I am continuing my planner/journal/diary set-up the same way each month this year (check out my March and April set-ups, if you missed them). May will continue this process and each month my process is getting a little more streamlined and easier to do.
I start by pasting in a monthly overview calendar. The last few months, I’ve been using both a two-page spread monthly overview that I cut out of a planner I was not using and a Midori single-page, self-adhesive diary stickers. I use the Midori sticker calendar to track habits and the 2-page calendar for events, birthdays, pen shows — you know? important stuff.
I pick a theme for each month — maybe a color, maybe something else — to be a jumping off point for any flourishes I add to each page and then search through my sticker and washi tape stash to cherry pick items that fit with the theme or maybe match somehow. For May, my theme is strawberries and mushrooms. I picked strawberry and mushroom stickers from my stash and I even found a roll of washi tape printed with strawberries. I supplemented these with red, pink and green washi tapes and a handful of pens to coordinate.
I made a video this month to share my process. Links for products are listed below. I hope that watching me fumble around with setting up my monthly planner will give you the confidence to try this yourself.
The Supply List:
- Stalogy B6 Grid ($24)
- Bassy & Co custom B6 leather cover (no longer selling! Booo!!!!)
- The Botanist Sticker Anthology ($14.49)
- The Forest, Fairies and Fungi Sticker Anthology ($17.46)
- Monthly Date Stickers ($6.99)
- The Antiquarian Sticker Book: Bibliophilia (The Antiquarian Sticker Book Series) ($17.98)
- MAXLEAF 120PCS Multi-Colored Vintage Plants Flowers Fairy Washi Stickers ($9.99)
- Muji 0.25 gel (Pentel Slicci is the same pen in a different barrel) ($3.25)
- Pentel Brush Sign Pen in Olive Green & Burgundy ($2.50 each)
- Marvy Le Pen in Red ($1.80)
- Faber-Castell PITT Brush Color 126 (part of a larger set for $28)
- Sakura Pigma Micron 05 in Grey ($2.50)
- Zebra Mildliner in Pink (from the Natural Set of 5 for $8)
- ZMLSED Vintage Washi Tape Set, Antique Mushroom (8 Rolls for $8.99)
Sadly, my stash of washi tape is old and most are no longer available or I don’t remember when or where they were purchased. I recommend MT brand above all others but I’ve been known to buy small sets of themed tape from Amazon.
For my fountain pen selections, I continue to use my matched set of Nagasawa/Sailor Pro Gear Slim Fountain Pen in Gakuen-Toshi Fresh Green (no longer available) with fine nibs. I’ve filled one with Pen BBS 224 Match Ice Cream and one with Callifolio Andrinople ($13 for 35ml bottle). I also have a clear TWSBI Eco with 1.1mm nib ($35.50) filled with Diamine Olive Swirl (Inkvent Green Series)($22 for 50ml bottle).
Above are a few of the pagesI set up so you can get a better look at them.
I’m still using my vintage-inspired lap desk from the now-defunct Victorian Trading Company. It’s great to store my pens, washi tape and stickers inside and then just grab my planner and plop down on the couch with it for instant desk! The closest comparable item I could find is the Schoolhouse lap desk ($49.99) on Amazon. Just paint and decoupage it to simulate that dark academia vibe.
I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my process. Please let me know in the comments here or on YouTube if you liked seeing a video.
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When May 1 happened, I started my entry dating the top. Then I thought, no this is the “it’s a new month page.” I have a Midori calendar stamp that I use on Midori sticky notes from a pad. Then I use washi tape and stickers to hold the other edges down. I’ll write the month’s holidays, and whatever else I want to put for the particular month. Then it’s a page a day. I have some old stickers of trees in seasonal looks, and that’s the only other place I use stickers. The trees mark the equinoxes and solstices.
I use whichever fountain pen I choose for the pen of the day. My notebook is full of color. It will run out within three weeks. I need to choose the next Leuchtturm notebook I want to use for the page a day that I’ve managed to keep up. I just don’t know which color I want to start next. I’ve got chocolate, lime, emerald, Nordic blue. I have other Leuchtturm notebooks with dotted paper. When compared, the dotted lines are not as wide as ruled paper. I’m not sure I can use dotted for a page a day as I don’t write small.
I really love your idea to use tree stickers to mark the solstices & equinoxes!
I think for summer I’d choose the blue cover. Save the chocolate for fall.
And you are right about the lined Leuchtturms being wider spaced. I think the lines are 7mm and the grid and dot grid are 5mm.
Oh wow, RIP Victorian Trading Company. They were so great.
I worked there as a product designer for two years so yes, it is a total loss.
I discovered that a couple of the sisters from VTC have opened an online store called Hopeless Romantic. The store has similar items to VTC. https://hopelessromantictrading.com/
Yes, the original owner of the company and her sister has relaunched the company under the Hopeless Romantic moniker because the equity firm that bought Victorian Trading Company still owns the name.