October 2026 Spiderweb Design Theme
Quick and easy 'spooky' doodle design.
In honor of spooky season, I drew spiders and spiderwebs on my black painted journal pages.
I used colored pencil, metallic ink pens, acrylic paint marker, archival ink pens, calendar stamps, archival stamp ink, and acrylic stamp block.
NOTE: While the page layouts are like 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
I knew I wanted Halloween-themed pages on black painted pages. I painted the pages with black gesso (two coats/applications per page) and let it dry overnight.
I referenced many online images of spiderwebs for ideas and inspiration. Once the images reminded me that 'perfect' spiderwebs were rare, I got to doodling.
My white gel pen ran out of ink, so I used a white colored pencil to draw multiple spiderwebs. I saw online that spiderwebs sometimes start from existing spiderwebs, so I made sure to have a few connect to others.
I originally embossed a calendar stamp in the mini-calendar box, but I accidentally used the wrong stamp. I stamped the correct calendar on a cut piece of copy paper that I used to mask my error.
The spiders are ugly, or so I believe. I considered re-painting them to look realistic or cutesy, but I did not want to devote more time to the design. So, I stuck with them as-is.
Hobbies & Dogs' Pages
Because I used stamped copy paper to mask my embossing error on the previous page, I did the same on these pages for consistency's sake. Honestly, I think the pages needed more white as contrast.
Despite not liking how the spiders looked, I enjoyed drawing them. At least it is obvious they are spiders. I now wish I added small, baby spiders to all the pages. That may have made the design look too busy, but I may still add them later on if I still want to see them in a few days.
Highlights and Mood Pages
The highlights page is primarily empty. I thought numbering along the left side of the page, but I decided to do so when I wrote my good thing or highlight each day. See the image below for an example of how the page may look through the month.
I originally considered drawing thirty-one spiders on the mood page to represent each day in October. I would have drawn a design on the back to represent my overall mood for each day.
I worried that drawing so many spiders, no matter how big or small, would make the page look chaotic and busy. So, I decided to make a simple circular tracker design. This will be the only page that includes colors other than the white and gold used throughout the design. It may look out of place, but I do not mind a touch of color on my pages.
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 the things I want to do for my dogs to ensure their happiness and well-being.
The hobbies I track are:
art + crafts,
writing,
gaming, and
workout.
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. I rarely complete a bingo (straight line or otherwise), but it is fun to track what I actually get done that 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.
What's Next?
Struggling to come up with a theme for your journal design? Draw inspiration from a random holiday!
Have you set up your journal design? Comment below to share what theme you went with and the materials you used.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
~Simply Jelly Jam
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