December bullet journal spreads: Stars & Constellations

Winter is finally here and so have crisp, cool nights. For that reason, creating a constellations theme felt fitting for this time of year. I also cannot believe that 2021 is almost over, and I’ll soon be planning for 2022!

To see how to create these easy monthly spreads step by step, watch my December Plan With Me setup to see easy, aesthetic and minimal spreads for beginners to get ideas to plan and track for the month! 

Here are inspiring bullet journal layout ideas that I’m using to set goals and to get organized in December.  To keep it consistent, I relied on the color palette from the cover page as well as the different references to the show. While the pages are still pretty minimal in design so I don’t overwhelm myself, the color palette also helps tie things together. My YouTube video has a list of supplies I used.

COVER PAGE

Since I was focused on creating a constellations theme, I decided to use these overlapping circles to create the night sky. I used these overlapping circles in my April plan with me in the past, and I really loved how that turned out so I decided to bring it back. This time, I used 1 color and tried using my blending pen for the first time. I colored the outer edges darker, then went over it with the blending pen to create a gradient, watercolor effect. This Denik notebook has 100 gsm paper, which while not the thickest, still holds up pretty well to these water based pens, though it did bleed through. This is why I decided to do the art piece on a separate page, cut it out, and glue it in. I took my rose gold gel pen (it showed up better on the dark blue than my gold) and drew in my constellation. I chose the Libra constellation, which is also my astrology sign.

For my calendar spread, I kept it minimal and simple so the focus would be on the cover page. I’ve been enjoying these small rectangular boxes for my calendars lately. I put in key events at high level like birthdays or appointments and then in my weeklies I can add in the full details. I like being able to see all of my important dates at a glance quickly – the visual aspect is really important for me to get an assessment of the month. I literally envision a calendar in my head when I’m thinking about what’s coming up in the week or the month for myself.

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HABIT TRACKERS & DASHBOARD

The theme of this month was also to keep all of my spreads simple and easy! As much as I want to create more elaborate spreads, I don’t have the time or the patience. The main purpose of bullet journaling is to be more organized and functional, not something that’s an art piece or becomes stressful to do. I decided to bring back the horizontal habit trackers for this month, because I find them less time consuming to create than the calendar grids. I always mess up the spacing when I do the calendar ones for some reason. I put a dash in the last box for days 30 and 31, so I wouldn’t have the lone box on the third row.

Since I had a lot of space at the bottom of the page, I decided to add some decorations. I drew in a simple constellation, Cassiopeia (although this is the mirrored version since I had to fit it in my circles), and then added in a quote on the side with a few doodles. I normally am not a big quotes person because I’m not that skilled in lettering, but I actually found a short and decent one to include. I highlighted both elements with my gold gel pen. I actually started by adding washi tape instead of the quote, but it looked odd so I ultimately ended up removing it.

My dashboard page is where I keep my monthly regular tasks, things to buy, various tasks I need to do this month, and I usually use a fourth box for my blog but I’m switching it out for home interior tasks. I’m trying out Notion for all content planning, which is why I didn’t include a content planning spread like I have in my previous videos, such as August. I’ve been moving around my content schedule a ton, so it doesn’t really work in this hard copy journal format anymore – it’s easier to switch things around digitally.

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2022 SPREADS & FAVORITES

This month, I removed my ideas spread altogether. I’ll likely have to migrate that info into my 2022 spreads anyway, so I’m just going to save myself the time and space instead. In its place is my 2022 spreads page. This is where i’ll figure out which yearly (and potentially monthly) spreads I want to keep, remove, or add for next year. I’m already thinking about how I want to set up 2022, and really excited for a new journal and a fresh start – physically and metaphorically!

Then I moved onto the right side for my favorites spread. This is a page to keep track of things I’m into the month as well some key events or memories. The washi tape I didn’t use on my habits page actually ended up here! I added a couple more pieces and added a few little accents with my gel pens to continue to tie the metallics into the theme.

WEEKLY SPREAD

I know I said last month that I really liked the vertical weekly spreads because of how it uses space, but this was the first time in awhile that I felt confined by the lack of space! So, I brought back the horizontal ones instead. It’s another good use of space since I tend to write out a few words per line to explain the task that I need to complete. I tied the theme here with the circles, colors, and the metallic gel pens. I keep my weeklies really simple so they’re easy to recreate when I do decide to create an aesthetically pleasing weekly. Most of my weeklies are really basic tbh!

And that’s it! This is my setup for December. I’m excited to getting back on track with my spreads this month. I hope this jumpstarted you to put together your December bullet journal spreads or inspired you to start a new (or first!) bullet journal to stay organized and keep track of things in 2021! You can also Pin this blog post for safekeeping. 🙂 Be sure to check out my other blog post for fun and easy ideas for bullet journal themes! You can also see my 2021 bullet journal setup too!