Hi everyone, I cannot believe that this is the end of the year already and a new year
filled with our hopes and dreams is just a few days away.
This setup is a very special one because it’s a collaboration with Christina from mylifinabullet.
If you’ve been binging on amazing bullet journal videos, then there is no way you missed
her, she is beyond talented and has such a wonderful personality.
I am so happy that I was able to work and share so much laughter with her!
For this set-up we decided to pick the same theme and then use our creative freedom to
interpret that theme any way we like.
Our theme is called winter lights, so think along the lines of string lights, moon, stars,
and candles, and anything else we want to add to that as long as it feels like the theme.
I am so excited to see what she came up with, we haven’t revealed with each other before
these videos went live, so definitely check out her setup and give her some love along
with me!
I have all the links you’ll need in the description below!
As I was planning out my theme I started to fall in love with the moon and stars and the
meaning behind them.
And since January is a new beginning when we dream and make wishes to achieve all of
our hopes and aspirations, I wanted to make this setup simply magical, even more so than
any of my other setups.
So I am starting with this illustration of a polar bear and his friend the bunny sitting
on the moon, and quietly sending their wishes to the stars.
I originally wanted this to be a muted dark blue, with some black shadows for the winter
sky, but it ended up being variations of black instead, and it was a little scary seeing
so much of it, but as I kept working on it, it started to look okay.
Once I have the painting part complete, I am finishing with a few white speckles for
the stars.
And then once all the paint is dry, I am going back in with my micron, gelly roll white and
gold gel pens.
This the the first time I am using these pens and I love them, but they don’t work very
well on textured surfaces like this painting so it keeps skipping.
I originally wanted this as my cover page with the month January underneath the moon
in white, but with the pen skipping, I am not even going to attempt it.
Instead, I am keeping this as just another page in the journal, as an illustration to
depict the story of january.
And then in the actual journal setup, I am redrawing this illustration as the cover page
with my micron and adding in gold details.
Okay, you guys are going to laugh at this part, as I was adding in the gold, my hand
smudged the ink because it takes a little longer to dry, so I just went ahead and smudged
some other spots to balance it out.
And it looks pretty good for what started as a mistake.
I'll have the watercolor painting and my cover page in my shop if your are interested!
You can find my etsy link down below.
Moving on to the next page, this is where the illustration is going to be, and then
next to that is the mood of the month, this is the month of dreams, for a fresh start
and a successful year, and then underneath that is such a great quote by one of our greats,
Harriet Tubman.
She says: Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for
the stars to change the world.
Next we have our table of contents similar to my other set-ups.
On the left I am inking in snowy mountains and the northern lights.
Then on the right, I decided to add in the phases of the moon and each section and description next to that.
On top of the sections, is another great quote, this one by Albert Einstein, he says: Imagination
is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces
the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.
I thought it was perfect for this month, as a reminder to dream beyond what I think I
am capable of and beyond what others are doing.
To take this beginning opportunity to promise myself to work hard and try my best.
Now we have my three month calendar spread with the title on the left, glance ahead,
and then the current and next two months on the right.
I have the string of lights and stars up top tying the entire layout together and then
again with a mountain range along the bottom to set the scene.
This layout works so well for me because I love being able to plan ahead and have an
idea of the dates while I am planning.
Moving on to my monthly spread, the layout is pretty much the same as the very first
one I did.
Up top, I have the title and then more northern lights and stars as decoration.
And then once I finish inking in my calendar, I am adding in kraft paper and writing out
my goals for this month with the white gelly roll.
My goals are to build my website, which I haven’t because I need to build a collection
of illustrations first, exercise 5 days a week, build my collection, finish my preliminary
spreads for my book and then to basically have more faith in others.
Next are my drawing and fitness trackers or challenge.
These are very simple, just 31 boxes.
On the days that I complete a drawing of any kind and days where I exercise or am eating
well, I can fill in the boxes any way I like.
I have images of the moon and stars throughout these two pages to tie it back in with the
rest of the layout, again and then on the right is my page of milestones.
I introduced this in my very first set-up and I am bringing it back for this one, with
the same two bunnies, but this time they are quietly making a wish to the stars.
So if I hit a milestone or achieve any goal, small or large, I can just write them here.
And this way, I can look back and remind myself that I am moving forward or learning.
And now finally I have my weekly setup.
I decided to change this one because it was getting harder and harder to keep my to do
list short enough to fit in a box.
So now, I am just going to ink the title page and leave 6 pages blank.
As I go through the weeks, I’ll just write out my lists and design the spread then, which
gives me a little more flexibility with how I want to set up each week.
For the image I wanted to continue the bunny and bear journey, so here they are larger
than life, in charge of placing the stars in the sky.
And then underneath my title, I have a quote that I made up that says:
build your sky one star at a time.
I have to admit, this is hands down, my favorite spread so far.
I love the simplicity of the lines and layouts and just the way everything turned out.
I definitely want to work on my calligraphy and loosen up a bit when I write but so far,
so good.
After I finished my weekly spread, I decided to add in a page of the moon phases and their
meaning.
I read this while I was working on my spread and this is the reason why I fell in love
with the moon and its symbolic meaning.
I reinterpreted it for my journal so that it works with the theme, so this is not an
original of mine and I do not want to take for credit for it.
You can find original in the links below.
I hope that you reach all of the goals you set for 2018 and I wish you well on your journeys.
Have a happy end of year and a wonderful and fulfilling new year!
Remember to check out Cristina’s Video and send her a lot of love from me!
Thank you so much for watching, keeping upwith me on instagram, and your constant loving comments.
I’ll see you next time, bye!