(book creaking)
(relaxing music)
(light dings)
- Hey everyone, it's Amanda.
Welcome back to my channel
and welcome back to yet another Plan With Me video
and bullet journal setup.
Today, we are of course doing my October 2020
bullet journal setup, which as many of you guys pointed out
in my last plan with me video, the September one,
this month is now the start of
the final quarter of the year, which is kind of crazy.
I think we can all agree 2020 has been very, very hectic
and has been a lot, but you know,
we're in the final stretch.
I am excited to sit down and get planning.
I always love fall time and this time of year.
I feel like it's peak journaling weather
when you can just get cozy with a cup of tea
and your bullet journal and just write down by the fire.
I don't even have a fireplace, but anyway, yeah.
That is just my idealist picture of fall and October,
even if it probably never ends up being that.
Of course, before it gets started
and show you guys my October bullet journal setup,
I wanted to quickly think this week's sponsor, Skillshare.
I have a really, really exciting announcement
to make that may or may not have to do
with a brand new exclusive Skillshare class.
But I'll share more about that later in the video.
Without further ado,
here is my October bullet journal setup.
Of course, grab your journals, plan with me,
and if you're just hanging out and chilling,
grab a snack and enjoy.
So yes, I am finally doing a full out
spooky Halloween theme for October.
I don't know why it's taken me this long
to actually do a fully fledged Halloween theme.
I've been doing these videos for four years now
and I have not yet done a Halloween theme for October,
which is very surprising considering the month
and also considering that Halloween
is one of my favorite holidays.
In the past I've done like cozy autumn pumpkins
and cozy fall vibes sort of thing,
but never just a spoopy celebration
of one of the superior holidays.
So that is what we're doing.
I also feel like a lot of people tend to use orange
for Halloween, which is understandable,
'cause those are, I feel like the official colors
for Halloween, but I decided to go with something different
and I wanted to use a little bit of neon green
for this spread and by little, I mean, a lot.
As you saw earlier, I drew out a dripping shape
on some black paper and cut that out.
It's almost like a frame on the black paper.
I thought it would just be fun to play with black paper
in this way, because I feel like in the past I've used paper
before but it's always sort of ripped in a scrapbook manner,
but I thought that this would be a funky way
to use black paper.
Makes it sort of look like a silhouette
and obviously way faster than coloring it in
with a black marker.
Before sticking the black frame
onto the cover page permanently, I used it as sort of a
guide to show myself where to draw those green drips
underneath it to give it that layered effect.
And I didn't make this like a perfect drop shadow.
I made it irregular and different
from the block dripping pattern to kind of make it look
like the green slime is oozing from underneath.
And I really like that layered effect that it gives off.
My inspiration for this month is kind of funny.
This is how I described it to my friends.
It's the "Goosebumps" novels, the covers of those books.
I don't know if anyone else remembers those,
meets "Wicked", meets Billie Eilish,
because in my head Billie Eilish
kind of owns this color scheme,
the neon green with the black.
So it immediately made me think of her when I was doing it.
But hopefully you guys see where I pulled inspiration
from all three of these kind of give off the same vibe
as my cover page and I think that's pretty cool.
For the October lettering, as you can see,
I did sort of in a regular wavy spooky font
and I really wanted to emphasize it.
So I did this extra thick black drop shadow
which I think really goes well
with the black drippy silhouette with the black paper.
This month is actually not very many doodles
or drawing as you can see.
It's mostly focused on the impact
of the neon green with the large blocks of black.
So I thought that was pretty cool.
It definitely reminds me more of like a graphic design
type of thing versus a drawing,
which I always love doing this type of stuff.
So other than that,
I just kind of threw in a couple extra doodles
of like a bat silhouette, some stars and a spiderweb,
but overall I wanted to keep it pretty simple,
seeing as the neon green is just so impactful
and so in your face, but I really like
the way this turned out.
I think it looks pretty cool.
On the other side of the page, I did a quote page
and this quote says "Tis the season to be spooky",
which is obviously very fitting for this month,
seeing as we're going full on Halloween theme.
For the lettering, I did that same wavy block letter font
which is very Halloween in my opinion.
And on the spooky,
I did the same type of lettering as October.
Midway through this,
I realized I have a thicker neon green marker
which made things go a lot quicker.
So I'm gonna leave the markers that I used
in the description box down below,
but initially I was using a Sakura Gelly Roll,
one of the Moonlight ones,
and then I found out that the Tombow Fudenosuke Green
is very similar, which made filling in the green
a lot quicker.
Materials wise, other than the green marker slash gel pen,
The only thing I really used is a black marker.
And of course the black paper.
I did add in a few white highlights
to the black slime occasionally, but yeah.
There's a pretty minimal color palette,
just the green and the black
and I think it turned out really awesome.
Feel like this cover page and theme
can really be customized depending on how Halloween
you wanna go on the scale.
If you want to dial it down, you don't need to add
all of the Halloween doodles and you can just do
like the lettering or if you want to go full out,
you can add more of these Halloween doodle silhouettes,
like I'm doing with the bat.
But yeah, I think it's a pretty fun theme.
Oh yeah.
I'm adding in some of my washi tapes
from ShopAmandaRachLee.
I thought the dark monochrome set fit really well
with this theme, but also from the Dreamy Pastel,
we had this green diagonal stripe that worked perfectly
with the color palette.
Moving on to my calendar page.
So I did the same thing with the black paper
and drew out my drip shape,
except this time I drew it coming sort of
from the top corner.
And I cut that out, by the way, I'm using these small,
I think they're meant for thread or sewing,
but these small scissors really helped
with cutting around those curvy edges.
It actually wasn't too difficult.
I kind of found it relaxing this month,
because I didn't have to rely on drawing a lot.
It was mostly just cutting and it's, I don't know,
felt like a craft project, which was really fun.
And I did my calendar boxes.
These are six by six.
For the top of the calendar headers,
I colored those in black and I'll be using
the green gel pen on top to write out the days of the week.
For the October lettering,
I did the same font as the cover page,
which is sort of this irregular wavy Serif font.
In order to do this, I basically just made sure
that all of the letters were different sizes
and that it didn't look too perfect.
Made the lines actually wavy intentionally,
and then for the drop shadow,
you kind of connect the green letters
to the black drop shadow, if that makes sense.
Once you color in those drop shadows,
it'll really make the green pop
and you can also easily fix up any mistakes
that you made with the green lettering.
Again, before sticking in that black paper permanently,
I placed it down just so I can mark out the shape
of my green slime.
And like before I made sure not to do the exact same shape
as the black.
I really want to make sure that the slime
is shown underneath the black
and that it looks really layered and slimy,
So I played around with the length of the drips
as well as the thickness so that it really adds the impact
once the black drips are attached.
Speaking of attaching,
I'm using this glue tape adhesive roll
which I've used a ton in the past in my videos,
but I'm also using this glue pen that I got
from Sakura and it was really helpful
for adding glue to those tiny drips down there to make sure
that they're fully attached and that it doesn't lift
up when I'm running my hand over or something like that.
And this glue pen is really cool.
I'm glad I used it for this
'cause I actually don't have a glue stick,
which probably would have been the easier option,
but the glue pen worked better than I expected it to
and I think this would be such a cool thing to throw
in your pencil case so you can stick something on
if you're on the go or if you're traveling.
So I'll be sure to link that down below as well as all
of the supplies as usual that I'm using in this video
in the description box, in case you guys are interested.
For the numbers on my calendar
instead of going for a basic shape,
like a circle or a square, I decided to go along
with the theme even more and draw a dripping slime shape
in the corner of each calendar box,
which I thought you know,
it added a little bit of spice to the spread.
Of course I wrote out all of the numbers.
And other than that, I just added in some extra doodles
like this spiderweb coming from the bottom corner
as well as some stars and a bat silhouette on the left side.
Next step, we have my habit tracker spread.
I actually didn't do a mood tracker spread this month
just because I haven't been find myself using them
as much recently.
So I opted out to for this month,
but for the habit tracker, I drew out this slimy frame.
I'm gonna be calling it the slimy frame from now on,
but I did the same sort of pattern as the cover page,
except I raised the top black slimes up a little bit
just to give myself more space in the center
when I'm drawing out to the actual habit trackers
and added in the green slime,
as well as the white highlights on top of the black.
The lettering for the title is the same type
of lettering as the cover page.
And I did the same individual mini trackers
that I've been doing for years now.
You guys have seen me do this so many times at this point,
but I'm gonna be honest guys.
The past few months have not been the greatest for me
in terms of habits and taking care of myself.
I've been trying to get a little bit better about it
as you guys saw in my last vlog,
but definitely need to be a little bit more diligent
about, you know, doing these habits.
So this month, I'm making a pledge to you guys.
I'm gonna check in next month with myself.
Hopefully I actually really do keep up with my habits,
specifically, the working out one.
I know this is something that everyone struggles with,
but I always, always, always tell myself
that I'm gonna work out more and then it just never happens.
So I feel like I need to set a more tangible goal.
So I'm making this announcement on this plan with me video.
This month I'm gonna work out three times a week.
Do you guys hear the hesitation in my voice?
Anyway check in with me during next plan with me.
And if I did not do that, then you guys can yell at me
in the comments.
I give you permission. (chuckles)
Seeing as I wasn't gonna be making a mood tracker spread
for this month, I thought the other page
was the perfect space for me to do
my monthly playlist spread.
While I haven't been working out as much recently,
I have been finding a lot of great music.
So I'll be sure to link my Spotify playlist down below
if you're curious as to what I'm listening to.
I always make a monthly playlist for you guys.
And I love sharing what I'm listening to.
So you can check that out.
Unfortunately, the playlist is not Halloween themed
and it doesn't have spooky vibes.
It's just a bunch of songs that I have been loving,
but for the actual spread, as you can see,
I did draw out a slimy frame except this time it's inverted.
So I didn't include the outside parts
and only used the inside
which I will be writing on top of with my gel pen.
I won't bore you guys and mention every single song
on the playlist because you can just check
out the Spotify playlist if you're really that interested
but some honorable mentions this month are
Keshi's new song "Drunk", THE BOYZ, "The Stealer",
and also I discovered this new band
that I've been really loving, 92914,
and their music is just really dreamy and chill vibes.
Relaxing, which is what I love listening to
especially when I'm drawing or journaling.
Finally, we have my weekly spread
for the first week of August.
And for this weekly spread, I'm actually doing a spread
that I've been implementing a bit more frequently
into my bullet journal recently.
And it's the Alastair rolling daily task type of spread.
I've done this in the past before,
and there's actually a bunch of articles and videos
that probably better explain it and give you guys a demo.
So if you're curious about it,
I highly recommend you look it up.
I'll also leave a couple of links down below
but basically on the left side of the page,
I have a space for all of my weekly events and appointments.
And then on the right is basically one big master
to-do list.
And I actually have a column for the days of the week.
So I put a dot on what day the tasks should be done
and then write out the task.
Again, I'm probably really bad at explaining it,
but I highly recommend you check it out,
especially for those of you who find you have
repeated tasks every single day.
This is a good way to save space
and be a little bit more efficient.
In terms of the actual design of the page, on the left side,
which is the weekly events page,
I made the headers of the days of the week
look like they're dripping with the black to mimic
the black paper that I have throughout the entire setup.
And of course that same green neon drop shadow font.
Did I say drap shadow?
Drop shadow.
Let me know if you guys want a mini Instagram tutorial
on how I do this style of font.
I can definitely do that for you.
And then other than that,
I just threw in a couple extra doodles of stars and bats
and spiderwebs as well as my washi tapes.
And then for the right side,
which is the weekly tasks
and this basically where I'm going to be writing out
my whole task for the week,
I cut out some more drippy black slime sludge for the top.
And I layered it with my neon green as well
and just left a whole bunch of blank space
for that rolling task list.
Like I mentioned, since this is the Alastair Method,
think of this half of the page as having two columns,
one side with the days of the week.
And then the other side with the actual lists.
You guys will see soon that I draw out
a seven box wide header.
And basically let's say I have a task
that I want to get done on Tuesday.
I'll draw a dot on the Tuesday
And then on that row, I'll write out the task
in the column next to it.
I'm trying so hard to explain it but hopefully
you kind of understand what I'm getting at.
All right, my friends.
So before I show you the final flip through
of my October bullet journal setup,
I wanted to take this time to quickly talk a little bit
about Skillshare and some really, really exciting news
that I have to share with you.
First of all, if you don't know what Skillshare is yet
they are an awesome online learning community
with thousands of classes in business, design,
technology, illustration.
And I even had an old Skillshare class that has been
on the platform for years now.
A lot of you guys have taken it and a lot of you guys
have been asking me to make a new Skillshare class.
And I'm really excited to announce
that I did indeed make a brand new Skillshare class
that is exclusive to the platform.
It is Skillshare original.
I worked really hard with the team on this one
and I really love the way it turned out.
The class is called Art Journaling For Self Care.
And it's a little bit different from the type of stuff
that I do on my channel here.
It's more so focused on journaling for mental health
and mental wellness,
not so much like bullet journaling and productivity.
More so just getting your thoughts out there, reflection.
I show you guys a couple different spreads,
and also give you a lot of different exercises
and prompts for your journals.
And also of course, ways to make it creative and fun,
adding in stationary and doodles and all of that stuff.
And even if you're not necessarily interested
in taking my class, I promise you,
there are a ton of classes available for you.
So I'm sure you'll be able to find
something that sparks your interest
or makes you want to learn something new.
They're always launching new premium classes which is great.
And of course the best part is,
is that Skillshare is actually pretty affordable,
especially when compared to in-person classes
or workshops and annual membership starts as low
as $10 a month, which we love.
New knowledge and learning for less than $10 a month.
So if you guys are interested
in trying out Skillshare for yourself
or if you want to check out my brand new class,
I really hope you guys like it or find it helpful.
I will, of course, leave a link
in the description box below.
The first thousand people to click that link
will get a free trial of Skillshare premium membership.
All right.
Back to the flip through.
All right guys, so here's the final flip through
of my "Goosebumps" meets Nickelodeon Slime Time
meets "Wicked" meets Billie Eilish,
October bullet journal setup.
I think I definitely achieved my goal of going full on
spooky Halloween theme.
All right, my little doodles.
So that was it for my October, 2020 bullet journal setup.
Yet another month complete.
I can't believe we're getting to the end of 2020 here.
Of course, now it's time for me to showcase
some of your recreations from last month,
which they are all here next to me.
They look beautiful.
I always love seeing you guys recreate my themes
and how you change things up to make it work for you.
So if you want a chance for me to feature
your beautiful bullet journal spreads and recreation's here
be sure to tag me over on Instagram @amandarachlee.
You can also use our hashtag, #littledoodles.
And if you guys didn't know,
I also do live streams every single Saturday
at 11:00 AM Eastern time on Twitch,
where I do my weekly spreads.
So if you're curious to see how the rest
of my bullet journal setups come to life,
come tune in and join those live streams.
They're a lot of fun.
You also don't need a Twitch account
or the Twitch app in order to tune into those.
Yeah, pretty fun.
They're pretty chill.
I feel like we pass the vibe checks.
So if you want some company on your Saturday mornings
or want some inspiration for your weekly spreads,
you can check those out.
I think that is pretty much it,
so have a great day and keep doodling.
Bye everyone.
(relaxing music)