Hello and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast hosted
by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go by Mark
Your pages. And I'm Jess Ojasi, Karen.
And in this episode we're talking about something that I
get pretty excited about, and that is decoration.
But not just decoration. The skill behind decoration, the
things that make it so that you can decorate your planner in
such a way that gives you kind of the warm fuzzies, the good
feeling as opposed to putting a whole bunch of stickers down and
then realizing, oh, look, I just wasted all those stickers and I
don't even like the end outcome. But what is even more exciting
than decoration is the fact that, well, typically this
podcast just has your two true planner pals.
We actually have another plan of how joining us today.
This one, you may know, she is a former wedding photographer
turned content creator full time.
We would love to give a big shout out to Aaron of Aaron
Smith. Thank you so much for being here
with us. Hi, thank you so much for having
me. I'm really honoured that you
think I'm good enough at journal decorating to have me talk about
this. No, you literally were the first
person we thought of when we were talking about different
ideas and whatnot. I was like, you know what?
I'm really bad at this. I just feel like it's a skill.
I don't know that I have it. Like, who else would be someone
that we could talk to about it? And literally your name was the
first one that popped up and we're like, let's make it
happen. Thanks pals.
So the first thing we want to chat about just from a whole is
just going to be decorative planning and kind of how do we
get to the point where we are now?
I'm kind of back seating this conversation because I'm not as
decorative planning. Maybe we want to define it a
little bit kind of like what we think it is because for me,
sometimes decorative planning honestly is just putting some
stickers on a page. Maybe, you know, gluing
something in and I'm like, I've decorated.
But I feel like what you 2 do in your planners or have done in
your planners is just like next level.
I don't have that skill. So I'm just going to sit back a
little bit and let you all share about how you got to where you
were because I'm not there at any point yet.
I see you with your stamps here, you'd be decorating, you'd be
with that creative lettering and such.
And of course, as per always, we are not the journal police.
We're not here to say like this is the hard and fast line of
where decoration stops or ends or whatnot.
But decorative things can be very maximalist.
A lot of decoration, it can be very small touches, minimal kind
of decoration. In terms of decoration, by your
standpoint, Aaron, what would you consider to be like, yes,
this is decorative versus no, that is minimalist?
I feel like we actually have a pretty good spectrum amongst the
three of us and there's definitely more minimal than
Mark, but I would say Mark is at our minimal end of our spectrum.
And just I'd say you're probably in the middle.
And then I'm maybe more towards the maximalist side.
But really anything that is an aesthetic choice that you're
making in your journal is decorative.
Even if you're not adding stickers and washy tape, if
you're choosing to do something in a pretty font for title,
you're decorating it. So we're kind of all doing it a
little bit, even if we don't realize.
It no, I think that's a pretty good way to define it as well.
It's like, you know, anything that is done for that visual
element. So it doesn't have to be the
typical kind of traditional, I guess the way that we would
think of decoration in a planner.
Because if you say just decoration to me, my mind will
instantly go to that kind of like hardcore maximalism, Like
people be whipping out their paints maybe, or doing a whole
bunch of doodling and drawing and such.
But technically speaking, you can have a very wide spectrum
for decoration. So it could be those really
small touches. And I think that if you keep
that in mind when it comes to thinking about your decorative
stuff in your planner, it can make it a lot more approachable
for people if they keep in mind that it doesn't have to be like
hardcore all the decoration all over the page all at once.
Absolutely. I would say it's actually what
drew me to creative planning and you know, the old bullet journal
method in the 1st place because being able to change it up every
month is what was really exciting to me.
And so that's kind of what's kept me coming back.
I, I was one of those people who would abandoned a planner after
like 3 weeks of the year, like a pre printed planner.
But I haven't missed a month of keeping my creative journal
since I started it in September 2017.
So it's the decoration that keeps me here.
I think that having it is kind of like that foundational part
of your journal and keeping it so then you do actually come
back to and use your journal or use your planner can be really
helpful for people. Because like you said, if you're
going to quit a pre printed planner three weeks into it,
it's like, cool, wasted my time, wasted my money, wasted my
effort to whatnot. So having something fun like
that to bring you back to it can almost become not just a
decorative thing, but almost like a functional thing for you
because it's like, yeah, this keeps me be coming back and
actually using my productivity or planning system.
So I kind of almost see decoration as like a functional
fundamental of my planning. Yeah.
It's part of a creative practice, right?
It's kind of a self-expression method as well as a planning
method. I think that's really cool.
So when it comes to that planning part, because, you
know, I think a big part of the conversation when it comes to
decorative planning is it's a waste of time where you're
spending so much time decorating your pages and doing this whole
piece. I'm gonna be like the devil's
advocate of like the conversation today is it's like
the more middle of this guy. I don't believe this, right?
But at least we've probably all heard this throughout our time
of sharing our things online in YouTube.
So for Someone Like You, Aaron, that like, you know, kind of
like you said on that farther side of the spectrum of
decorative planning, do you see that as a waste of time?
Or how would you kind of have that conversation with someone
that was like, you're wasting all your time doing that?
Like it's not productive what you're doing because you could
be doing so much more at that time?
Like what's your usual counter conversation to that when you're
hearing that? Let a girl have a hobby.
I feel like we're really, there's such a big trend at the
moment towards analog hobbies and just like getting offline.
And I think you know, with with come from a place of wanting to
be really, really productive all of the time to being like, it's
okay to rest actually. So this is a way to bring both
of those together. And as maybe if I was being a
little bit cheeky, I would also say, well, it sustains me as a
career. So clearly it's not a waste of
time. That's an amazing answer to it.
I think that's a really big part.
I think that you can both have a hobby and be productive at the
same exact time, right? Like it's a fun thing to do.
So if it's one of those things, as we've talked about in past
episodes too, I mean, if you're doing so much decorating, but
then not using your journal because you're spending so much
time in it, like I can agree, right?
That's not a positive use of your time.
That's not a positive use of your journal as a whole.
Really. It's just kind of like you're
just throwing things into it because you feel like you have
to versus I think we're probably a lot the time comes into this
where you finally realize like I can do both.
I mean, I know for myself there are weeks when like I don't have
enough time to sit down and do like a crazy ass spread, right?
And I know that I know the time that I have.
So I'm like, OK, bare bones, real minimal, get it done this
week. And there's other times where
I'm like, Oh, I've got this idea and I'm working through and
penciling it in throughout the weekend and finally go to sit
down and like execute on that idea.
And at no point during that process for me am I like, oh,
this is a waste of time. I'm like, yes, this is helping
me work towards a goal of something that I want to.
And then go ahead and start using it.
It's always a very positive feeling for me.
I also feel that it very much depends on what the purpose is
for your planner or journal. Because for some people the
decoration is the purpose. Like it is the creative aspect
in terms of like their hobbies that they have or whatnot.
It is the thing that brings them joy and it's cup filling and
such. Whereas maybe the productivity
aspect of planning isn't actually what they're there for.
So that could also be a factor. Yeah, I had that thought too.
I've definitely had comments from people a few times who are
like, I'd love to keep a journal like this, but I don't have
enough planning to justify it. And I'm like, cool, start a junk
journal. Like it doesn't actually have to
be about planning. It can be or you know, a reading
journal is so much fun to decorate.
Like I think even if it is a planner set up and then you
didn't use it, if you had a good time setting it up, it wasn't
wasted and now you have something pretty to look at.
And if you want to, you can go back and fill it with other
things. But you also don't have to.
I love that as a sentiment, if you had a good time with it, it
wasn't wasted. I think also something too that
I've been thinking about a lot recently with that conversation
is find the size journal that works for the size of your life
at that point too. Like I know B sixes are like all
the rage right now because it's a little, you know, it's smaller
than that A5 size. You can kind of fill it up
really nicely versus going into that conversation, right, and
saying, I don't have a lot going on and then grabbing like AB 5
off of your shelf, right? And like trying to fill out an
entire page in a week and you maybe make it halfway down or
kind of the opposite. That's what's happened to me
where I was like, you know what, I'm using like several pages a
week in an A5. I need to step put up a notch
and kind of go to AB5 and like right now I'm actually kind of
on the opposite side of that. This is the great thing about
having a library of blank notebooks next to me is that I
can say, you know what, right now life does not require AB5
size. I can go down to a square or an
A5 and kind of approach it that way.
And I think that's like a really important part of it as well as
like, hey, I don't have a lot going on.
Well, you can decorate inside of a smaller one, fill out the
notes that you have and feel good about both things at the
same time. I love that you consider going
to a square like a size downgrade because that's still
huge to me. I'm working in a traveler's at
the moment for my my personal journal.
And yeah, I think going to the square sounds terrifying.
That's so much fun. I think that changing up a size
can be a really great opportunity to play around with
decorative stuff. But I think that one of the
things that really possibly holds people back from getting
started with decorative planning or, you know, decorative
journaling or whatnot is just like that fear of messing up or
like worrying that you're not going to be able to execute in
the way that it is in your find. Like the number of times I have
had a really great idea for a layout and then I just cannot
get myself to actually put it on paper.
So I feel like those kind of things and the possible mistakes
that come with trying to decorate your planner that can
definitely hold people back in terms of like, you know,
beginner mistakes or mistakes that you made through your
decorating journey. Erin, what do you reckon some of
the ones that are kind of common for people to make?
I don't love the word mistakes necessarily because I feel like
like anything to learn, you kind of have to go through it to get
to the other side and be in a place where you feel comfortable
with things. But I definitely think trying to
jump in with too many things at once can be a little bit of a
hurdle when you're decorating. So if you're just starting out,
I would recommend going with something a little bit simpler.
Maybe just pick like a couple of colors and work with those.
Definitely buying a lot of stationary before you've kind of
really committed to the hobby can be a bit of a trap because
then you're also overwhelmed not just with your page space, but
with how much stuff you have to choose from from you might feel
like you have to use all of it. And this one's really hard for a
lot of us and it was hard for me in the beginning too, but you
know, we can reach a point where we let it go.
I think it also helps that I'm Australian and we just have this
she'll be right attitude about most things in life.
But just letting go of a mistake.
I know it's so hard to do, but like in the long term, anything
that you've done in your journal isn't really going to matter in
a few months from now. And you're probably not going to
remember your mistakes as much as you're going to remember the
things that you made that were beautiful.
So just trying to let go of that perfection.
I know it's hard, but it's really important.
I like what you said there, though.
I think you have to be able to make those mistakes though, to
then get to the point where you can let those go.
Like this past week, I was doing some stamping and I just stamped
something down. And I always tell myself, never
stamp the same thing twice, right?
It's going to blur. It's not going to look great.
And I went ahead and did it anyway.
And I was like, this looks like poop on my page.
And I literally just moved it down a line, popped it looked
great and I just left it there and I was like, wow, Mark,
because usually I would have been like, cover that up.
Do with, you know, like I was find all these other solutions
to try to fix it. And almost to your exact point,
I was like, it doesn't matter. It's a weekly.
It's literally not even a 2cm of a space.
Like it's not a big deal and kind of moved along from there.
I'm also a big proponent, though, in that same breath of
saying cover mistakes with stickers or like washi tape.
Like it's a really great way. Your page looks really cool and
nice and you've if you use some of the washi tape that you never
ever use, usually cover up a mistake, you're good to go.
I love that it's stamps for you because to me stamps are like an
expert level journal tool and I tend to avoid them a little bit.
And you're like minimalist guy and you're out here with your
stamps. I love it.
I also love that we sometimes do have to learn multiple times
over. It's like, OK, the first time I
tried to double stamp something, it didn't work.
The next time I tried to double stamp something, it didn't work.
And now you're like, what, five years into the piece of
stamping? You're like, you know what?
Maybe if I try it this time, maybe if this time I double
stamp it, it'll be OK, no? My mistakes usually come from
being impatient. So it's like erasing something
that's not dry yet because there's pencil under it.
Or like, I'll just put this here for now and then if I change my
mind, I'll move it. And then you try to peel it up
and it tears your paper underneath and you're like, why
did I do this? I mean, it's funny when you say
like stamps or expert level, whereas like for me, anything
that involves layering paper or, or stickers or anything that
that's just so outside of my space.
It was actually like one of the things I first thought of when
we were planning for this episode is that I, that's why
I'm like, I think that decorative planning is a skill,
like very much a skill, especially when it comes to
that. Because for me, any mistake I've
made with like real, like decorative.
Again, for me, decorative is like adding paper and stickers
and all kinds of just off my page where I've tried it.
I was like, oh, layering, I see people do it.
It looks so nice and beautiful. Aaron, you being one of those
people that can like layer things beautifully.
I just don't think I have like this spatial awareness for it
because I'm like, OK, square piece of paper, OK, sticker on
the corner. And then I'm like, well, then
now where do I write on here? Like maybe I put a washy piece
over here and the next thing you know, it just looks like the
bottom of my trash can after like a crafting session.
Everything's stuck together and it's just, it looks horrible.
So like, that's how I see a lot of this, where I was just like,
yeah, not that that's why I like stamps because it's literally
like stamp ink, paper, Don. I'm like, yeah.
And it looks really nice. That makes sense.
I think you're right in that it's a skill, but what's great
about a skill is that anyone can learn it.
It's really something that it's, it's kind of there are there are
formulas that you can apply. It is a creative thing.
So there's always going to be space for, you know, breaking
the rules and doing whatever you like.
But I definitely have some little cheats that I think could
help you out maybe. Yeah, no, let's let's share the
cheats because I think it's really important because I know,
like I said, for me, this is an area where I'm like, I can never
do that. Whereas like you just said,
you're like stamps, yeah, I could never do that.
So we can certainly get into that space.
A little bit of story time. When I was in school, I did art
class all the way through until like the end of high school.
And my art teacher repeatedly, the feedback she kept giving me
was your thing is just a thing floating in space and it has no
background. Like, I need you to layer
things. And I was like, but I poured my
heart into this. What do you mean it's not deep
enough? And I think I may have taken
that and run too far in the other direction because now I'm
like all about the layers. Everything needs a background
all the time. But as far as jumping into if
you wanted to layer your ephemera of stickers, your
tapes, your pieces of paper, I kind of have like a rule of
three. So if you're looking for a CHEAT
SHEET of a way to get started without kind of feeling
overwhelmed, I would recommend you go for something solid,
something textured and a detail. So you're something solid could
be a solid piece of washi tape that's just one color, or it
could be a piece of paper that maybe it has a little bit of a
pattern on it, but it's not anything too eye-catching,
something that just kind of disappears into the page and
it's like I'm a color. And then you're going to go for
your texture. My very favorite texture that I
use all the time is a wide washi tape with some scripts lettering
on it because it gives you a little bit of something, but
it's not interesting enough that you're like, I want to read this
piece of washi tape. It's just kind of there going a
bookish vibe, you know, something a bit vintage.
And then your detail could be a sticker sheet that you really
love, or it could be a roll of pet pre cut tape, preferably pre
cut because the ones that aren't pre cut just take so long and
you're just going to kind of stack those things.
So everything needs to be touching the thing that came
before it. And then you've got a little
vignette in a corner or down the side and you've got like, just
stop there, leave it there. Repeat anywhere that you've got
a bit of space. Instant theme.
See that's my problem. I don't know when to stop.
I think that's my biggest like, downfall when it comes to this
stuff. And that's that's something
that's trial and error and that depends where you fall on that
minimal to maximal spectrum as well.
Like I might stop here or as Mark you might stop more like
here. So that's personal preference.
Throw it in the trash. How about you, Jess?
Yeah, I think that the the rule of three, I love a rule.
A rule just makes things so much easier.
And I do think that being able to, you know, keep it to those
combining of elements that do like work nicely together.
If you have something in this category, something in this
category, it can make it so much
simpler. I also just love 3 as a number
for decoration in general, like 3 items on a page, 3 colours in
a colour palette or something like that.
It just always seems to be a nice approachable amount because
for a colour palette in particular, if you have two
colours, like sure, OK, like what?
Golden blue. Beautiful.
Absolutely excellent. Love that colour.
That's that's my colour palette in here.
I know, right? It's so good.
It's just a classic. But then if you kind of add
white as a colour into that now it's just like a little bit more
complex. I know white people say like,
oh, it's not a colour. I'm like, yeah, sure.
Talk to Pantone. It really is.
If you're working with Blackout Journal then it's really a
colour. Definitely not that I shall be
using a blackout journal. I'm far too impatient for that.
But gosh, it looks so good when people put the white ink on the
black paper. If you think about it in terms
of like just adding in one extra thing to make it a little
trifecta, a little trio, I find that that just makes it very
still approachable, but also just adds a little bit of
complexity, which can give you a bit more flexibility when it
comes to setting up your layouts.
My current palette that I'm using has a pink kind of peachy
gold kind of color and a dark grey.
And it means that then when I go to put headers in or whatnot, I
have choice. I can use one of the three.
I can, you know, put down second line highlights in whichever of
those colors. And it just gives you a bit more
to play with in terms of adding visual interest while still
keeping it not overwhelming. Is it terrible that I know
exactly which tape set you're talking about when you mention
those colors? Because I've used it too.
I know, right? It's I had such FOMO.
See, this is the thing. If you want inspiration, just go
and check out what everybody else is doing and then you'll
see that they're all using the same thing and and you'll have
to use the same thing. That takes.
That's the perfect example, though, of like a great place to
start. If you just get that tape set
and a couple of pens, there's a theme.
It's perfect. Yeah, I find that working in
themes in general just makes decoration a lot easier, or at
least I personally find it. Is that part of the reason you
use themes Erin or? Yeah, I definitely started.
I do my themes monthly in my planner and I will just do
whatever I like for a page in something like my reading
journal, just to match the book. So that one's very eclectic, but
as far as like monthly themes in my journal, I'm pretty sure I
only started doing that because I saw other people doing it.
But it is just enough time for me to, I feel like get really
good use out of some stationary, sometimes even use some things
up, which is always a good feeling, and then move on to
something else before I get sick of it.
And I think that's the sweet spot for me.
Yeah, I think that that novelty factor can definitely add to
enjoyment. And as you kind of mentioned, a
month long period is a sufficient amount of time to
like almost get your reps in and practice utilizing the materials
in different way, which can be very helpful when it comes to,
you know, future designs and future decorative escapades that
you're doing. Because you start to find these
formulas that you use for yourself in terms of how you
bring elements together. And that can make the decoration
just a little bit more approachable, which is nice.
So Aaron, when you're talking about your monthly themes for
those who may be having seen inside of your journal, so
you're setting up a theme and then you're setting up your
entire month at one time. Or do you still set it up week
by week, but you're just keeping out those materials to keep that
theme going? I was kind of going somewhat
week by week on my my weeklies, which is where most of my
planning really happens, like to do lists and events and that
kind of thing. I'm not doing a huge amount of
habit tracking and that kind of thing.
I've kind of moved away from the the classic bullet journal kind
of tracker systems I think, but I do it at the moment.
I do it all in one go. The traveler size makes it a lot
more approachable. I think in that way, because
it's small, it doesn't take as long to set up.
So I do recommend a smaller journal if you are just starting
out because it's a lot less intimidating.
But yeah, I've been finding that setting up a whole month in
advance is OK for me. I have a pretty repetitive kind
of life schedule. I'm most of the time just right
here in this office when I'm working.
So I feel like that benefits me. I think if you were someone who
was in a more kind of flexible situation there where things
could change a lot from one week to the next, it would probably
be more beneficial to do things as they come rather than in
advance. But I like doing it all at once.
That's going to be my next question actually was, you know,
how do you plan ahead for things that you don't know that are
happening? But what you're saying there at
this point in your life, in all of these years of journal and
you've just realized like you kind of use this exact amount of
space, Therefore you kind of plan in advance for it versus
not really knowing. Because that's how I feel like I
could probably never really fully set up a month in advance
because every week is a bit different for me.
That's why I like to do like a week by week planning, even
though I think planning a month in advance may be helpful for
like, instead of giving myself like a next week section of my
weekly, I could just turn the page and write it down on that
next week's page instead. But I've always one of those
people that's like, well, what if my notes in my task and kind
of all of those go past the pages I've already said I don't
want to have to like find another space for them to live
in those following weeks. So that's I think a really
important part of it for those people who are trying to figure
out like, well, can I or should I set up a week in advance or
should I not? Like you said, your I think your
rule is a very good one. I actually used to plan even
further in advance because when I was a wedding photographer, I
was quite often booking weddings a year, a year and a half in
advance. And so I needed space to be able
to keep track of all of that kind of stuff.
I don't have to do that so much anymore.
My planning, I can be a lot more flexible, like in the short term
than I used to be, which is nice.
But yeah, I also, I'm just kind of fine with blank spaces.
Like if I have left too much room for a weekly, that honestly
doesn't bother me. I know some people don't love
what feels like wasting paper. I feel like we've kind of
touched on this already, but it's as long as I had a good
time with it, it's not really a waste to me.
And sometimes you'll have a week where you were just really
unwell and, you know, maybe it's not so much fun, but you can put
like, OK, well, I started feeling unwell On this date and
then I went to the doctor On this date and I started this new
medication On this date. And then you're like, well,
that's still useful. Not talking from experience a
month ago. What do you mean?
So I know you mentioned that you mainly do monthly themes.
I say it like I don't watch all of your monthly plan with me.
So like, ha, whatever fan moment, Oh my gosh.
But I know that in your mystery journal that you set up, you've
also been doing some kind of like overarching themes.
What do you see the kind of benefits of that versus more of
a like pick and choose on each individual kind of like a
monthly basis compared to that one?
Yeah, so the mystery journal is in just in case anyone's not
familiar, it's a project where I set up a journal in advance for
six months and then give it away on my channel.
And I the main reason I started doing it is because as a
self-employed person for a very long, my own journals not always
that relatable to people and I don't feel like there's always
that much inspiration they can take from it.
So the Mystery Journal was my personal challenge to come up
with something that anyone could use, give some more inspiration
to people who are maybe in a more traditional employment
situation than me. And then you know, what am I
going to do with it at the end? So I do it in advance and give
it away. And the last few I have been
theming kind of an overarching theme.
The first one was Magic and then we had Floral 1 going at the
moment. The next one's coming up soon.
I won't tell you what it is yet, but my channel members know, I
guess it was really a personal challenge to myself and I have
more stationary than any one person could ever possibly use.
So it's been fun to look at my collection and be like, I have a
lot of flowers and I'd like to move some of them along.
So let's do a floral themed journal, which has bitten me in
the butt a little bit because floral is kind of my own fall
back. So I feel like I'm at a point
now where I'm maybe pushing out a bit too much floral content
and there are people who aren't into flowers.
I'm like, I'm sorry, I promise I'll do some stuff that's not
flowers soon. But it has been really fun just
to kind of lean into a theme and because I'm setting it up quite
quickly. I do that one over the course of
probably six weeks it you can really get into a flow and it
kind of helps to stay in that headspace and be like we're
we're just gonna think about flowers for a while.
Yeah, I do think that there it can be kind of nice in a way to
give yourself that overarching theme to add a little bit of
like, like some boundaries or restriction on yourself because
otherwise, like, you know, world as you're always there, like so
many different options for a theme, like inspiration can
strike from pretty much anywhere.
In terms of like the most common places for you to find theme
inspiration, though, where do you find yourself most often
either looking for it or most likely to have it like right at
that point? Honestly, my own stationary
collection is typically where I go.
So usually if I've just got some new stuff, there'll be something
in there that I'm excited about. And I'm like that's I need to
use this moon tape immediately. And so I'll go through
everything else that I've got and kind of build a theme around
that. But likewise, if I'm not feeling
very inspired, if I have no idea, sometimes I'll go to my
channel members and be like, help me pick a theme.
But sometimes I'll just go to my collection of washi tapes or
I'll go through my folder of papers and just try to
rediscover things that I already have and go, oh, wait, I haven't
used this yet. And it's these colours.
What else do I have that's these colours?
What else do I have that feels vintage or whatever it is?
And I try to just shop my stash as much as I can.
I definitely consume a lot less planner content than I used to.
I used to go looking for inspiration on Instagram a lot
and there is still a lot of wonderful inspiration there.
But I'm just trying to spend less time looking at screens so
try to keep it looking within my own office 1st.
I love that because I think that's where a lot of people
fall in the same thing. We buy all of this stuff all the
time because we see it and then we put it in a drawer or we
organize it away. Right now I'm going through a
project where I'm cataloguing all of my stamps, so all of my
clear stamps and my block stamps.
Because the problem that I'm having is I have them all, but
then I'm like, oh, I need days of the week.
What collections do I have that have days of the week on them?
So like I'm using air table right now and I'm like doing
this whole project because I've already stored them.
I have them all stored and I labeled all the good things.
But now I'm like, OK. And it has been amazing like 1
because I've been going back through things that I forgot
that I had like one of my favorite stamp sets was from
Archer and Olives. It was their familiars from like
a number of Halloweens ago. But there's just some really
cool looking animal stamps that are on there that could just be
like really cool centerpieces for a page.
I'm also just like realizing how much I have things I haven't
touched in a while and it's been great because because I've been
doing exactly that. I'm like, Oh, I like write it
down. I'm like, we're using this next
week. And then I'm like, Oh, wait, a
familiars. I think there was a washi tape
collection that also came with that.
I'm like, all of a sudden those things are coming together and I
love this idea because I'm not a real color person.
So I'm more of like a image type of person.
So I'm like, Oh, snakes, OK, to be serpents.
I what do I have for that? Right, or potion bottles or like
whatever it might be for that week.
And that's been a really fun for me, but it also is a really
great way to do it. And it's funny because like what
she said up front, like I never really considered myself like a
person who makes themes pages. But like, as you all are
talking, I'm like, no, I totally do that.
I'm like, Oh, I'm going for like this idea.
Then technically it's a theme. And then every week is a
different theme. I don't know, I always think of
themes how you all kind of planned or have planned in your
journals, which is like setting things up for an entire month.
And my thing is, I think I would get bored of it after the first
week. So I was just like, Oh, now what
I'm going to do, It's already here.
So it's it's it's been like a little eye opening, like, oh,
wait a second mark like you are and it's OK.
It doesn't have to be overly decorative necessarily to still
be decoration and have fun with it.
Just pop a little stamp and be like, yeah, stamp decorated
plan. Good, let's go.
I feel like one day we should all set up a layout for each
other and try and use it for a week and see if it works.
Oh gosh, I'd be like, what is cyclical planning and why is
this a weird start and it doesn't end on the normal day.
I'm used to and. I'll just be like cool so here's
your 5 bucks weekly you heathen. The weekend exists.
That's what happens when you use your bullet journal for work and
you don't work on the weekends. I've never had that, so fair
enough. It's how it works for me.
One of the big things I was curious about, Aaron, when you
were talking about this, you know, rules of three and things
like that. Maybe this comes into place here
a little bit when you are thinking about those themes.
I know you said you're kind of shopping your stash, you know,
where you're starting from one thing and kind of building that
out. Like what does that look like
for you and your process? Because again, we see a lot of
the end results. And maybe like you said, if
you're already, you know, watching your stuff on YouTube,
you kind of see as it builds on itself.
But could you share with the other Planet pals like how you
build out a theme and like how that process looks like for you?
Absolutely. So often it starts by making a
really big mess. I will just go through
everything and find anything that works in terms of color
scheme or in terms of theme with the original inspiration piece,
and then I'll bring that to my desk and I'll typically make a
little mood board page with it. So I'll try out all of those
things next to each other. Sometimes it's tricky if it's
something like a little sticker set where you've got a limited
number of the items and you don't want to stick something to
a page that means you can't use it anymore.
But I'll kind of just put down some washi tape or stretch it
out if it's got a release backing and layer things
together and just see what looks good with everything else.
Get rid of anything that doesn't make the cut.
Try and pare it down. I have been known to do some
setups with a lot of stuff and that's really fun.
I kind of moved a little bit away from that now because I
think it just, it was taking a really long time.
And when you record your content for the Internet like us, and
you can see that this setup took you 6 1/2 hours, you're like,
OK, maybe it's time to rein it in.
But putting together a little mood board.
It's like proof of concept, right?
That the theme that you envisioned in your head is
actually going to look the way that you thought.
And then you can Swatch pens against it.
You can make sure that those colours match up.
It's it's kind of my favorite way to do it.
And I'll like include that sometimes in my vlogs and my
channel members get to see that whole process behind the scenes
for the mystery journal too. They help me pick all of the
themes for that. So that's great because then
outsourcing the ideas is like a little bit less mental home for
me. It's also so much.
Fun. Yeah, Especially if you're doing
what, like 24 plus setups in a year?
Because what, you've also got the start of journal setups
across 2 separate notebooks in theory.
So that's what, like 7 per notebook times four 7 * 420
Yeah, 28 setups, Yeah, wait, way too much.
I've never done that math. Oh my God, that's wild.
Are you factored reading journals and things?
Am I good? Yeah, exactly.
And then like if you're doing any other kind of like specialty
setups for anything in particular, then that's also
going to add to it. So that's a lot of things to be
thinking of. But then part of my like, you
know, FOMO mindset comes in. It's like, Oh my God, that's
only 28 setups. There are so many good themes
out there. I definitely have journals I
care more about the aesthetic off than others.
So my actual planner that I use every day, I feel like I put
some effort into. But something like my reading
journal, I'm not mood boarding that bad boy.
I'm jumping in with whatever feels good in the moment and we
just see where it ends up. I have a bit of a slogan, which
is don't think, just stick, which probably isn't helpful if
you're a beginner at this kind of thing and you're trying to
learn some techniques to make stuff look better.
But I promise you in a year or two you'll be like, don't think,
just stick. Put it wherever instinct feels
good. That's my reading journal.
The mood boarding? No way, because then at least
you do get that kind of like test run, trial run of how
things work together. Because I find that the thing
that I get most caught up on is color paletting and making sure
that the colors match across materials.
Because if I, you know, pick out a tape or a sticker set or
something that has like a very particular shade of green and
then I use a pen that's like the wrong shade of green, I'm like,
cool, just throw the journal away.
Ruined it all. It's just not for me anymore.
A. Certain shade of green.
Sorry, you just made an incubus reference and you didn't even
know it. Oh.
God, I'm so good at doing that. This whole conversation so far
is kind of blowing my mind because I'm just always like,
sometimes thinking of one thing to do in the week is just like a
lot. And you all are like, Oh no, 27
different themes really used notebook.
I'm like, Oh my goodness, I couldn't imagine.
That's across the year. That's not that's not for a
week, though. Like on hard mode, doing it
weekly anyways, you have to do 52 individual themes plus a
start of journal setup. So out here, we're on like, you
know, the measly 28. You're just like, yeah, 53 crown
it. I guess, but I don't know, I
just feel like it's a lot of thinking for multiple journals,
I guess and doing it. I get why, right?
Like it makes absolute complete sense.
And you're like you said, this isn't just you know, something
fun you're doing on the side like this is also your full time
job essentially as well too, right?
So like having those ideas, but utilizing them too, not just
always creating them, though the mystery journal think I think is
very cool. I think it's an awesome idea,
especially knowing that like at the end somebody gets that
right. Like that's a really fun thing
to do and also go back and watch the process is that it's been
created and then potentially when that, which is awesome,
which I think is cool. One question you have for you,
Aaron, again, because I know that we've been like talking
about how amazing you are, what you do.
So you've talked about the process in which you do it.
I'm also curious about like the tools of the trade.
You know, when it comes to like putting these things together,
what are some tools that you feel like are like must haves
when it comes to being like a decorative journal in your sense
of what that looks like? I love when things are already
cut for me, so I'm a really big fan of pre cut pet tapes and pre
cut like kiss cut washy stickers and that kind of thing.
I have a cricket and I'm not afraid to use it.
I love making my own cricket stickers with like foil or print
then cut. Particularly for the mystery
journal that's coming up, there's going to be a lot of
stickers that I made myself for that one, which will be fun.
I love a sticker tweezer. You can't go wrong with those.
Especially for things like pet precut tapes.
They can be a bit fiddly to kind of peel up.
But my favorite thing to do with paper is to RIP it.
I think it looks so much more romantic and a little bit
whimsical to have some like a torn paper edge.
I typically will almost never put down a piece of paper just
the way that it was printed and cut by a manufacturer.
I'll usually change it in some kind of way.
That's awesome. Yeah, I'm of the tool type
though, where like with paper specifically, I'm like, I don't
know that I want to cut like tear it because I know me, I'll
be like, oh, tear, tear, tear. It would like tear across the
other side. And then it's like not really
usable. Like a lot of bind decoration I
tried to make usable. So like if I am going to put
down another paper inside of my paper journal, which seems a
little repetitive, right? But like I get it.
I'm always like, Oh no, no, no, like I just got some like
cutters to do like a deckled edge because I also like the way
it looks, but also don't trust myself enough to do it the right
way. So I'm like, OK, let's get
something that cuts it to to make it look that way.
What a great workaround. Oh yeah, I mean, that's how my
life is, you know, where I'm like, oh, I need a thing.
Or like just has talked about fussy cutting before and like I
don't know what I'm gonna fussy cut but I have a fussy cutting
tool now because I might want to fussy cut something.
No I had one ID clotted it. I was like, you are not for me.
And I write. They're the worst.
I'm so glad he's excited but I'm like, awful.
This. Yours might be good but I just I
don't have the skills. I just got this because Jess
talked about it all the damn time.
No, no, no, no, you. You must not be remembering this
correctly. I'm pretty sure that was
distinctly in the episode of like our worst planning tools
that we would not purchase again.
Oh, I thought it because you've talked about it so much.
I don't know, I got it. Well I will find something to
fussy cut now because I bought this damn thing.
I will try to avoid fussy cutting at all costs, but if I
have to small scissors, yes, and there's so much better hands
too. Comfy grip.
We love these ones and they're sharp.
Ouch, Ouch. Yeah, proof of concept.
I went the other not comfy grip like little tiny baby scissors
like. Nail scissors.
Yeah, and it looks like a little bird.
I have one of those too. I know how about you Jess, like
do you have any like go to tools that are like part of your must
have for decorative planning? I typically default to using a
tape for the most part. If I'm doing, you know, a more
decorative setup, one where it's actually got other materials and
pens, typically I will kind of like center it on some kind of
tape or sticker set. Usually the sticker set is on a
roll of tape because it's like a washi tape sticker set.
So stuff it, it's a tape and then I will just bring in other
elements to marry with it. If we go with that idea of like
the rule of three, I will usually keep it to like the
tape, some kind of other neutral background type of thing that I
could layout with that tape and then some kind of like a pop of
color. So that could be a marker or it
could be some something else. So usually I just let that tape
or that kind of like more intricately decorative piece do
the heavy lifting because I am not great at marrying lots of
elements together unless it is just one of those kind of like
standout pieces, more intricately detailed, more like,
you know, finely decorated and then a whole bunch of background
elements. You know, if I'm doing a
collaging kind of piece, then I can get pretty bulky in terms of
those background elements. We might have a couple of
different shades or different colors of background papers or
something, but they aren't really there to draw focus.
Because as soon as I start to bring in too many things
together that are the type of things to draw focus, then I
start getting very particular about how well they match
together. I am the first to say I'm a
persnickety biscuit. I don't like it when elements
clash or they don't look like they're from the same kind of
artistry style. Which is why I am definitely a
sucker for a tape set as opposed to marrying like sets that were
like not together initially or elements from one set and
another where the decorative style doesn't really match.
Like, you know, if we go with the example of florals or
something like that, if the type of floral does not look the same
across multiple sets of stickers or multiple tapes, I won't use
them together. Which is why I'm much more
inclined to just pick like, hey, this is my feature tape or this
is my feature sticker set. And everything else is just
there to support that, kind of like main character.
Interesting. See, I'm totally really opposite
from Duke. Like especially with my stamps,
I'm like, oh, look, this is like a little whatever.
I mean, they there's, they're close.
But I think what I'm also doing at this point is just like
trying to use my damn stamp. So I'm like, this is kind of a
handwriting font and this kind of also looks like a handwriting
font. They are not from the same
creator, the same font set, nothing like that.
And I'm just like, yeah, it works.
But I guess this is the good thing also for me because like
you said, you guys focus so much on like color and texture
matching and all of that. I because some colors just look
the same to me. So like I can't rely on that
whatsoever. So like, that's why my stuff
tends to be very basic. And I think why I'm also nervous
about doing that because like my entire life, it's always like,
interesting, why don't you put those things together?
And I was like, they totally match.
Someone's like Mark that's brown and that's green.
That's not the same. And I was like, it looks the
same to me. But like that's I think a big
part of it for me where I've just kind of fallen away from it
a lot. I mean, I have so many just like
the papers now that like Archer and Olive is giving out with
like every release, every like new set that we get, every
subscription box. I was like, OK, but like, what
do I do with these now? Because I don't feel comfortable
myself personally using them because then it's like, you
know, something very photo realistic from like one of those
paper sets. And then I don't have anything
else like photo realistic to go with it.
So like I just kind of find myself just mixing and matching
things cuz I'm like, Nah, that is what it is.
At least I'm using it. That's a style in itself too.
Like I think that's OK to do. I feel like maybe I'm not
usually a fan of these myself, but you can get those kind of
ephemera packs where there's a bunch of stuff altogether.
You'll have like a couple of tapes and some stickers and some
papers and they've been curated to all look good together.
You really can't go wrong with something like that.
So I guess that's how like pro tip for colour blind journal
pals. I did just get one of those from
Journal say I didn't know that it was that, but it had like
letters in it. It had PET stickers and like
long pieces. It was all this thing.
I was like, hey, I've got a theme here.
No, I wouldn't do that normally that was a total accident of a
purchase, but I was excited about it.
But then I went ahead and separated everything out anyway.
So I'm like, I'll know if it works together or not when we
get there. Like all these little, you know,
train tickets, that'll be what it is.
And then I'll be like, oh, some washi tape, some PET tape.
Oh what a random stamp that's in a different language.
It looks like a train ticket. And that's my theme.
I like it. I'm like that.
That could be a theme, just as like a screen calling theme that
nobody would ever want to look like trash.
I didn't say that. I saw it thinking it.
I saw it in your eyes. I saw it in your eyes.
That's OK. You were talking about bringing
stamps from different sets together and I'm like, I'm so
happy that you're comfortable to do that, but I am not that way
inclined. I'd be the person who's out
there with their ruler, like measuring the line weight.
So I'm like, no, no, this stamp is too thick compared to this
one and they can't possibly be used together or I would use
them together and then I'd get out my like, you know, 001 pen
from Micron and just go and like etch an extra line weight so
that they do look like they match together because I get
particular about those kind of. Wow.
Yeah, I don't have time to make it look.
I wouldn't even know because then I would mess it up and then
it would look like garbage and I'd be mad at myself.
Like it's just, it's fine, it works, it's good.
This week is going to look totally different anyway, so who
cares? Turn the page this week is dead
to me. I'm done with it.
Pretty much. Sometimes it's like that.
Sometimes it does be like that, but to your point about the idea
of, you know, those kind of curated packages or whatnot for
people who are just getting started with decoration and they
do want something that feels cohesive, but they don't feel
like they have the skill set to bring the elements together by
themselves. That can be a really great place
to start, especially because oftentimes all of those ephemera
sets have just like so much stuff in them that you can use
it once and then again and then again, maybe even for like a
couple of months if you really, really loved the theme.
I like to change my theme monthly, though.
It feels like a fresh start, but it could be something that does
help out beginners. So a little secret, I also watch
the content that you guys make and Mark, I know that you tend
towards more of a monotone colour palette.
Is that because of your colour blindness?
Is that why you tend to stay in that area?
01 bazillion percent. The only place that I get a
little crazy with colour is inside of my fountain pens, and
the only reason I'm able to do that is because I'm very
meticulous about catalog my inks as well and using my resources
to find out the actual shrew color of an ink because a lot of
them look the same to me. My color tags are literally red,
blue. I have a little bit of teal in
there sometimes right? Green, but I don't know, like
the variances of that. So there are times where I'm
like, oh, OK, like this week, for instance, I'm using
something, it's called Blood Falls and it's in my mind it's
red and it is red. But then also because of my
color deficiency, like parts of it kind of look a little
brownish to me, like rusty. And so in my mind, I'm like, oh,
it's like rusty blood, like, OK, you know.
But a lot of the times though, I do stick to just black.
But I will say that a lot of times I do that, especially with
stamps and stuff like that, it's because I just think it looks
really nice and crisp. You know, I come from a design
background and like a print background that's moved into
digital. So I think a lot of that, like
early design really kind of fell in love.
I also just love like Bauhaus was like a really big influence
in my own personal life. I also am a big fan of just like
architecture and architectural drawings and writing.
And most of that's in black, right?
You don't really have a lot of variances in that.
So, so much of that I think is influenced a lot of who it is
and like who I am. And then a lot of times though,
I just kind of rely and like really do throw it to the wind
where I was like, OK, this has some color in it.
I'm just going to put it down. And like, I'm not that worried
about it where maybe other people are more specific about
it. I'm just like, Congrats to Mark.
He used a color this week, you know, like go go me.
But at no point do I ever really honestly think like, oh, does
this blue look good with this other color?
Because most of the time I honestly couldn't tell you my my
family over Christmas found out like just how color blind I am.
There was this TikTok that was like from a ophthalmologist who
was like, you know, what I realized during Christmas is
that it's a really sad time for those that are color deficient.
And she showed 2 screens like here's what colorblind people
see and here's what like regular people see.
And both looked exactly the same to me.
And no lie, at the end of it, all three of the people in my
house looked at me and said, oh, that's the saddest thing I've
ever heard in my entire life. And my one daughter was like, so
you see everything in poop, green and brown.
And I was like, well, what do you mean?
She's like, Christmas looks dull to you?
I'm so sorry. I was like, I just always look
this way to me. So like a lot of that really
just is like, I like the way it looks and I got to go with it.
But I think that you could honestly really say a lot of it
is black and white or like very lightly coloured.
And if it does have a colour and I probably don't know it.
Yeah. Oh, that's so fascinating
because I am that other end of the spectrum where I'm like
perfectly matching my pens to the washi tape and trying to
make everything look so cohesive.
I just that's where I live my life you.
Know yeah, I just say like something that I think that I
like a lot, you know, and I'm like, oh this looks really cool
to me, right? And so I'm like, OK, well that's
all that matters at the end of the day.
Like if I see an ink that looks really interesting to me, I'm
sure to other people it's like the most whimsical, fantastical
colour they've ever seen. And I'm like, this is a cool
green and I only know it's green 'cause I read the description.
Well, I can imagine you out there making like rage bait
videos being like, come with me to Swatch this beautiful like
dark green ink and it's actually just like trash brown.
And everybody in the comments is like, what's wrong with you?
And you're just like, thank you for your support, I guess.
Blame my eyes. There was a whole thing on
TikTok last year where a lady who found out that her couch
that she thought was blue was actually grey and then TikTok
spiraled into this. Do we have millennial grey?
Because all the millennials have color deficiency.
Maybe, Yeah. I don't know.
It reminds me of that. Is the dress gold or blue or
whatever that was? And that was the worst person.
I was like, I don't even know what it was.
It's supposed to to be honestly. It's obviously green or poop
brown. Those are the only two options.
How do you think red basically is green or poop brown?
Yeah. So obviously when it comes to
picking a color palette, maybe for Mark in particular, it's
going to be a little bit different and a little bit more
challenging. But when it comes to actually
selecting your color palettes for your journal setups, Erin,
do you have any kind of systems or rules that you use for
yourself for that? Yeah, absolutely.
I think lately I try to keep it to something kind of simple,
depending on what sort of the detail is in that three, kind of
the rule of three, my details. Usually the thing that has
inspired a theme, and it sounds like maybe it's similar for you
to Jess, I'll typically just pick colors out of whatever that
detail theme is. So if it's a very colorful
floral tape, then I'll probably have a few options.
If it's something that doesn't have as many variations in it,
then it's a little bit more straightforward.
You just kind of go with what the tape says.
But I have run into a couple of situations where I thought, I've
got this one specific use case here, my September theme from
last year, this one burgundy kind of frame tape.
And I don't know what to do with it.
And I'm holding it up to my stuff and I'm like, I don't
know. So actually I have a little
cheat for this. There's a website called Color
Space. It's literally colour dot space,
colour spells with AUS spelling without AU.
And you can put in a colour, you can use a hex code, you can use
an RGB code, or you can just use their little colour picker tool
to try to get it as close to the thing that you have and hit
generate. And it will just use colour
wheels and stuff to generate you a whole list of colour palettes
to choose from. And some of them have got 5
variations, some of them have got 3.
And you can just go through those until you find one that
you're like, I think I have some Aqua blue washy tape that I
could unexpectedly pair with this burgundy thing.
And it ended up being a really cool theme with a little bit of
like baby pink as well. So that's a pretty good hack if
you really don't know what to do.
Yeah, those color palette generators can be like super
helpful, especially the ones where you can upload a photo or
an image and it'll kind of pull the colors out of it.
So if you wanted to do a kind of sunset vibe or whatnot, you can
just go and find a picture of a sunset and it'll pull out shades
that I think would work well, especially if you want to do
something it's not necessarily out of the ordinary.
And so that it's like, you know, completely different to what
you'd expect. Like we're not going to do an
orange palette for a watermelon theme.
I mean, it could. Some people might.
It's cool. It might look a little
interesting, but like, yeah, but it can be a good way to kind of
like, push the creativity a little bit or make it so that
then you're doing a theme that might be kind of typical or, you
know, a type of decoration that people have done before, but
you're using colors that are a little bit more unique.
That can be a fun way to do it. Assuming you have the stationary
in your collection to do it. Yeah, I'm just going to assume
that everybody else has a pen. Water as well.
I did a count of my pens the other day.
I was very upset with myself. But you're prepared for every
eventuality, so. Exactly.
It's good to have options, even though sometimes having too many
options can lead to analysis paralysis.
Or like when you've got two colors that are like so similar,
but you're like but does this blue match better?
Or does this blue match better? That's where I come down to
comfort. I'm like which pen is more
comfortable to hold? It's a good system for it.
At least there's like a default like, you know, way to apply
what a rule to it so that you end up with something that
you're going to be happy with. It's going to be a second line
highlight. The Tombow always wins cuz the
tip is just the right width for the 5mm dot grid.
Yeah, A. 100% agree with that. That's so crazy cuz I hear Jess
talk about stuff like this. I'm like, that's a weird thing
like that. Know that it does that.
And then you're like, yeah, we were just.
I was like, oh, we were talking about our favorite tools and I
was talking about how much I like mild miners.
And Jess was like, I don't because it doesn't perfectly fit
within the 5mm grid, but a Tombow does.
I was like, that is wild to like know those things but when y'all
are as good as you are, you know those things.
I'm pretty sure just coined the term second line highlight.
Now we all use it. I think that I can't remember
who I got it from, but I was just like, well, that's what it
is. You highlight every second line.
And now that seems to be like the common turn of phrase for
it. But it is just a really fun way
to, like, add visual interest. Right.
And readability, yeah. Really make clear the space
where the planning will happen without having to draw a box
around it. And it acts as a little bit of
decoration too, because you get that pop of colour.
It's great so. As someone who is, again, I'm
still going to call myself a decorative newbie, at least from
the other end of the spectrum, right, where I don't live.
Something I'm curious about Aaron and and Jess as well.
You guys can share this because again, I don't know where to
start. So like if somebody like me
wanted to start with your rule of three, right?
We're looking for like, was it again, color, texture.
Solid a texture in a detail. What are some places that we
could start doing this from your experience?
Like, what's the baby step into the other side of the spectrum
of decorative planning? It really depends on the purpose
of your page first and foremost, I think.
So if it's something like a calendar spread, it's pretty
important that your calendar fits on the page.
So typically I would start by placing down the functional
thing first. But if it's not serving a
purpose like that, where maybe you're going to be putting some
long form text around some stickers or something like that,
then you may be want to know where your decorations going
first before you jump in and write because you don't want to
then not have space leftover for your pretty stuff.
So I have a couple of go to layouts that I use for my
decoration over and over again. I have outed myself on these
ones on my channel before but once you find out what they are
and you look at my stuff you will see them everywhere because
I just use them to death. I am an outfit repeater for
stationary so the first one I call corner colleges.
I think this is a pretty common 1.
So whether it's a full double page spread or just a single
page, you have something in say the top left corner and the
bottom right corner or swapsies, you have something in the top
right and the bottom left. And do you have lots of space
then still left? This is really good for
particularly like doing some long form writing.
You have some room still left kind of swooshing in an S shape
down the middle. That's a really good one for
that kind of thing. But you can also fit some habit
trackers in around that kind of thing, all sorts of stuff.
Next I call my letterbox, which is like, you know, the
widescreen bars that they put on movies to make them 16 by 9
aspect ratio. So you're really just completely
covering the very top and the very bottom of your page.
You have to be careful not to go too far so you don't eat into
your planning space, but just align and align and you're good
to go. And the third one is the same
thing but vertical. So columns, one on the outside
edge of each page or just on one side if you're just doing one
page rather than a double page spread.
I use those constantly, but because I'm using them with
different stationary, they look different every time and people
are like, oh, you're so creative.
And I'm like, oh, I'm working to a formula.
I think it's so important. I mean, that's how I look.
A lot of my weekly spreads. It's the same thing.
I'm like, OK, it's columns that create 5 or 6 or 7 if I really
want to include a weekend, but then I'm just using like a
different stamp set or a different sticker set for like
the top of that. And I would just write the day
of the week under it. It is pretty incredible, like
how much that can change. And like even though I know that
from my spreads, like what you just said, like utilizing those
spaces, I was like, no, that that actually could work out
really well. Like I certainly could just put,
you know, something across the top or even in the corner.
It's like almost like having like a little fun corner of your
page. I'm like, OK, everything else is
productive. It's notes, it's tasks, it's the
ongoings, but like, I just want to have a little fun up here.
It's like almost like giving myself like a little play space
on my page, which I like. And I also like that I'm also
bounding it as well because then I'm not overthinking it and
thinking, OK, I put this, OK, where else can and I put that I
go too far. Like I said, that's always my
downfall because I'm like doing too much.
But I like this idea of like just utilizing like these
quadrants for it and it kind of saves the rest of your space for
the things you're actually doing.
So I that's really helpful. Sometimes the functional page
space actually tells you, it sort of dictates the space
that's leftover that you can use for decoration.
So something like a weekly, if you've got an A5 journal and
you've divided it into that kind of eight boxes, but you don't
want to have a note section, say you take out the one that's in
the top left corner and you just put some pretty stuff there.
The page just told you where to decorate.
Same with something like a calendar spread.
They're usually a bit wonky where like, you know, the month
starts on a Wednesday and it finishes on a Friday or
something. And so you've got this automatic
space in those corners that you can get a little bit crazier
with than what's left around the outside.
Like just listen to what your page layout tells you.
I like that it's like filling the page but just do it in a
more decorative way and then leave it a blank.
I do think that having those kind of like set spaces to put
your decoration in can make it a lot more approachable, which is
great. And like, sure, it might be
formulaic, but kind of as you said, Aaron, if you're using
different materials or supplies or like, you know, even just
colors or whatnot, you get a different finished product,
which is great. That is definitely one thing
that I do miss about the monthly calendar is that you did have
those kind of set spots that were good for decoration.
But I suppose that also means that each time you come to a new
calendar month, there's that kind of like decision, what kind
of process that goes behind figuring out where you need to
put things. Or somebody like me whose
calendars are all rectangles now.
It's like, cool. No, it's letterbox or bust kind
of a thing. You just have to listen to it.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I guess that in those
cases I could approach it as that kind of like figuring out
different ways to decorate because decoration like we kind
of said at the start, it doesn't have to be those typical like,
you know, your stickers, your tapes, your like larger pieces
of doodling or whatever else. It can just be those smaller
kind of design choices that you make for yourself.
So things like putting in the double line highlight or putting
in a different lettering style or putting a border on the page.
Whereas, you know, sometimes maybe you don't do that.
So good. Yeah, there's just like so much
variation that you can do to add those personal decorative
touches and stuff, which also is a really great way to just make
it your own. Like if we think about borders
specifically, you have like the single line border, you have
different whites, line or whatever, you have different
colors. You could do a dashed versus
like a hand drawn versus a ruled.
A little bit of washing. Tape.
Yeah, a little bit of like a small washi tape.
I love a thin washi tape for that kind of thing, for
dividers. And it's just a bunch of
different ways that you can add those small decorative touches
without it having to be those kind of like, you know, things
that our mind might default to when we think decoration.
It doesn't have to be those kind of like larger focal pieces of
like ephemera and stickers and tapes and whatnot.
It can just be those very small touches that add a little bit of
visual interest, a little bit of flair and enjoyment, which is
nice. Borders are such a good way to
kind of pull something back if you feel like something's
missing. So particularly if there's like
a corner collage going on, but it feels a bit disjointed and
you're like, it needs something. I don't know what it is.
It's probably a border. Literally just connect them
around the outside and it's gonna look so much more
cohesive. Yeah.
This whole idea is interesting, something that I've been not
struggling with necessarily, but like moving from an Archer and
olive into the hemlock and oak that I have now.
The numbers are a little bit off.
So like the center of my B5 because it's 31 one squares
across, I have this one square gutter essentially is what I
call it. And so all the time I'm just
basically like drawing 2 lines down the page and I'm always
just like, I don't love the way that this looks.
You know where I'm just like now all of a sudden I'm like, Mark,
instead of doing that, like pop a washi tape down your page, you
know, or use something like that instead.
Like you said, it's one of those things where I had my brain.
It's so funny, like for all this time.
I mean, I have all this damn wash that I complain about all
the time and I'm never quite sure like how to use it.
It's just not a go to tool for me.
I don't know what it is about it where I just like I always feel
like it has to be used like in a specific way and usually it's
always layering something or just kind of looks weird on my
page. But like this is like a really
cool potential concept for it. Now I need to find only 5mm wide
washy and I'll be good to go. They're out there.
They're doing this. Don't tell me that I have
enough. I have a whole freaking wall.
I have two buckets filled of it over here.
I don't need to hear that. I need a fussy cut my washy.
Mark your cutter that does the Deckled Edge does.
Is it the one that has like the seven different heads that you
can slide around? I have that one, yes, I just got
that one. Pop your washing tape down and
cut it with one of those things down to 5mm.
You don't need to buy a new one. If you've got some, you can make
it 5mm. That's what I was just thinking
and actually the other one I have has these little
attachments to it that got to go down like a ruler.
And I also, I was just showing you guys, showing them before
because we love sharing stuff like this, like little sticky
washy stuff that's here. But like I could certainly stick
it down on a page, I feel like and get it to the right
measurement that I want. This has been an eye opening
adventure for me today. Like I'm going to be a
decorative planner now, guys. I hope you're ready for it
coming for you. You have to send me all your
friends. I want to see they're.
Gonna be like Mark, that's boring as hell.
OK, you put a piece of washi down the page.
Congratulations. You will not be graded, I
promise. I will be judged.
But also, if you wanted to like, practice with your layering and
such, you could also just top and tail your washi with like
something else. I'm like thinking of you making
a little baton in the middle of your page.
Like something doesn't need to be big, but it's just like adds
a kind of like the sticker at the top, the sticker at the
bottom. Yeah, exactly.
A sticker. Top of sticker at the bottom and
it kind of like anchors those things on the page.
I think that this is the thing that, you know, people often say
like, oh, how do I use washi tape type of a thing?
And I kind of never really gave it a lot of thought.
I'm like you just do like, wow, I know revolutionary just do it.
But maybe part of the issue that people are having is that there
isn't something to anchor it is that idea of what you said,
Aaron, with floating in space type thing nothing to really
give it that depth. Maybe that's the issue people
are taking with their tapes and stickers and not really knowing
how to use them. It's because they do feel like
they're just floating there in space with no friends.
Whereas if you just connect it with the border or add like, you
know, a little bit of tape below it or on top of it or something,
it kind of turns it into a very tiny collage, but something that
gives it a little bit more meat behind it, makes it feel like it
belongs on the page. Yeah, I would say like
definitely. Like I have all this little
stuff too. I always forget what it's
called, but like I call it washi tape, but I don't know that it
is like Kit Kitta Kitta stickers.
I don't know. But like it's the same kind of
thing where I have all of these little matchbox deals and I'm
always kind of like, but like how do I use it on my page?
Because like you said, it's just kind of floating there.
So like I tend to like pop him down as like a quick header or
something like that. Like I have all these great
ideas and I have all of the materials to do it.
It's just always that execution part.
I just don't feel confident enough.
I'll stick a sticker anywhere. It's not the problem of it, but
like I want it to feel good. I want it to make sense.
I think also, otherwise I'm just plopping things down in a
sticker book and like, I would do something different with
that, you know, like if I was going to do that, I would just
do it. But I, I want it to look good
and functional and fun. But I think a lot of it comes
out of that confidence for myself as well.
Next time you can pop one down and then stamp over top of it.
Perfect, done. I'm just ready to go.
Well, that's the thing too with like layering, I'm always like,
oh, I don't want to add bulk to my page.
So if I'm like layering papers and stickers and stuff like
that, it feels like I'm going to have like this gap because
again, I can't stop myself. So it'll be like a really to get
out of there. But that's actually really
smart. Why I've never thought about
putting a washy tape or something over a stamp.
It doesn't add a lot of width to it that way.
That's a good idea. All right, I have plenty of
notes now. You've given me all these ideas.
Watch out world Mark is decorative stamping now, No?
He's gonna steal our jobs. Definitely not, they'd be like
who is this garbage person that's making this stuff on
YouTube? Start a new channel so it can
fail. You do not deserve to be
monetized for this crap. Why is it all green and brown?
I don't get it. It's Christmas themed, what are
you talking about? It's his style.
Now people would just be like, that's Mark style.
That'll be very on brand for him, just like double stamped
green and brown like, but now with a piece of washi tape over
the top because layering. Feel like you would get some
pretty good traction with like the the cottage core, like Bard
D&D community. I think that would go down
really well actually. Grass and green and dirty and
old. Yeah, that's very much me.
I think that that would work out great.
Yeah. There you go, rustic.
I'm a trash person. I know that Mark obviously has
his page of notes, but for anybody who is just getting
started with decorating in their planner, anybody who's still
feeling a little tentative and like, oh, I don't really know
what to do, how to approach it or anything.
Do you have any good advice for our beginners out there, Erin?
I think my main piece of advice is just to be kind to yourself.
I know it can be really frustrating when you're seeing
people on the Internet making stuff that you think looks
really good and maybe you don't feel like yours measure up.
I've been doing this for eight years.
You got to get some practice in before things start to really
click. And I do have a video flipping
through my first bullet journal if anyone wants to check it out.
It does not look like what I do today.
It is very far removed, but also learning is frustrating.
It's kind of part of the process to to go through those periods
of frustration to come out the other side.
So when you're feeling that, try and embrace it rather than being
like this isn't for me and I'm just not good at it.
That's actually a really necessary part of the process of
push through. That's a great tip for our
beginners. Mark, I know that you don't
consider yourself a decorative planner even though you're a
bold faced liar. What would your advice be?
I mean, I think The thing is just finding what you're
comfortable with. You know, something that I did
very early on before I even officially started bullet
journaling as I made just one of those little like multi fold
pieces of paper. And honestly, I also just folded
paper in half and stapled it across the edge and I was like,
and this will be my bullet journal trial.
I think you could do the same thing when it comes to this.
I mean, some of the ideas that I have right now.
I was just showing you all my my new like leather bound like deal
that I got here and inside of here.
It came with some of these papers that are lined and I
don't typically use lined papers.
So some of the things like I'm thinking about on here is
actually doing something Aaron that you mentioned, which makes
a lot of sense to me now that you've said.
I had to hear someone else say it for me to like know that it
was a thing. But like this idea of like
creating almost like these templates or things that I can
reference for myself that like I know look good or that I've
experimented with and like, who cares if it doesn't look good
inside of there, but I can like refer to it and come back into
it. So I think creating some of
those. I, I love the idea of what you
all shared about a mood board. I don't know how or what I would
do. I'm assuming like little pieces
of paper and, and color swatches and stuff like that.
That's not me. So, but I, I'm sure it probably
would be. But like creating maybe some of
those ideas yourself and like having those as go TOS when you
talked about like the idea of these like specific templates
for like where things go, like that's something else you can do
for yourself is like a reminder right as you're going into those
pages. So like a lot of what you
shared, you know, is actually like a really great thing for
me. I mean, I've done that for
bullet journal spreads where I've gone ahead and I have, you
know, R&D journals where I've kind of just thought it out like
on paper 1st and I use those as reference sometimes when I need
it. I also would just say, you know,
dipping your toe is a really nice way to do it.
It's hard for all of us planner people that like want to go all
in and buy all the markers and buy all the things.
You know, buying like a sticker set, like you said, is a really
good way to do it. I'm a big fan of like Eric small
things. So like I also, because I'm not
a good person at like pulling themes together, Eric small
things has a very specific look to her work.
So like I know that I could pull from anything Eric small things
and it's going to look cute and cool and it fits inside of my
aesthetic. So like that's another thing to
like find a creator maybe that you like, because a lot of times
they have their way of doing things, whether it's stickers or
stamps or whatever that might be.
So for me, that's the easiest way to kind of do it as you can
stick with the creator and then you kind of automatically have
things that go together. But that's really kind of all
that I have for it. And I, I think for me really is
just like, you know, don't overthink it because clearly I'm
not like y'all are telling me that I'm a decorative planner
and I'm like, I don't, I don't think I am.
But maybe it's just, you know, really sitting down and thinking
about what you want that to look like.
Or in my case, it's just experimentation.
Every week is something different.
I my journal next week is going to look different because of
this conversation that we just had.
So I think the other planner pals too, like use this as
permission to try something a little bit different and be OK.
No, like this was experimental. Look at at the end of the week
and like critique your work, you know, or I don't know how
someone else look at it and be like, is this garbage?
And they'll tell you if it is or not.
Yeah, just invite me over with my red pen and let me mark up
your notebook. I'm not going to do that.
But I do think that the idea of applying a critical eye to
things can be a really good beginner tip.
Like as you're looking through your Pinterest and Instagram and
people sharing their journals and planners on YouTube or what
not, look at it critically in terms of what about this is
visually appealing to me. Like what aspects in particular
could I try and recreate in my own system because I like the
way they look. So that could be.
Is it the color palette? Like is it that combination of
colors in particular that is giving me the good feelings
inside? Is it the actual positioning on
the page? Is it the way they've bought
elements together? Is it just specifically that
tape set and now I have to go buy it?
Maybe it happens to the best of us, But another thing that I
would probably recommend if you're just getting started is
really just kind of trying to simplify it down to that kind of
like 1 main focal element or something similar.
And like Aaron has told us, using that rule of three to like
pair it with a couple other things that aren't going to have
a lot of kind of visual interest compared to the decorative
thing. Like they're still going to be
visually interesting. That's why we're putting them on
the page or whatnot. But you have that one kind of
heavy hitter, that thing that is going to be more detailed or
more of the focus of your decoration and then have a
couple like supporting characters, right?
You know, the background characters that are here for the
main character energy of that heavy hitter.
But planner Powers, we would love to hear from you when it
comes to decorating in your journal and planner, do you
consider yourself a decorative person?
Do you consider the stuff that you're doing to be decorative?
If so, what are your favorite ways to decorate either?
Let us know in the comments on YouTube or you can hit us up at
plannerpalspodcast@gmail.com or over on Instagram at Planner
Pals Podcast. We have to say thank you so
much, Aaron, for joining us, not just with all of these amazing
like tips and tricks and rules of three that now we will all
remember, but for being our very first guest on the Planner Pals
podcast. Like this is a big deal, not
just for us, but like for everybody, because now we just
want to do this even more. I'm so honored to be the 1st
guest Planner pal to come on the show.
Thank you so much for having me. Of course, Aaron, we want the
planner pals to be able to find you.
So where should they be seeking you out?
You can find me on YouTube. I'm just youtube.com.
Aaron Smith, just my name and I'm over on Instagram as well.
Aaron Smith dot art. And of course, we have those
linked for you in the description of this episode.
So do make sure to go and check out Erin's stuff.
There's a reason that she was the first person we thought of
when it came to talking about decorative planning.
So if you want more decorative planning inspiration, you're not
maybe feeling super comfortable and you want to see somebody
else do it, a definite pro. Then make sure to head over to
Erin's channel and check out all of the inspiration she has to
offer you. As always, thank you so much
Planner pals for checking us out and listening and we will talk
to you next time. See ya.