My Favourite Spreads of 2018

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Taking a look back at this year gave me the chance to highlight some of my favourite spreads of 2018 from my bullet journal. From weeklies to set ups and many, many doodles I hope you enjoy this peek into my bujo.

2018- A good year to get organized

So I had been dabbling in a semi-bullet journal throughout the last few years. My agenda had doodles and lists and post it’s for extra tracker space. But I started a full blown bullet journal in January of 2018. Just one year ago!

Let me tell you I was nervous. I knew some of the things that I wanted to include but I had much more that I wasn’t sure how to incorporate. As the months passed I became much more comfortable the bullet journal method. I started to understand what I was doing, what worked and even increased my drawing ability. Check out the Evolution of my Bullet Journal to see how my layouts and spreads changed over the course of the last year.

Over all I was so happy that I decided to dive into this method of organization and time management. It was the perfect way for me to make sure that I could have all my organization tools in one spot instead of needing to use an agenda, 3 notebooks and a million post-its.

Below are some of my favourite spreads of the year! There are weekly spreads, monthly setups, a calendar and cover page. Remember to let me know what you think in the comments below!

• Related: December Plan with Me
• Related: November Flip Through

Monthly Set Up

Calendar

This was the first spread that I really tried to do a bit more of an artistic take on in my journal. I was super excited about doing a fox theme and was happy with so many of the spreads that came out of my April set up.

The way the colours came together in the geometric fox and the floral washi tape is awesome. Even though having a traditional calendar spread was short lived this is definitely my favourite of them and it gave me much more confidence in trying things out of my comfort zone.

I am a fan of the Ryder calendar. It’s super easy to fill in and I find it more useful than a calendar like the spread before this one.

This spread is a little cramped but hear me out. I was testing a lot of things here to see what I liked and what I stuck with through the month. Having a little spot for gratitude turned into a staple in all of the months to come as you’ll see below.

It also showed me that I didn’t have very many habits to track so I didn’t need a whole page for that. The contrast of the colours in this spread is super maximalist and the quote is one I ended up using again on the cover of my 2019 Bujo Set Up. 

Gratitude and Chores Tracker

So after February I was pretty sure that I wanted to have a full page gratitude tracker so I did that every month starting in April. But I didn’t start building this chores tracker until June. It was a game changer. I have never felt less stressed about house work or seen my house more consistently clean than when I started doing this. Read about how to put one together for yourself here.

This spread, to me, is just one of those that works. I loved the combination of the dream catchers and the unicorns throughout my September layouts. It’s magical and spiritual for me. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I am OBSESSED with the Crayola metallic markers and that comes through in this spread too.

The little unicorn is just adorable and the dream catcher here turned out wonderfully. I can’t get enough of this spread.

Another version of my gratitude and chores tracker layout, this mermaid spread is so pretty! It’s much softer than the unicorn one but still has that pull for me.

When I found that picture of the mermaid in the teacup I knew I needed to try and recreate it. I loved getting to try out the ombre effect with my tombows in the mermaids’ hair, and the thankful title.

Weeklies

Sometimes simple spreads are the best. This weekly spread is almost fully black and white but I love the way it turned out. There is that extra textural element with the scrolls as the daily boxes and just that quick pop of red in the top corner. The old time script also works so well in this spread. Oh Hedwig, I wish you had brought me a letter from Hogwarts.

This spread was actually really interesting because I used to just write the day and date and section off my pages. Then I added in my goal boxes for work and a to-do list on the other side. That was it. This spread was the first time that I just added in doodles through the week. I ended up having some blank space and I filled it with these forest animal doodles. Here was the result.

Another much more simple spread. Simple black boxes served as my dailies here. I wanted them to feel like portraits hanging on the wall so if you flipped through these weeks in October there is a different “frame” and character in a different box each week. I love the Nightmare Before Christmas and I love my Sally drawing here!

Bi-weekly Goals and Notes

Honestly, my unicorn and dream catcher theme was one of my favourites of the year. It was beautiful. I loved the more masculine feel of this spread. It was super different for me but it would go on to influence my December theme way more than I thought.

Cover Page

I don’t usually do quote or cover pages but this one was just so cute. It was a small way to reassure myself that it was ok to showcase me. What I like, what I do and what I relate to. It’s, again, super simple but has just enough personality for me. Plus each of my girls made their own version of it at the same time. It was a lot of fun to draw little oddishes together.

After thought

There were so many spread that I really liked this year and some of my Decemeber weeklies were my best of the year! Stay tuned as that post will be up next. Make sure to subscribe or follow me on social media to get notified of when it goes up!

I was so happy to be able to explore a whole slew of different spreads, layouts, trackers, collections this year. It was also great to test out some different supplies to get new effects and styles.

These favourite spreads of 2018 will inspire me into next year and give me a reminder of what works in my bullet journal. What a great exercise in reflection!

You can take a look at my full flip throughs here

If you’re thinking about starting to bullet journal definitely do it! Your spreads won’t always be pretty (I have some that are terrible) but each teaches you something. I think that bullet journaling is actually the easiest, most effective way to plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy it just needs to work for you.