Get The Look: February Monthly Setup

Hey crafty people! 

As February rolls around, I'm finally getting to actually look at the goals I have for this year!  January tends to be a whirl wind of planner & journal setups, PBC sales, and winter blues setting in.  So, February is where I usually start to realize the year is *already* getting away from me.  

One of the goals I have for this year is to be more present on social media, to put myself out there more.  I LOVE teaching stenciling to others & showing how you can add stenciling into your crafty life.   While there will be more on this later, it relates to this blog post too.  

Sometimes it can be so hard to actually know how to use stencils.  I take this for granted, but I've talked to several of you lately that have stated this very sentiment.  I have close friends who have been stenciling for years that still want to know exactly what to use for layouts.  While I hope you'll be unafraid to try things on your own, I wanted to start this series of posts in order to help spark ideas.  This will hopefully be a monthly (or more often?) series.  Since I am doing a general Swiftie theme in my journal monthly layouts, it makes a perfect backdrop for it.  

I'll be showing you exactly what stencils (and other products) I use for layouts, as well as mentioning any tips!  Where I can, I'll be dropping the direct link to products.  However, sometimes products will be out of stock or I'll be sampling from several sheets.   I'll be as specific as I can with links, but I'll always try to link the business at a minimum.  

I also won't be mentioning some of the other things I use as a basic stenciling supply like washi to hold down stencils, pens/markers/pencils, erasers, or inking brushes (grab these in the shop!)

Without further ado, 

Get the Look-February Monthly Bullet Journal Setup!

For each monthly setup in my Bullet Journal, I follow the same formula-I tip in two pages of A5 Dotgrid Notepad Paper from Archer and Olive (My current Journal is also an A5 dot grid notebook from Archer and Olive!).  These are currently out of stock, but I really hope they restock soon--I don't have many months of paper left!

To tip in the pages, I use Tipin Tape (20mm) from Lauren Phelps Designs. 

On the "front" of my layout, I have a monthly 'title' page with the month, a (usually small) calendar, and whatever my theme is.   This year, I'm using our monthly bracelet headers to use one of Taylor Swifts Albums for each month's theme.  For February, it's Speak Now!  (And yes, I will go back and do one of these for January's album-Reputation!)

I start out with the base of the layout: The Friendship Bracelets Monthly Header Stencil (Jan-Apr) and used markers & pen to fill in the beads once I had my bracelet traced. 

I also use the Journaling Basics Stencil to create an at-a-glance Calendar.  

From there, it just became a matter of adding bits of Speak Now inspired stenciling!  I find with this type of layout, more is typically better--my rule of thumb is that if you don't like it yet, just keep going.   I try to add a variety of patterns that vary in size and density of the pattern, as well as fun highlights (like the dragons or heart stencils above).   Here are the rest of the stencils I used on the front page: 

*Glimmering Pattern Stencil
*Butterflies Pattern Stencil
*New Dragon Variety Stencil 1
*Heart Fireworks Volume 2
*Tiny Hearts Pattern Stencil
*Bow Variety Stencil

Of course, you don't have to use all (or any!) of these--use what you have, play around with things, and make it your own!  Remember, if you're worried about how it will turn out, the great thing about stenciling is that you can always grab a scrap sheet of paper and test it out first!  

Once I have my stenciling down, I played with all the themed stickers and washi until I liked the look!  (I'll link those at the end!)




When I open up the tipped in pages, I use my middle two sheets (the ones that are actually a part of the notebook) to set up a monthly calendar.  This is where I'll write all the good stuff--my plans, birthdays, appointments, etc.  

The first thing I do for this is set up the calendar portion. Fo this I used the Brush Boxes Calendar Builder A5 Stencil and a variety of pinks and purple Distress Oxide Inks.  for this technique, I just take a little bit of each color and brush them randomly into the stencil.  At the end, I'll take the last color and blend them together.   From there, I'll date my calendar and then put the month on top.   I used the Marker Upper Case Font Stencil for this one!

From there, it's again a matter of playing around with your stencils to find the patterns and placements you like!   I used the Glimmering and Butterflies stencils again (We love a good multi use stencil!--this, in my opinion, is one reason I love stenciling-the ability to use them repeatedly & to change up how you use them!)   I also added in the Poinsettia Pattern Stencil for the last bit of background and the Eras Silhouettes 2 Stencil to add an extra pop! Finally, I again added stickers and washi to my liking.  



On one of the two tipped in pages, I keep a mood tracker each month.  I use this to follow how my general mood is each month.   For this month, I wanted to stick with the butterfly theme & again used our Butterflies pattern stencil.  Using a pattern in a different way, such as to trace repeatedly for a mood tracker, allows you to get even more life out of your stencils!  I finished off the page with our Grass Edger stencil at the bottom! (And some mowed lawn Distress Oxide Ink).   

On the other tipped in page is my final monthly page-a 'one good thing a day' page. I use this to write one good thing that happened each day.   After my dad died 4 years ago, I had the hardest time feeling any reason to smile. Starting this practice allowed me to start seeing the good things in my day, no matter how small.  Sometimes it's the big things-like a trip to Italy or a Taylor Swift concert-but a lot of times it's the small things-a hug or smile from one of my nephews, a warm blanket and a good book, my favorite snack, or a message from a friend.  I love having this small bit of good from each day so when I'm sad I can read through things and relive the good things that are present.   

For this page, I typically do a small pattern or design on the side to leave lots of room for the actual good things.   Here, I once again used the glimmering stencil (I feel like it'll be present for a lot of Swiftie things this year!) as well as our Dragon Castle Stencil.  This one was important for me to include because of the line in Long Live (My favorite song from Speak Now)--"I had the time of my life fighting Dragons with you". It felt significant enough that I planned basically the whole page around it. 

Finally, here are all the extras I used in my setup! 

I used washi tape from both The Sticker Party (The butterfly washi) and Creativity and Ink (The Speak Now washi).  While neither of these washi rolls are currently available, you should definitely check out both shop's washi selections!  

For stickers, I used stickers from two of my favorites, The Sticker Party and Sugar Pop Fizz. 

From The Sticker Party, I used the Speak Now Era sheet.   From Sugar Pop Fizz, I pulled from several different coordinating sheets, so I won't even be able to tell you specifically which ones, though they were all from her Speak Now collection. SPF carries a wide variety of sizes of stickers, so you can definitely pick something that fits your specific planner size!  This Deco sheet is a perfect starting point though! 

The last thing I used all over these layouts was Distress Oxide Ink from Tim Holtz.  This ink is the perfect stenciling ink starting point for anyone looking to stencil in a planner or journal where bleeding and ghosting are a factor!  They're smooth inks with relatively quick drying times, but they sit on top of paper so they don't ghost.  They're also super blendable and beginner friendly!  Importantly, make sure you look for the Oxide name on them, or for the stamp pad to be gray rather than black.  The black (regular Distress Ink) can and will bleed on some papers!  You can get these inks from any number of craft stores, so feel free to shop around for the best prices!  They now offer mini ink pads which are perfect for building a wider range of colors!   I'll link my favorite local scrapbook store, Scrappy Chic, in case you want to support an amazing independent business!  


And that's it!  The most important thing in all of these spreads is to allow yourself to have fun & play around--it might not be perfect, but life rarely is.  My motto is that all that matters is that it's functional, pretty enough to make me want to flip to it and use it, and done.  The more you play around and use your stencils, the more comfortable you'll get with these types of layouts, so pull out an old notebook, a scrap piece of paper, or your journal and just start!  

Let me know if you have any questions or what you're stenciling in February! 

Happy Stenciling! 
<3 Courtney