Plant-themed journal design for National Garden Month in the US.
In recognition of April as National Garden Month in the US, I used watercolor paints to create a plant-themed journal design.
NOTE: While the pages are like those who setup their Bullet Journals (BuJo), I use this journal more as a memory keeper/diary. The BuJo-inspired pages encourage me to make note of the good things in life, even on the worst days.
In case it's helpful, below are the topics covered in this post:
Title Page
I'm not a green thumb. I do nothing more than cut my grass and clean up after my dogs. Otherwise, my only exposure to gardening is through video games.
For the title page, I drew the first thing that came to mind when I thought of gardening: The Sims 4 life simulation video game's infamous Cowplant.
The Cowplant (Laganaphyllis Simnovorii) can be grown, watered, and fertilized like ordinary plants. However, this carnivorous plant has the head of a cow.
It needs to be fed every twelve hours. It could be petted, played with, and "milked." If the Cowplant is hungry, there's a chance it would eat a person if that person is tempted by the Cowplant's cake-like tongue.
The Cowplant's weird and I'm a weird gaming nerd. This is the only page in my journal design that features a gardening reference from a video game. All other pages are "normal" with normal-looking plants.
I used watercolor paints to color this and the other pages for my April journal design. I treated this as an art exercise to practice my shading skills, but it's clear that I still have lots of room for improvement.
Calendar Overview Pages
The calendar overview is where I note important dates I want to document in my journal.
The larger calendar fills much of both pages. I note events such as birthdays, appointments, and holidays within the appropriate block that represents a day in the month. During the month, I'll make a short note of something that happened.
On the left, I have a mini calendar for next month and another box where I'll note next month's events coming soon. I like being able to visually see ahead to things I may need to be aware of before those days come.
I doodled leafy shapes for several garden planters on both pages. I don't know if the plants resemble real-life vegetation, but they were quick and easy to doodle and paint.
Highlights and Trackers' Pages
Every night, I write a line of text highlighting one good thing about that day on my highlights page. Usually, I write about a simple thing that made me happy. Even on the worst days, I try to think about a highlight of that day to write down. This page is intentionally left blank since I'll fill it in throughout the month.
On the trackers page, I note when I complete my favorite hobbies. While many journal enthusiasts track their habits, tracking my favorite hobbies reminds me to dedicate time for myself and happiness. The hobbies I track are:
arts + crafts,
writing, and
gaming.
My dogs' care and happiness are equally important. I track the following for my dogs:
when they go for a joy ride,
when I've cared for their coat with a brush, leave-in shampoo, or bath,
when they received teeth care with brush chews or teeth brushing,
when they participated in extended, extra, or hyper playtime, and
when something unusual happens with my senior dog.
Since I'll fill the pages throughout the month, I kept the design minimal along the bottom of the pages. I doodled plants and gardening tools to have some color and visual interest.
Mood Page
I treat my mood tracker page as a coloring page of sorts. Each night, I'll color-in a part of an image that represents my overall mood for that day: awesome, meh/OK, bad/sad, or sick.
I originally intended to have more details on this page but opted for thirty simple garden pot shapes to keep things easy for myself. It filled the page well. The garden pots will be easy to color-in throughout April.
My Thoughts
I wanted this month's design theme to represent National Garden Month. Maybe it wasn't the best choice for someone who doesn't garden except seldomly in video games.
The plants are fictional, but at least most of them look like plants. The Cowplant would confuse everyone unfamiliar with The Sims game. However, I believe I'll giggle when I look back at that image in the future.
What's Next?
With April as National Garden Month in the US, I'm inspired to do more gardening in some of my favorite simulation video games. I may also complete garden-themed paintings, so check back to see if I have any new floral art to share in the month of April.
Have you setup your April journal design? Comment below to share what theme you went with and what materials you used to create it.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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