to write with on arrival the pen came apart and I got covered in ink! Luckily, it was just my hands that got ink all over them, not my clothes.

The final thing I take with me is something to store ephemera (collectable bits and pieces) in. This time, I took a popper wallet and it came in very useful for keeping papers flat. I do wish I’d opted for a slightly bigger folder though as I had some bigger things that I had to fold up to ensure they fit.

During my holiday

Notetaking Throughout the holiday, I make notes and reflect on my day. This is easy to do in the little notebook I mentioned earlier which comes with me wherever I go. This could include the name of a place we visited, my menu choices in a restaurant or cafe, timings of events during the day, a funny anecdote or how I felt in a particular place.

Taking photographs I take lots and lots of photographs whilst we’re away – better to have too many than not enough, right? However, for me, it’s not just about taking photos of each other and things my husband and I see or do, it’s also very much an aide memoire of various elements of our trip too. For example, when in Faro and on our day trips, I took photos of menus from the various eateries we went to, a screenshot of the weather for the week, close up shots of cocktail descriptions, shop fronts where I made my souvenir purchases and screenshots of locations of places we planned to go later on in the week. Also, talking of photos, I took my selfie stick so that we could take shots of the pair of us together rather than having to ask other tourists to take them for us.

Collecting ephemera In the traditional sense of memory keeping journalling, ephemera usually refers to stickers and die cut paper and card images which can be glue or stuck into the journal pages. However, for me, it means anything and everything which could be stuck in as a memory of our holiday. On our trip to Portugal, I collected and saved business cards for cafes and restaurants, maps picked up at the Tourist Information places, leaflets such as the one advertising our boat trip so I could cut out letters for titles, small images or bits of information, receipts from shops and eateries, paper tickets (e.g. entry to the cathedral and for our train ride to Albufeira), samples from paper bags we were given to house our souvenirs in and even the cup cover for our glasses in our hotel room. Some of the things I didn’t end up using but at least I was well prepared with paper goodies I did want to add. I also only used parts of my items sometimes, so, for example, I trimmed a large map down to fit on a double page spread and I cut the logo from a business card of a place called Veganbox we ate in a few times.

Creating my travel journal

It’s up to you how you do your journalling and the elements you include within the pages but here’s some ideas:

travel information including modes of transport and tickets
the weather whilst you’re away
places of special interest you visited
photos of the accommodation you stayed in
maps of the place you stayed and other areas that you visited
meals, snacks and drinks enjoyed plus related ephemera
photos of scenes, selfies, family, food and drinks enjoyed etc
souvenirs and why you chose them
information about any traditions of the place / country you went to
an explanation of something new that you learned whilst you were there
activities you did and what you did to relax

Supplies that I find useful and you might too:

roller glue – I use tonnes of this stuff and have two rollers – permanent (to ensure things stick really well and removeable (for when I might want to reposition elements on a page)
stickers – from a variety of larger and small businesses online (purchased from Amazon or businesses such as Papermaze, or Etsy to support small UK sellers), or made myself in Cricut Design Space and printed and cut
We R Memory Keepers 1,2,3 punch board – for making the mini envelopes I included
Washi tapes – I have collected so many of these over the years and use them in my memory keeping as well as my bullet journal planner
Die cuts – I didn’t use any this time but small ones of these are useful as decor on pages
Pens – biros or gel ink and possibly coloured pens for writing straight into the journal

I’ll let the photos of my pages do the talking now but if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me.

Final words…

Times are certainly changing with creative journalling and memory keeping. A few years ago (maybe a few more!), everything used to be paper based, but now, many things that I would usually stick in to my journal, such as flight information, boarding passes, entry tickets to places and for excursions and so on are often completely digital. To make sure I can still include at least some of these, my husband has to screenshot the e-tickets on his phone and then forward the images to me in WhatsApp so I can print them off. It’s not the same, but at least it provides some sort of record and adds to the memories stored within my travel journals.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my travel journalling process and seeing photos of my actual pages. There’s quite a lot of work involved in the journals I produce, but you could cut down the time involved by just adding photos and short captions. You could also choose to draw elements of what you see and do on your travels and this would be another lovely way to make the process both creative and therapeutic too.

Thanks for reading and I hope I’ve inspired you to create your own travel journal to document holidays (A.K.A. vacations),