Themes

I often see people asking for theme ideas or wanting to know how people choose their themes. When I started journaling, I didn’t follow a theme and just copied spreads that I had seen online. I then discovered that they were a great opportunity to really explore an idea and how it could be applied in different layouts and to relate to different subjects.

I now have more ideas for themes than months to apply them! I get inspiration from all over the place. I’ll see a photo on Pinterest, or see wildlife or landscapes that interest me when I’m engaging in my many outdoors hobbies. I’m inspired by the journaling community but will always try to find my own angle, for instance changing the medium. When I decided I would like to do a mushroom theme for instance, I combined it with papercrafts to make the theme my own. I often use sticker sets as inspiration, and this is then a time-saving solution for my dailies and to fill any small gaps.

I recommend thinking about what your hobbies are – for a start you must like journaling, so you could have a theme based on drawing pens and other stationery supplies. As you get more confident in drawing, you could draw your favourite animals, or a fantasy theme – the possibilities are endless. Take a look at my themes below. You’ll see a photo that represents the theme, a link to the flip-through of that journal with a time-stamp for that theme or for more recent themes, a video of that theme, and I list the materials I used and explain where I got my idea. I hope these inspire you!

If you decide to copy one of my spreads and share your work online, it would be lovely if you could acknowledge me by giving either my Instagram handle (@theusefuljournal) or my website (theusefuljournal.com). Thanks!

By Journal/Year