June 2025 Duck Detective Journal Design

Simply Jelly Jam
May 27
3 min read

Inspired by the artwork of a detective video game sequel.

June 2025 "Glamping Duck Detective" Journal Design

This month's journal design theme took inspiration from a casual detective game: Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping.

I used calendar stamps, stamp inks, archival ink pens, gel pens, watercolor paints, and paintbrushes.

NOTE: While the page layouts are similar to Bullet Journal (BuJo) setups you have seen online, I use this journal as a diary/memory keeper, not for productivity. 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 main points covered in this post:

Calendar Overview Pages
Hobbies & Dogs' Pages
Highlights and Mood Pages
Detailed Info About the Pages
What's Next?

Calendar Overview Pages

I was once inspired by the casual detective game: Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping. I recently enjoyed playing this game and watching the characters' stories unfold!

I included the main characters, Eugene McQuacklin (the duck detective) and his loyal sidekick, Freddy Frederson. In case you decide to play the game one day, I will not spoil the other characters' names.

Stars were added to create a connection to the mood tracker page. I originally intended to add a background color, but these pages alone took me hours to complete. I chose to move on to the next pages.

Hobbies & Dogs' Pages

I included more characters and objects partially overlapping various boxes. Unfortunately, I did not realized that I could not label two of the boxes. I at least know what I am tracking in those boxes, but I will make sure I do not make this same mistake again for future journal designs.

I again added stars to create a connection to the calendar overview and mood tracker pages.

Highlights and Mood Pages

The highlights page will be filled by the end of the month. For now, I included police car lights along the bottom to represent the end of the game. Spoiler alert: someone goes to jail!

I will color a star each day on the mood page. The stars surround a very 'important' character in the game. Some may consider him a star!

Detailed Info About the Pages

The calendar overview is where I note important dates I want to document in my journal. For example, I will make a short note of something that happened on different days.

I also highlight the best and worst things to happen during the month. I primarily want to document positive things on the decorated pages, but I feel it is also important to document bad things, especially if it is a lesson learned.

While many journal enthusiasts track their habits, I track my favorite hobbies as a reminder to dedicate time for fun. I also track things I want to do for my dogs to ensure their happiness and well-being.

The hobbies I track are:

art + crafts,
writing, and
gaming.

I also track the following for my dogs:

when they go for a joy ride (their favorite thing to do),
when they go for a long walk,
when I care for their coat with a brush, leave-in shampoo, or bath,
when they receive teeth care with brush chews or teeth brushing, and
when they get to relax with a picnic in the park.

I especially wanted to track my young dog's training progress. We will focus on mastering a few skills. I would love for her to become a Canine Good Citizen one day. Unfortunately, I am horrible with training. We have a long training road ahead of us.

The BINGO game is just a goofy activity to note and track a wish list of things I would like to accomplish during the month.

Every night, I write a line of text highlighting one good thing about the day on the highlights page (left). It forces me to think on the bright side, especially on the most challenging days when my depression hits hard.

I treat my mood tracker page (right) as a coloring page of sorts. Each night, I will color-in a part of an image or shape that represented my overall mood for that day.