Bonjour Bujo (n°8): Setting Up the Dailies

(My lettering here was inspired by the beautiful work at Get To Work Book. I just put my own spin on it!)

Bonjour, journalers! Today's post is n°8 in the BuJo Set Up Series. After today, you will have all of the essentials you need to have a fully functioning bullet journal. Of course there are extras, but there is plenty of time for those once you journal for a while and get a feel for what works for you best.

The dailies will take up most of your journal. This is where you get the specifics down - plans, to-do's, notes, inspiration, and reflections for each day. There are several ways to go about setting up the dailies. When I started my journal, I was more of a "let it flow" girl. I would create a daily header (ex. Saturday 10.29.16) and then truly let it flow from there. Some days I would use the whole page. Some days I would only use a few lines. Wherever I left off at that day's end, I would create the header for the next day and continue the flow. This method definitely has its benefits. The freedom to journal in more detail was my favorite part. I could really reflect on my day, write down inspirational quotes from my reading, etc. Reading back on these is always a lot of fun. Here are some examples where I let it flow with my dailies: 

I found that once school was in full swing, I wanted to be able to see and plan my whole week. When you let it flow, this isn't possible. Of course you can always refer to your monthly spread, but for me that wasn't the same as seeing my week at a glance. This is when I transitioned into daily spreads. I could lay out the entire week on a Sunday night and be all set. This is also beneficial when your weeks get too busy to make heading designs daily. Of course the drawback to the spread is the pro of letting it flow: you lose out on space to really go deep on the journaling. It becomes more of a quick list. I do find, however, that weekly spreads look incredibly beautiful. Here are some of my weekly spreads: 

As is the case with all things bullet journal, there is no right way to do this. As I transition into summer, I can see myself getting back into the "flow" because I will have more time to slow down and reflect. As I have said time and time again, it's really about what your needs are and what works best for you... AND you can always change it up whenever you feel. :)

I hope you are enjoying your journaling process! In case you didn't catch the other posts in the BuJo Set Up Series, I will link them below. Thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to see images of your journal! Tag them on Instagram using #fdstlbujosetupseries. 

Warm wishes from me to you,

Fleur de St. Louis BuJo Set Up Series:
*Bonjour BuJo n°2: Journaling Essentials (and extras)
*Bonjour BuJo n°4: Setting Up the Key
*Bonjour BuJo n°5: Setting Up the Index
*Bonjour BuJo n°6: Setting Up the Future (& Birthday) Log
*Bonjour BuJo n°7: Setting Up the Monthly Spread

Bonjour BuJo (n°7): Setting up the Monthly Spread

Bonjour, fellow bullet journalers! It's been about a week since the last Bonjour BuJo set up post, and I am excited to announce that in just one more post after today, your journal will be fully up and running! Of course I will come back every now and then with tips that will help you personalize even more to fit your specific needs. :) 

Today, I'm showing you my monthly spreads. Immediately following my future log is my first monthly spread of the journal. This spread introduces a new section. It also acts as a more detailed future log for that specific month. I never set up my entire month at once, so sometimes I need to note down plans with friends, events, and appointments here. The future log does this on a much grander scale. The monthly spread allows you to begin to zoom in on that particular month in more detail. 

People lay out their monthly spreads in tons of different ways. A simple Pinterest search of "bullet journal monthly" reveals a wide variety of layouts, colors, elements, etc. I was really drawn to this particular image, and it inspired my February 2017 monthly. (Note that I often write days, months, etc. in French in my journal. I'm always looking for ways to add that bit of French flair!) Not only did this layout function beautifully, it inspired me to start using a monthly color scheme. The pens and highlighters chosen for this spread were carried throughout my February dailies as well (more to come on this). I loved this layout and color scheme idea so much, I've been using it ever since. It works for me. This is not to say I won't ever venture out and try something new, but for the time being I am consistently happy with this approach.

Below are photos of my February, March, April and May monthlies. One night this week, I got so excited for June (this is when my boyfriend and I leave for our European adventure) that I went ahead and laid that monthly out as well. I can't wait to share it with you. It is one of my favorites so far, and you will instantly see why. :) 

I return to this spread each week as I am planning. I love the little gold binder clips from the dollar section at Michael's. I always clip it around the monthly and the current week for easy access. My best advice when it comes to monthly spreads is to seek out inspiration and find something that functions well for you. And remember, you are always free to make a change in the new month. 

If you are following along and setting up with me, I would love to see your monthly spreads. Tag your images on Instagram at #fdstlbujosetupseries, or click this tag on my journal posts to see all of my images together. 

Warm wishes from me to you.
You're almost all set up!

Lauren 

Bonjour BuJo (n°6): Setting Up the Future (& Birthday) Log

Rainy Saturdays call for time to slow down. With the Gilmore Girls keeping me company, I'm wrapped up in my favorite soft blanket and journaling away. In case you are spending your Saturday similarly, I wanted to get the next step in the BuJo set up series up on the blog. 

My goal today was to share my future log, but then a happy accident occurred. As I finished drawing out my future log spreads (intended for pages 1-4), I realized I had accidentally skipped pages 1-2. Now my future log was on pages 3-6 and I had two hanging pages. I told you, these things happen constantly. No worries, though, because there is always a creative solution. I had been wanting to include a birthday log in this journal anyway, so rather than place it after the future log I used those two blank pages and placed it before. Problem solved, and now you get a bonus BuJo feature! 

(Future Log)

The future log is not something that all journalers have found useful. I, however, used this tool regularly in my first journal and knew I would want to incorporate it again. The purpose of the future log is to have a space where you can jot down events & important dates that are occurring in the future. This is handy because the bullet journal is created as you go. When I'm creating pages for June but make a hair appointment for August, I want to be able to get that date down so I won't forget later. The future log is just the spot. 

(Future Log - This cute washi was purchased at Hobby Lobby.)

The future log begins the month your journal begins. Because I will be starting to use this journal in June, my future log starts with June and runs through January. I set it up for eight months in my first journal and that was just about perfect (I ended up squeezing in one more month). I went with eight months again here. I was inspired by a layout I saw on Pinterest and decided to carry out the color scheme & theme I had use on the rest of my "set up" pages. Schemes & themes keep me from getting lost in all of the possibilities. I will talk more about this when we set up our monthly and daily spreads. I'm not exactly sure what I will do with the "notes" section, but I like how it visually balanced out the layout. If I don't use it, I won't include it next time. It's that simple. 

(Birthday Log)

And now to make those two blank pages look like they had an intended purpose all along! They made the perfect home for this simple but handy birthday spread (which uses a Create 365 stamp set purchased at Michael's and Versa Magic ink). I love doing small, fun things for my family and friends to make their birthdays extra special. This will help me keep track of all of those very special dates. (The cake stamp pictured is from a set I found in the dollar bin at Target.) 

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday, rain or shine. Whatever you are doing, I hope it is exactly what you needed. :) Happy journaling, and please share your layouts and designs with me. I would love to see! You can tag your photos with #fdstlbujosetupseries on Instagram. Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warm wishes from me to you,

Lauren 

Bonjour BuJo (n°5): Setting Up the Index

Bonjour fellow bullet journalers! I hope you enjoyed creating your keys. :)

Today we move to the next step of bullet journal set up, the index. If you went with the Leuchtturm1917 journal, this step won't apply to you as your journal has a built in Index. You are already set up and ready to go! For anyone working with a Moleskine like me or any other plain journal, a little set up will be necessary but will also take you a long way. 

The index is just that - a place to keep track of the location of various calendars, monthly plans, daily plans, lists, etc. in your journal. Every page in the journal (beginning after the index) is numbered. I love numbering by hand, but again my Leuchtturm friends have another box already checked with pre numbered pages! You record the contents of the page and its number or number range here. Below is a photo of the index in my first bullet journal - very simple. I set aside four pages and labeled each index across the top. It looks like I will only end up using two pages, but it's better to have extra space than not enough. You can see that I distinguished the start of a new month with colored boxes. Along the way, I also put little symbols to the left of pages I found myself referring to often. There's that evolution again. :) 

This time around, I wanted to change the index up a bit (though I am going to stick with four pages). I was talking to a friend at lunch last week who asked me if I'd ever seen the two column index. This version includes a column for calendar related pages (ones you are less likely to go back to) and another for collection pages (lists, etc. that you might refer to often - more on this to come!). After scrolling through my Pinterest board for inspiration, I discovered that I had in fact pinned this very design. It felt like a sign that it was worth trying. I really loved the sea green, black and gold theme used in my key and chose to carry that through to my index. This was totally a personal preference - you can design this in any way you'd like! I love the little globes (washi tape purchased at Hobby Lobby). You can tell my European travels are on my mind... 

I'm excited to see how the two column index works for me and I will let you know if I recommend it! Whichever route you take, the index is an important piece of your journal. Because a bullet journal flows fairly freely, things end up where they end up. Having a quick reference makes journal use incredibly efficient and friendly. 

Happy index creation! I would love to see photos of what you create! Tag me on Instagram. You can hashtag your images #fdstlbujosetupseries. I'm always looking for new inspiration. :) 

Warm wishes from me to you,

Lauren 

Bonjour BuJo (n°4): Setting Up the Key

Bonjour readers! A few of you have expressed interest in this BuJo "set up" series and your voices have been heard! A fresh new journal makes you giddy to get started, and I am going to do my best to roll out this "set up" series at a pace that doesn't rush you, but that also gives you what you need when you need it. The series will feature BuJo foundations and by summer, you should have tools to run wild with a fun summer project! Before we get rolling on this series, a few things to keep it mind:

*Make your journal your own. Your journal will not be quite like anyone else's journal, as the bullet journal is specifically meant to suit your needs. I am here to provide a jumping off point and hopefully you will find a few ideas/designs that resonate with you, but I am by no means the knower of all things BuJo. Search the web, get on Instagram, check out Pinterest, and talk to other journalers as you discover what works for you. You can view my Pinterest inspiration board here. It has taken me about eight months, and I have finally begun to figure out what works for me (though my needs are honestly ever changing and my journal is still evolving).


*It won't be perfect and that is OK! There are pages you are going to be really darn proud of, and pages you will want to turn faster than you can blink, never looking back. (Dramatic, right? But I know you get me.) Don't lose sight of the bullet journal's essential purpose: to streamline. Streamline your calendar, planners, journals, lists, etc. You want to increase productivity and stimulate creativity - but this should be a positive experience! There WILL be crooked washi tape and misspelled words, but ultimately this process should bring a sense of focus. If the beautifying part isn't your thing - that's OK! If you want to try to add some embellishment but feel inexperienced, just try it out! You will learn and grow as you go. I tell my students that mistakes make learning happen every day ... sometimes that's hard advice to take myself, but it's so true!

Now let's get to the fun part. :)

The key is the very first page in your journal. Here, you set up the icons and symbols you will use as you make plans, create lists, set goals, find inspiration, show gratitude, etc. In my first journal I kept my key fairly simple, and I will stick to this as I begin my second journal. There are inspiration photos out there with too many icons and symbols to count. Remember, you want to streamline. If it gets too complicated, it will no longer be a useful tool. Simple is good! 

(My journal keys. Left is my new journal, right is my first journal.)

You can see that I didn't make many changes this time around, except I removed two icons because I just didn't use them regularly. I like simple designs and I'm a fan of white space, though I may end up going back and adding something above my laurel wreath eventually. That's the beauty. It can unfold in time. And a note on inspiration - the frame around my first key was inspired by the frame that hangs on Monica and Rachel's apartment door in Friends. I think I was Netflix binging at the time... :)

Update: I made my new key minutes before adding this photo to the post. Some of the gold gel pen ink has already smudged onto the adjacent white page. I told you, these things WILL happen. I had my "cringe" moment, and then I shrugged it off. It's best to just roll with it!

Key creation, while only requiring one page, will be a big part of your daily journal use. If you aren't sure what icons you will want, start with the basics: to do, completed, delayed, cancelled, and notes. You can always leave some extra white space and go back and add if you find you need another icon later. The adaptability of the bullet journal is, in my opinion, one if it's greatest qualities. 

Happy bullet journaling! Get rolling on those keys.

Warm wishes from me to you,

Lauren