Get the Look: June Monthly Setup

Hello! 

I know it's almost August, but better late than never, am I right?  

If you're new here, I'm using one of Taylor Swift's albums each month for my monthly layout inspiration! When I first started this project, Lover always felt like it tore me in two directions-one to February, and one to the Summer.  Lover has always felt like a Summer album to me, but it also felt like it HAD to go into February. When I made the decision to flip the order around, I was really happy to have Lover be left for June. It just FEELS right, you know? Plus, lover has a lot of Pride vibes, so it's great for Pride month. And, since the Eras Tour, Cruel Summer has been the iconic song of summer-at least in my car. So we're at June, and I have one of my favorite albums here! Here's how I set up my monthly:

First, one monthly disclaimer: I will post direct links to items not from my shop when possible.  If they're not available (or in the case of a few shops, if I've pulled from several sheets of the same thing) I'll post the shop link/collection link whenever possible.  I'm not planning on keeping track of the exact colors of Distress Oxide Ink I use, but this is typically my go to ink. I won't be mentioning tools that I use when making these layouts, such as washi to hold down the stencils, pens/markers used, or the brushes & other tools I use to apply ink (or other media) to stencils. I do hope to get my life together and do a post about tools I typically use soon though! (And the fact that this JUNE blog is being posted a stone's throw from August should tell you that those hopes are not the highest right now!)

Here's how to get the look for June's Lover theme!  (IF you'd like to see exactly how I did the entire layout, check it out here!)



First up, the cover page of my monthly layout! For this, I use 2 A5 pages of white dot grid notepad paper from Archer and Olive. They recently brought their notepads back and I'm so happy I was able to snag a white one! I use these every month! At the time of writing this, it looks like the white is out of stock, but hopefully you can grab one soon here! 

From there, I start by using our Friendship Bracelet Monthly Header (May-Aug) to write our friendship bracelet month of June. Next, I use our Journaling Basics stencil for my at a glance calendar.  These two are my first steps every month.  From here, I start to use lover themed stencils to give it the fun, flirty, playful summer vibes of Lover! First up, I traced our Love House Stencil, because the Lover House is iconic at this point!  Next, I used both pieces of our Cloud & Shadows 2 Piece set to make the pink and blue clouds that make me think of Lover and the Eras Tour every time!  I also used some patterned stencils (Tiny Hearts, Heart Lattice, and Field of Stars) to give the lover themed vibes to the background of the page. As far as stenciling on this layout goes, the last thing I did was take specific cutouts from stencils, traced in a black pen, to leave a bolder impact on it. Those stencils were the Stoplight from the New York City 2 Stencil, The bow & arrow and London silhouette from the Musical Eras Volume 2 Stencil, a Light strand from the Light Strands Stencil, and A silhouette from the Eras Silhouette Volume 2 Stencil.  From there, I used some adorable stickers from some favorite Swiftie shops to create the rest of the layout. We'll talk about that later!



After finishing the cover of my monthly, I opened up my journal and made my functional calendar page! To do this, I used our Heart Brush Boxes Calendar Stencil and several colors of Tim Holtz Distressed Oxide ink to create the whimsical watercolor-inspired boxes! I've mentioned the technique before, but I typically chose anywhere from 3-5 ink colors and slowly add a little of each to each box. I blend them together as I go to give the effect that I love on these calendars!  After that, I used the Heart and Lattice Stencil, Cloud & Shadows 2 piece stencil, and the Flamingo Float Pattern Stencil.  Once again, I finished this up with some Lover themed stickers, which we'll talk about at the end! 


Next up, on the inside of one of my Notepad pages, I used the lightbulb on our Christmas Classics Stencil and traced it 30 times. I drew tangled strands between the rows and numbered the bulbs. Throughout the month, I'll use markers to color in the moods I have for each day. I also used our Marker Upper Case Font for the header.  

For the last page of my layout, I leave a space to write down something that was good or made me happy each day. These are usually short little phrases/sentences ranging from "it's the weekend" and "i took a nap" to "Saw the Eras tour in Italy!" and "Saw the northern lights" For this page I tend to just do some light stenciling.  For this one, I used our Butterfly and Snake Tat Stencil to add some Lover inspired color to it!

And finally, to pull my whole setup together, I used sheets from several of my favorite Swiftie shops! I used elements from the Lover Decoration Character Planner Sticker sheet from Adorably Amy Designs, stickers from several different sheets in the Lover collection from Sugar Pop Fizz, and the Lover Monthly layout from Caffeine Queens, personalized to June.  I also used 20mm Tipin Tape from Lauren Phelps Designs to attach my notepad pages into my bullet journal.  This could also be done by gluing the pages in using a glue runner, but I love the ease of use, extra space, and ability to fold over that the Tipin Tape gives me! 

I use (and recommend for planners/journalers!) Tim Holtz Distress OXIDE ink! There were several shades of pink and blue used for this layout, but in general, the Oxide ink is the best bet for minimal ghosting, no bleeding, and smooth blendability.  You can find these at most major craft stores both in person and online--but make sure you look for the word Oxide on the packaging, or that the plastic case the ink is in is gray and not black! If you'd like to support an independent craft store, my favorite local one is Scrappy Chic in Livonia, Michigan. 


And that's how I made my June Lover inspired layout! I can't tell you how relieved I am to come to the end of this blog post. It's a line on my to-do list that's been hanging over my head since the end of May. Hopefully you will see the July blog post posted soon after this! 

Until then, 
happy planning!

Courtney