Below the flip-through of the whole journal, each theme has it’s own flip-through video, below which I list the stationery used and my inspiration for the theme.
Make sure you check out my review of the 100 gsm Dingbats journal that is FSC certified AND vegan certified. I focused on putting into action what I learnt from reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, so each month shows how I implemented a new habit and tweaked them later on if they didn’t achieve the desired results.
2025 part 2 – New journal setup
Stickers printed from purchased graphic art set
Avarrix Premium Clear Sticker Paper
Posca glitter pen
Faber-Castell Metallic marker
Uniball Signo Noble Metal gel pens
I’d decided to once again choose a journal with lighter-weight paper, which definitely limits my art media choices. I settled on using a beautiful graphic art set I’d purchased a few years ago, printing out the images of animals and leaves on clear sticker paper so that it would blend in with the caramel-cream paper. I chose pens in colours that blended with the colours of the stickers, and when it seemed most were metallic or glitter pens, I restricted my choice to those.
July – Snowflakes
Paper
Collage papers
Stickers
Metallic watercolour paints
Pigma Micron pens
Gelly Roll pen
I decided I wanted to try cutting snowflakes from folded paper – you know, like paper doll chains? Then because they were white, I needed them to contrast with my journal page, so I placed them on top of collage papers, mostly in black and dark blues. The colours were a bit cool for the dark cream paper in the Dingbats journal, but I had so much fun creating the snowflakes and I love how they look.
August – Pirates
Washi tape
Stickers
Gelly Roll pen
Pigma Micron pens
Uniball Signo Angelic gel pen
It was time to pull out the washi tape for another go this month. I’ve been wanting to do a pirate theme for ages now, because I had this really cool set of pirate stickers from Djeco. I married the two, and created four washi tape pictures using templates to cut the shapes I needed, and use the stickers to decorate the rest of my pages.
September – Squeaky mischief
‘Squeaky mischief’ pre-cut washi tape
Washi tape
Gelly Roll pen
Uniball Signo pen
Tombow dual brush pens
There’s not much work to do when you have a new, cute pre-cut washi tape from The Washi Tape Shop. It’s just a matter of arranging the stickers in a pleasing way and finding a few matching pen colours. I built out the pages with some washi tape in my collection and loved the colour palette when I was finished.
October – Trellis spiders
Altenew diecut tapes
Washi tapes
Home-printed spider stickers
Tombow dual brush pen
Versa Magic chalk based ink
Stencil
Fountain pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink
Pigma Micron pen
I’ve been dying to find an interesting way to use these two tapes. I’ve used small pieces of both the lattice tape and the flower tape, and then realised that if I fussy cut the flowers they’d look like they were climbing over the lattice. The spiders were an added touch in honour of Halloween. I put coloured washi tape behind the lattice so it would contrast more. I added rub-on stickers to fill in some gaps.
November – Chonky cats
‘Chonky cat’ washi tape sticker set
Lettering stamp set
Versa Magic chalk based ink
Staedtler markers
Pigma Micron pens
I’ve been relying a lot on stickers for decoration in this notebook as the 100gsm is thinner and I can’t do my normal constructions and heavy media. The dark cream coloured paper has also limited me to using warm colours. This ‘Chonky cat’ washi tape sticker set from the Washi Tape Shop was perfect, and was added to some colour-coordinated washi tapes in my store and matching pens, along with a statement stamp for the lettering.
December – Peekaboo birds
Washi tape sticker set
Washi tapes
Exacto knife, cutting board and scissors
Tombow dual brush pen
Pigma Micron pen
I couldn’t leave this journal without some sort of creative paper cutting theme, so I thought of one that would work on the thinner paper. I cut out shapes in multiple layers, creating a peekaboo effect that showed birds through multiple pages. I also used the stickers and washi to decorate page edges, then cut other pages narrower to show the bird through. This sticker set was from the Washi Tape Shop and I love the sepia-toned theme that gives it an old-time feel.