2022 Bullet Journal Setup and January Theme

Happy 2022 everyone!  It’s a new year, and you know what that means - a new bullet journal!!!  Last year I bought a beautiful journal from Archer and Olive and while I enjoyed it a lot, there were a few things about it that I found myself wishing for it.  

1. I had 192 pages and that was barely enough.  I found myself trying to find ways to double up a few weeks in order to have enough room.  

2. I really wished I had a spot at the beginning of the journal to put things like important dates etc… but I hadn’t allotted for that because of the number of pages.  

Still, I really loved a LOT of things about this journal.  My favorite things about it were: 

1. The pages were super thick, and so I could do just about anything to them (except alcohol markers), and they wouldn’t ghost at all.  This included all of my water based pens, watercolors, fineliners, and gouache.  It was glorious and amazing.  

2. The size and layout of the dot grid was awesome and I knew I wanted the same again.  I keep my layouts pretty standard from month to month and my weekly layout never changes, so I knew I wanted that same size and grid pattern.  

3. I liked the built in bookmarks and back pocket and wanted those features again.  

So, I spent a LOT of time considering journals.  I wanted to keep my budget around $30-45, but I also wanted the similar quality and more pages.  I did a lot of looking and researching, and I came across Vivid Scribbles Company.  They had a 200 page journal that claimed an Archer and Olive level of no ghosting, and that also included extra pages like an index in the front and pen test spot in the back.  What’s even better is that this was all for $24.99!!!!  I figured it was too good to be true, but for the price figured I’d definitely buy one to try.  I got this journal a few months back, and this particular color seems to be discontinued but here it is:  

I tested several types of pens on the pen test page, along with 2 different kinds of watercolor.  The book has no ghosting for any of the tests I tried!  I’d even say that each type of pen took 4-5 passes on the pages well before I was concerned at all about tearing.  I rarely would do that many passes, if ever, so I’m super pleased with these tests.  The index and key etc… at the front is a great addition to the book, and this one has 3 ribbons instead of the 2 on the Archer and Olive notebook.  Theirs had a fancy metal weight at the end of each ribbon, and while that is a nice detail it’s not necessary and I don’t miss it!  

I got my journal at the Amazon link listed here, and I also am going to link the Vivid Scribbles main site too!  So far, this has been a wonderful bullet journal option and I’d recommend it to anyone that is looking for a solid, affordable bullet journal!  

This year, along with an index that I’m going to do by month, I also allotted a page for important dates, and have one more blank page to use as needed.  I also always make a page in the front for all of my friends and family birthdays and anniversaries, and a spot to categorize the books I’ve read.  I added a spot for movies and games too this year to that page!  

Finally, my monthly spreads are a little different this year.  I’m making my mood trackers smaller and adding other monthly habits to the same page.  Then, with my extra page I’m dedicating a page each month for planning for YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and this blog.  So far I’m super happy with how this is turning out!  This month I went with a cool colored striped sweater theme, and my mood tracker is a snowman’s scarf. 

Here’s a video that goes through the whole thing and shows off all of the details! 

Do you keep a bullet journal?  How do you lay yours out?  Let me know in the comments below!

March Sketchbox - Holy Markers Batman!!!!

I was so excited for this Sketchbox to get here, and my heart just about burst when I opened it!  

Late last year, we got a box that had a combination of water-based and alcohol-based markers and I had commented at that time on how much better it would have been if it was all alcohol markers.  

WELL IT'S HERE!  

This box is full of alcohol markers and MAN was I excited!  But of course, not all alcohol markers are created equal, and so I tabled my excitement and got to swatching!  Here's my swatches and my thoughts on each product.  

Contents, Prices, and Swatches: 

1. Marabu Marker Set (Sketchbox Exclusive) - $17.50

This set came with a blender, pink, purple, and red alcohol markers with chisel and bullet nibs.  I honestly loved these markers.  They are pigmented, blendable, and a fabulous standard alcohol marker! They performed fabulous on their own and with the other markers as well,  These colors were a fabulous foundation for the rest of what was to come.  It also came with two "permanent" markers in brown and green with bullet and fineliner nibs. These permanent markers are alcohol-based and worked beautifully as fineliners and as regular alcohol markers as well.  Other than the barrel/nibs, I saw no difference between these and the other alcohol markers.  

2.  Copic Sketch, V12 Pale Lilac - $7.99

What can I say, it's a Copic Sketch.  It's the king of all alcohol markers.  It worked like a dream, and the other markers worked wonderfully with it!   Copic Sketch has a brush and chisel nib, which is my preferred nib combo for an alcohol marker BUT I'm not too picky - I've worked with all types!  

3. Copic Classic, V15 Mallow - $7.99

This was a lovely medium purple which allowed for a LOVELY purple gradient!  Purples are generally VERY hard to blend with alcohol markers, but these three purples (Copic Classic, Copic Sketch, and the Marabu Purple) actually achieved a great blend on the paper!  This marker has a bullet and chisel nib and will get lots of use in my collection because of it's color! 

4. AD Spectra Marker, 047 Walnut and 012 Wine - $6.55 each

These were also a fabulous addition to the box!! The wine color was a beautiful dark red that worked wonderfully with the Marabu red marker!  The walnut made a nice blend with the brown Marabu marker too!  These markers have a brush and pointed chisel nib.  I LOVE the pointed chisel nib, it gets fine details AND can cover large areas - it's a really unique tip!  I have had Spectra markers before and I am always impressed by their quality. 

5.  AD Marker Paper, 4x6in Pad, 24 Sheets - $8.49

So at first glance I LOVED this paper.  The swatches worked so well on there, the blender marker did it's job with everything and the gradients were lovely.  It also bled through but not to the next page, so it can clearly take a lot of marker before ruining further pages would be a problem.  When I started blending on the paper, the paper was not my favorite type of marker paper.  I worked with it for awhile, and the pigment sat on top of the paper and blended so easily that it mixed up on the tips of my markers and blender.  I have used marker paper like this before, and it is not my preference BUT I know loads of people that love it.  I think I need to learn how to use it, and so after doing two practice pieces on it I decided not to use it for my large art piece for this box.  HOWEVER, I do think this paper is worth the money if you like this type of paper!  

My first practice piece was of some floral doodles that I used to check out the gradients.  I do like how this piece turned out, but the lightest colors got totally erased by the way I tried to blend on the paper.  I still like where I ended up with this one, but I knew for my second idea I wanted to get smooth blends, so I used my marker sketchbook.  

It's no secret at this point that I love the Legend of Zelda.  When I saw these colors, I KNEW I wanted to draw Vaati.  Vaati is the villian of the Minish Cap.  If you are a Zelda fan and you haven't played the Minish Cap, I *HIGHLY* recommend it!  It's such a great game, and is $8 on the Wii or WiiU shop if you own one of those consoles.  Vaati does have some gold on him, but I just swapped out the brown for the gold.  I also used the lightest purple and the blender to make the skin as "purple gray" as possible, and I think it worked out quite well!  Full disclosure, I did use a black fineliner and a while gel pen to do line work and add details to this piece, but he was so beautiful that I couldn't resist adding those details!  Overall, this is my second Vaati piece in the last year, and I love drawing him.  I love his cape too!  

In addition, my lovely 7 year old daughter always does the Sketchbox with me!  She LOVES them and is often even better with random supplies than me. I love her creative spirit so much!  When she swatched this box, she immediately knew what she wanted to draw - the Truffula Trees from the Lorax!  I love how her picture turned out: 

 

So overall, was this box worth it?  ABSOLUTELY!  The color palette was absolutely beautiful, and worked together SO well to make artwork.  The alcohol markers are all good quality and will be added to my collection proudly! The nibs on the Spectra markers make me want to look out for them on sales to see if I can grab some more because they were so useful and unique!  And, even though I didn't love that marker paper I now KNOW how it works/behaves and so I can practice on it and decide if I'd like to buy more of i.!  This box was SO much fun to play with! 

Did you get this month's Sketchbox?  What did you think of it?  Are you a fan of alcohol markers?  What would you make with this box?  Let me know in the comments below!

The Sketchbook Project Flipthrough - Level Up!

 Wow guys - I can't believe I did it!  

When I signed up for The Sketchbook Project, I was excited and nervous.  I loved the concept, and I wanted to be a part of it, BUT putting myself out there in that way felt terrifying.  If you've never heard about the project, you can read more about it here.  The Sketchbook Project was created by the Brooklyn Art Library. Taken from their website, here's a little info about them:  

Brooklyn Art Library is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that has been completely funded by participation since 2006. We work to ensure that we are fulfilling our mission of encouraging creative storytelling within a global community by keeping our physical library space free and open to the public, our digital library accessible worldwide, and making our collection as accessible as possible to people of all ages and skill levels through robust education programming.

I love the inclusive nature of their mission statement, and I know I had to be a part of it!  When I got my Sketchbook, it was in October of 2020, and I was deep into Linktober.  Linktober was huge for me this year, and it really has given me a lot more confident in my skills, even as a hobbyist.  But Linktober gave the shape to the sketchbook, because I knew I wanted to draw video game characters.  

I named the project "Level Up."  The idea was that through the drawing of specific characters and ideas I would be leveling up my own art, so I leaned into the video game pun.  I had a lot of fun drawing each individual piece, and I tried to challenge myself in different ways.  I used alcohol markers, watercolors, gouache and posca pens, metallic watercolors, graphite and water soluble graphite during the course of this book.  I also tried many different types of characters and even a few landscapes and full screen scenes.  

I've highlighted a few of my favorite pieces here, but click below for a full, explained flip through!  I also will have a faster flipthrough on my instagram highlights/story as well.  

Once the sketchbook is digitized, I'll have a link here and as a tab on my page!  

What are your thoughts on The Sketchbook Project?  Would you ever fill one out?  What would your sketchbook be about? Let me know in the comments below!  

Skillshare Class - Build Your Own Doodle Library

 One of the things that is advertised to me almost every time I'm on YouTube is Skillshare.  I was skeptical at first, and then after hearing about all of the classes they offered, I figured I'd grab a free trial and try it out.  Now, I'm hooked!  I've watched some classes on bullet journaling, and have started a few on watercoloring and illustration. The first class I've really done completely, with projects and all, is this class on doodling. 

Somewhere along the way of becoming an adult, I quit doodling.  As I have rediscovered the artsy side of myself in the past 2 years, one of the areas that I lacked confidence has been line work. I took this class as a way to improve my line work and my ability to detail a simple drawing.  Pooja's class was a wonderful exploration of these exact things and even encouraged us to do 10 pencil-less doodles at the end of the class. That, was a challenge but I enjoyed it!  The idea of this is to have your own clip art library at the end of the class. And while I'm not going to keep all of these images for that purpose, having a bunch of them that I can scan and play with in procreate sounds absolutely amazing!  

These pictures are far from perfect, but several of them are WAY better than what I would have expected from myself even 2 months ago!  I mean, look at that monstera leaf!!! I was particularly proud of that one!  

I also am doodling my way through this class a second time with my 7 year old daughter!  She saw me taking the class, and she immediately wanted to try it!  I might share her progress here in the future - but she is really learning a ton too.  This really is a class for anyone and everyone!  I'm just going to post a few of my favorite pages here, the full flipthrough will be in my Instastories highlight reel!  If you've ever thought about Skillshare before I'd highly recommend giving it a try!  I'm pretty sure the website offers you a 1 week free trial, but if you want a longer free trial, go find an art YouTuber and get their code. 

Also, if you aren't following Pooja and her art on instagram - you should be!  You can find her at @by_the_lakeside.  Thanks again Pooja for your amazing class - I cannot wait to work through many of your watercolor classes as well!