Birthday Self-Care Bullet Journal Project
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I’m not really a birthday person - I don’t do big parties, I don’t have my birthday on my Facebook and if I meet people out and about on the day, I don’t usually tell them it’s my birthday. But I’m letting you in on my secret - it’s my birthday today! I’m 34! Yep, that makes me a big old Libra. If you’re into astrology, I’m actually a Libra sun AND rising!
I usually dedicate my October theme to something pink. It isn’t technically my favourite colour, but it does seem to represent me well. However, this year I leaned RIGHT into the Halloween vibes for October instead. It left me feeling like I still wanted to make something just for me - so here we are. You can watch me set up these pages at the video embedded below, or keep scrolling for the photos-and-text version.
Setting Intentions with a Quote Page
I spent some time making a few journal pages focused on growth - kind of a little self-check-in. I love how they’ve turned out - I think I might bring this idea forward with me every year! The first spread is a quote page and a dutch door page with my fresh new age on it.
(Another) Floral Theme
I knew I wanted to make these pages floral themed, but I also wanted to mix my florals up a bit. Just this year I’ve made themes with roses, simplified florals and daisies all represented in my journal and I wanted something different. I watched a few tutorials but nothing was singing to me, so I went to the flower market and bought myself a bunch of carnations - a birthday treat to myself - and used them as a visual reference for the flowers I drew in my book.
I also added some leaves - carnations don’t have leaves like these but I love the way leaves can connect a floral design and help fill a page!
I used the lightest baby pink *Tombow dual brush pen 800 for the flowers, the *slightly darker pink 761 to give the flowers some extra depth (I’ve just learned this pen’s shade is called “carnation” - I had no idea!) and the *asparagus green 192 for the stems and leaves.
I cut along the design on the right page with a craft knife to make a dutch door, and made sure the carnation decorations on the following page would sit behind it nicely.
I’ve used two washi tapes from *the Washi Tape Shop in this theme quite a bit, both came as part of the *Moonbeam Garden Journal Set bundle, but you can buy *just the 5-piece washi tape set here. The gold lettering was all done with a *gold Sharpie.
“34 Things I Love” Page
The next page is dedicated to a list of 34 things I love! I alternated the pale pink *800 and an *N89 Tombow, which is a warm grey, to highlight the spaces where I’ll fill in my list later when I’m ready to sit down with a cup of tea.
A Check-In With Myself
I’m pretty excited about the next spread - this is where the self-care element comes in, besides the meditative process that is setting up any journal layout. These pages are a check-in with myself. On the left side are spaces for reflection and manifestation - the headings are “20 years ago I was:”, “10 years ago I was” and “In 10 years I will be:”. If you’re a bit younger than me and you’d like to make a layout like this, you can absolutely make these time periods more recent - 5 year or even two year increments will work too!
On the facing page is an intentions box - I’m thinking of it like a who-I’d-like-to-be list, particularly for the things I’d like to change in the next year. I plan to fill these pages out, as well as the 34 things I love list, today on my actual birthday!
The Timeline of My Life
The last spread was a fun reflective exercise as I set it up - it’s a simple timeline of the biggest events in my life to date, from school achievements to graduating university and starting my business.
I’ve used washi tape for the timeline axis, as well as a bit of decoration - both these washi tapes are from *the Washi Tape Shop as part of the *Moonbeam Garden Journal Set bundle, specifically the “fragrance” set.
If you decide to spoil yourself and make something similar for your own birthday, I’d love to see! Tag me or send it via DM on Instagram - I’m @erinsmith.art
Now I’m off to eat cake, drink tea and fill out my birthday journal pages!
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