My December Bullet Journal setup is here and the theme is Nutcrackers! To round out the nutcracker theme, I have added nuts as an additional element. You can catch the YouTube video here but for more information, you can keep reading.
December Bullet Journal Setup Supplies
Because I decided to include an interactive element this month – the mouth opening, I used glue in additional to my usual supplies.
- Scribbles That Matter Bullet Journal (STMLOVE for 10% off) (Affiliate link so a small portion of the sale comes to me, at no additional cost to you!)
- Tombow Dual Brush Pens: 291, 379, 569, 837, 885, 942, 993, and N15
- Tombow Mono Drawing Pens
- White Gelly Roll in size 10
- Nutcracker stickers (from the Blank to Brilliant Library – accessible to email subscribers)
- Tombow Mono Tape Adhesive and Removeable Adhesive
- Double sided tape
- Habit tracker stickers (from the Blank to Brilliant Library)
- Scissors and Exacto knife
- Pickett No. 1200i Circles Inking Template
Nutcracker Cover Page
This setup is my standard bullet journal setup except for a couple of fun elements. One of them being the nutcracker cover page with the moveable mouth. To create this element, I sketched out my nutcracker to the dimensions I wanted, using the dot grid to measure.
Once I was happy with my sketch, I grabbed an extra piece of dot grid paper (from the back of the notebook), and started cutting a beard. Again, I used the dot grid to line up the beard with the mouth.
Once I was sure I was happy, I started cutting the mouth portion out. I initially started with scissors but switched to an Exacto knife instead. If you’re going to use a blade directly in your notebook, make sure to use a light hand. Otherwise you’ll cut through multiple pages.
I measured the mouth to be 6 squares across and 12 squares down, leaving a 4 square border to the bottom of the page. Here I used a circle stencil to cut an opening for the bottom of the pull tab. Using the extra paper from before, I cut a piece measuring 10 squares across and 17 squares down. I glued the bottom portion of the mouth to the top center of this piece. I marked the bottom of the mouth and cut 2 squares off each side of this paper, below the mouth line. This way, the pull tab piece won’t pull out completely.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
After finishing these measurements, I coloured the open mouth portion of the next page black, and then started placing glue around the mouth, but not across the bottom portion by the semi-circle cut out. Placing glue right next to the mouth means that the top portion of the mouth will catch and the tab won’t pull out completely.
REMEMBER: before gluing, place the pull tab in position or else you will struggle getting the pull tab portion in place. I use removeable adhesive to keep it in place for this part.
To glue the beard in place, cut a small rectangle and fold in half. Glue one half down onto the pull tab; and glue the beard on the other half. This allows the beard to pull down over the bottom portion and makes a more realistic nutcracker.
Ribbon Calligraphy
The next element I thought would be fun, given it’s the holidays, was to use a ribbon effect with my calligraphy. You can find a previous tutorial here, with the biggest difference being that I used a darker secondary colour for a more obvious effect.
For smaller calligraphy headings, I just created shadowing with my black pen, using the same concepts from the ribbon lettering tutorial.
I hope you found this fun and an idea you might want to try. Honestly, this was probably one of my more insecure layouts. I definitely struggle with self-doubt but I’m mostly able to push it aside and carry on. I find as I start to tweak my style and improve overall, I’m definitely getting more self-conscious. So, if this describes you, know that you are not alone! I am a Type A perfectionist to the point where I can feel paralyzed by self-doubt, so this has definitely been a journey for me.
With all of that said, if there is anything you would like to see or more information on my December bullet journal setup, please do not hesitate to reach out. I love exploring new techniques and products and sharing what I’ve learned.
Talk soon!
