September 2026 Books Design
Treating my-shelf to a book design theme.
In honor of September (or is it celebrated December?) as Read a New Book Month, I doodled and painted books on my journal pages!
I used watercolor, metallic ink pens, archival ink pens, calendar stamps, archival stamp ink, acrylic stamp block, and pencils (for initial sketches).
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 read online that December was Read a New Book Month, but that it was also celebrated in September. Since I will likely do a winter or Christmas themed design in at the end of the year, I felt that now was a good time to doodle some books.
I doodled vertical, horizontal, and angled books of varying rectangle sizes. I also doodled some decorative plants and objects. For these pages, I chose to doodle an alarm clock and picture frame.
I used watercolor paints to add color and metallic ink pens (gold and silver) to add details and shine to the design.
I originally planned to paint the background dark blue, but I got lazy.
Hobbies & Dogs' Pages
Instead of a picture frame, I opted for a globe in between the two min-calendars on the right page. This ended up being an Okay idea since I completely forgot to paint a few of the books a teal color.
I attempted to stick with a semi-minimal color palette: brown, green, teal, orange, red, and purple. This was challenging because I am used to using however many colors available to me. At least I tried.
Highlights and Mood Pages
I doodled a large frame for the highlights page and a full bookcase for the mood page. I again added plants, picture frame objects, and books.
The books are uncolored on the right page since I will color them throughout the month. By the end of the month, both pages will be filled with text and color.
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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