With the temperature dropping, and the nights drawing in, summer is officially over, and autumn is upon us. Personally, I couldn’t be happier. I’ve never been a fan of the heat, and feel my mood lift as soon as I can start layering up, and switch my iced coffees back to hot lattes. I mean, I’ve taken the moniker “Praline Mocha”, it doesn't get too much more autumnal than that!
I also find embracing a journaling ritual much easier in the colder months. Making a hot drink, lighting a couple of candles, and wrapping myself up in a thick blanket while I turn off all the screens around me, and take stock of things going on in my life. This season is perfect for introspection, and I find myself leaning more into gratitude journaling as a result.
My Favourite Autumn Themes
In creating the sticker sheets I’ve used for these journal spreads, I wanted to use a classically autumnal colour palette. Rich reds, warm oranges and pale muted greens. I’m not sure what it is about these colours, but it just speaks to me, with my personal wardrobe taking a big shift over to “sage and beige” in the last few years.
When it comes to fall imagery, you can’t go wrong with the classics. Top of the list is pumpkins. Carved pumpkins with spooky faces, with goofy faces, with no faces. Then there’s autumnal food and drink. Pumpkin spiced latte, pumpkin pie, and apple pie. The final main motif, and maybe the most indicative of fall, are the leaves changing colour.
Products I used
For my journal spreads, I like to keep my product list relatively simple. I think we’re all guilty of seeing a niche product and ordering, then having it languish in a drawer for months, unused.
One product that I feel is a sleeper hit, are the Tim Holtz Distress Oxides. As a teenager in the 00s, I used a lot of his Distress inks in cardmaking, so a decade and change later when I got into journaling, I couldn’t wait to try the new range. They have heaps of applications, but I primarily use them to create soft background glows.
The breakdown
- Praline Mocha Cosy Pumpkin Sticker Sheet
- Praline Mocha Cosy Pumpkin Washi Stickers
- Tim Holtz Distress Oxides (Bundled Sage)
- Staedtler fine liners
- Stabilo Nature Highlighters
- Daler and Rowney watercolours
- Misc unbranded washi tape, and washi tape dots
I made all of these journal to-do lists live on Instagram, so head over there if you want to hang out and start your day with some productive daily organising.
6 Cosy Fall Bull Journal Spreads
This spread has one of my favourite elements to include, a two-tone background block with fineliner illustrations in. I wanted to contrast the green used in the window headers with some warm orange, and used a light watercolour as the base. I don’t use too much watercolour in my journal spreads, because it can warp the paper, but it’s the best way (in my opinion) to get a smooth background colour application. I also really enjoyed doodling all the leaves on this block, and how they match the leaves in all the stickers on the page.
My favourite part about this cosy fall journal spread, is the parchment effect I used for the boxes. I used Derwent Academy Watercolour pencils in a couple of tan shades. I love these pencils, although I never use the water soluble properties of them. I also really like how the pumpkin patch sticker from my cosy pumpkin sticker sheet works with the green grid background, and how the single pumpkin sticker gives another pop or orange at the top of the page
I’m in love with the faux washi strip stickers I made, and will hopefully be creating a washi tape of this design next year. This was also the first time I got to use my Stabilo nature highlighter (in shade mud green) to make a gorgeous gingham background pattern.
To keep a crisp edge and neat lines on this box, I used a ruler and masked the right hand edge of the box with some old washi tape I’m not too fond of. This little bit of extra prep let me quickly create a pattern that was clean, with straight lines that were even.
On the left hand spread, I used one of my Tim Holtz Distress Oxides (in shade Bundled Sage) to create a soft green gradient against the spine. I also masked off the left hand frame and put some of the green there too. I love how these soft greens contrast against the orange header bars on the frames. Speaking of the frames, I liked the effect of these 00s computer UI windows. They are super clean and effective, and I can’t wait to use them in future spreads.
I also enjoyed using more orange tones on the right hand page, and creating a tighter leaf pattern in the background. I wanted one side of this page to be more “pumpkin” and the other to be more “coffee”. In hindsight, I would swap the coffee mug sticker and the leaf sticker, because I feel like the leaf sticker gets a little bit lost against the background.
On this autumn journal spread, I sketched out a lot of leaves underneath the frames, and coloured them all individually in a couple of oranges and a yellow shade. Whilst I like how it came out, the star of the show on this spread are the two main frames. This note paper design is super simple to create, and looks really effective. For that deep red line, I used Diamine’s Oxblood ink in my fountain pen, which is my favourite shade of red. It’s so rich and decadent, and is perfect for things like this.
In conclusion
I hope these autumnal bullet journal spreads have inspired you to bring some cosy magic to your planner. I truly believe that it only takes a small bit of creativity to create something magnificent, and although I liberally used my cosy pumpkin sticker sheets, they aren’t the sole reason I love what I created.
If you use any of my journal stickers in your bullet journal, please tag me over on Instagram - I’d love to see what you come up with!