Hello!

I’ve been bullet journalling since 2017 and over the eight years I’ve been doing it, I haven’t suddenly developed the ability to draw, to write in fancy cursive lettering or come up with brand new layouts every single month, but I still think I have a journal that is not only very functional but looks nice too!

Do I use the same basic layout every single month? Pretty much but today I want to share what I think are the best tools you can use to have a pretty journal without needing any real skill.

Coloured Pens

Definitely an obvious place to start, but just because I can’t draw doesn’t mean I can’t maintain a colour theme – picking a colour each month makes everything look more cohesive, so having highlighters, felt tip pens and fine liner pens in coordinating colours, maybe some glitter gel pens or metallic markers for accent moments but just having cohesive colours can make monthly spreads or weekly spreads is a really easy way to tie everything together.

I personally love the Crayola markers, particularly the pastel set, then Steadler are my go to for fineliners and highlighters, but honestly I’ve got brush markers and mildliner highlighters and all sorts! None of them bleed through the pages of my journal and the colours are so nice. I love getting all my pens out when I’m doing my monthly spreads!

Letter Stamps

Sometimes I just used the coloured pens and my actual handwriting, but having letter stamps that look a bit like a typewriter font is just another way to make the spreads look a little less homemade? Not that looking homemade is bad, I think I just mean that it feels more scrapbook-ish? I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but my letter stamps look better than my handwriting, the only reason I don’t always use them is because the words don’t always fit on the page.

I got my stamps super cheap from Flying Tiger (they were cheaper when I bought them when I was at uni a million years ago), but I’m looking to get these ones from Amazon because it has upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation. I figure after five or so years of using the same ones, I can justify an upgrade… Maybe one day 😂

Stickers

Stickers. Are. Everything.

Whether it’s letter stickers, decorative stickers – cute animals, flowers and leaves, aesthetic stickers that match your colour scheme – stickers are fun and actually, a bullet journal is a great place to put stickers if you’re one of those people who is scared to commit to actually putting stickers somewhere!

I’m always on the hunt for stickers, I’ve had a few of those bundles you can get on Amazon where you get 50 random stickers in a variety of themes (I’ve had Animal Crossing, books, and Bluey so far). You can get loads of really cute stickers on Etsy and RedBubble – I know it’s super popular at the moment to get a clear Kindle case and use stickers (without sticking them down) to decorate it, but a journal is also a great place for stickers!

Especially where a lot of these stickers represent phases we go through – 2023 was the year I discovered Bluey, 2024 is the year I became a dance teacher, maybe there’s some cute Harry Styles or Taylor Swift stickers that can commemorate a concert or nerdy stickers that represent a comiccon – journals are a great way to have those meaningful stickers in one place, but are always a great way to decorate your pages to bring more fun to the functionality.

Washi tape

My tape collection is arguably out of control, but similarly – I would argue I don’t have a full rainbow of coloured tapes yet. Is there such a thing as too much washi tape? I wholeheartedly believe not.

Being able to make nice borders or divide pages or stick additional paper in – washi tape makes it all so much more aesthetic! I’ve got my eye on this Van Gogh themed washi tape set and I’m obsessed. It adds another dimension to your spreads, it’s a great way to tie in those colour themes and cutting and sticking things will always be fun and I won’t hear anything against it.

And sometimes it sparkles. Washi tape is amazing.

Last but by no means least, it’s not a tool as such but I thoroughly recommend a dotted journal – I thought it would be difficult to write in when I first got mine because it obviously doesn’t have lines, but I can assure you that the dots are enough, but they give so much more flexibility in being able to draw boxes and divide pages and making sure you’re sticking your washi tape in a straight line!

Without these tools, I don’t think I’d enjoy making my bullet journal spreads as much as I do – as the end of a month approaches, I get excited to spend an afternoon getting all my supplies out and being creative while catching up on watching YouTube or listening to an audiobook!

Is there anything you think I’ve missed from my list? I’m always on the lookout for new bullet journal products!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx