Gemma 
For my birthday last month, my dad bought me this gorgeous purple aster, which is now getting used to its new home in our garden. I wasn’t sure what theme to go with for my June bullet journal setup this year, but, as I was admiring the pretty, purple flowers one morning, I realised they’d be a) super easy to doodle and b) a perfect starting point for a bullet journal theme!
This bullet journal setup ended up with a slightly strange hybrid of themes, but I actually think that they come together really nicely to form a super summer-y, happy setup. I’ve used a combination of asters, wavy line work, gingham patterns and confetti doodles to infuse this setup with some sunshine-y joy and, despite the fact I had no set plan going into it, I’m surprisingly pleased with how it turned out!
Table of Contents
Equipment
To create this setup, I used the following equipment:
- Uni Pin Fine Line pen: 0.5, sepia.
- Tombow ABT Dual Brush Pens: Pale Yellow (062), Periwinkle (603) and Purple Sage (623).
- Scissors.
- Corner rounder (this is optional, but I like to round off the corners of the pages I trim down, to minimise the risk of sharp paper-induced injuries).
Cover Page
Throughout this setup, I used my Tombow pens for the majority of the doodles/decorations. I used Pale Yellow to add all of the gingham designs and draw the centres of the asters, Purple Sage to draw the aster petals and then the fine end of Periwinkle to add some little lines to define the centres of the asters. I used all three Tombow colours for the confetti doodles, then used my Sepia fineliner for all of the text and the lines, which I kept purposely messy and wavy (which, as an added bonus, massively speeds up the process!).
Typically, I include a quote page alongside my Cover Page, but, recently, I’ve been struggling with using quotes in my monthly setup: they’ve been feeling a little like something I include because I always have, rather than being an intentional addition. This month, I decided to use that space for something else instead: a list of things to look forward to in June! I’m someone who loves looking forward to things, so I think that having a list here full of all the exciting (big and small) things coming up this month will be a really positive addition to my journal.
Monthly Calendar
A Calendar spread is a staple in my monthly bullet journal setups: it really helps me to visualise the month ahead and keep track of any events/appointments. The Future Log at the start of my bullet journal is my main calendar, but it’s laid out in a vertical format (so I can fit in a whole year’s worth of events more easily!), so I find it helpful to add in a spread each month with a more visual, grid format too.
For this grid calendar, each box is made up of 6 x 6 dot grid squares. I added a little dot of Pale Yellow to the bottom right corner of each box, then wrote the dates over the top of those dots using my Sepia fineliner.
Weekly Spreads
Now we come to the Weekly Spreads, where I write my daily to-do lists. This is the section of my monthly setups that I use most frequently: it really helps me plan out my days and gives me a good overview of each week as it comes.
I’m still using my favourite layout for these weekly spreads, where I trim down the central pages of the section (and round off the corners!), leaving spaces on both the far right and left that are visible no matter what week you’re on. I use those spaces for my ‘master task lists’: tasks I know I need to do at some point, but don’t necessarily have a specific date in mind for yet.
There isn’t much space on the weekly spreads themselves, so I opted to incorporate the gingham design into the master task list sections instead. Admittedly, I’m not sure how legible my task lists will be when written on top of this pattern, but I did want to include the gingham design somewhere! I guess we’ll just have to see…
To save myself some time, I included 8 days, as opposed to 7, in the first and last ‘weekly’ spreads (June started on a Sunday and ends on a Monday this year). I often do this, just so that I don’t have to set up as many pages (less effort and less time needed: it’s a win-win!).
June Review
Finally, we come to my June Review section. This is a spread that I like to include in every monthly setup: it functions as a kind of ‘wrap-up’ of the month, which I find really fun to refer back to.
The format of this review spread is exactly the same as its previous iterations: on the right-hand page, I have the ‘June Review’ heading and a large space to stick in a polaroid from the month gone by. Then, on the left-hand page, I have spaces to note down the ATP & WTA Top 10 players at the end of the month (still have the tennis bug, apparently!), as well as a space to write down my favourite memory from the month.
At the bottom of that left-hand page, I also have six spaces to write down my favourite songs from the month. I find this particularly fun to check back on, seeing what songs have consistently been in my top 6 and remembering the memories/experiences associated with each one. To add an extra bit of whimsy to this section, I added a different, random doodle to each of the yellow dots in these sections.
Final Thoughts
This was another super quick and easy bullet journal setup, which was exactly what I needed (seeing as I started (and, thankfully, finished) this setup on 1st June!).
I have to say, I think this spread turned out SO summer-y and joyful: the gingham design makes me think of picnics, the asters are super pretty and remind me of the lovely gift from my dad, and the confetti adds a sense of celebration and fun. I’m not usually a huge fan of lemon yellow, but I really love how it looks with both of the purple shades here: the spread feels very sunshine-y and sweet.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my June bullet journal setup. Hopefully, next month, I’ll be a bit more prepared and not end up making my July setup in… July!
Gemma
xxx
