Blackout Book and JUST TWO Pens | August Plan With Me

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It’s that time of the year – time to share yet another plan with me post! Join me as I set up my August in the Blackout book.

I think this can be called a stars and planets Bullet Journal theme, but mostly I just wanted to add some simple doodles that would look good on black paper.

August is a very exciting month for me. I finally have a week off, I’m finishing my new tattoo (I’m already starting to feel pain just thinking about it), my sister is coming for a visit and …. it’s my last month in China before I move to Bolivia. So yeah, kind of an uneventful month uh?

I decided it will also be the perfect month to add some excitement to my Bullet Journal, and I challenged myself in a few ways with it. Let’s dive in and see what’s new and how well I handled it all. 

As always there is a Plan With Me video at the end of the post.

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Challenges

There are two of them this month. First of all, I finally got my Archer and Olive Blackout book, and this is what I’m using for my monthly pages.

This is huge for me – I never worked with black pages. Like, not even as my high school diary. That’s actually one of the reasons why it took me so long to get the journal – it scared and intimidated me so very much!

But as Mary Schmich once said, do one thing every day that scares you. It doesn’t matter if it’s starting a new style of BuJo or getting an immensely big and horrifyingly painful tattoo (guys, seriously, I still can’t believe I’m paying someone to inflict this much agony on me!). 

ANYWAYS, after doing my Blackout book review, I got much more confident with it and was really looking forward to exploring all the new possibilities it has to offer.

Oh, and if you want to buy one (or pretty much anything from Archer and Olive), you can always use code MASHA10 to get 10% off your order.

I got so comfortable, in fact, that I decided to just use two pens for all my setups – white Sakura Gelly Roll (10) and Blue Staedtler Metallic Marker. Yeah. Because I like to live dangerously like that. 

That’s also how I ended up with my simple star galaxy monthly theme, which came from these two colors. I say “simple” because these pages are very easy to replicate. I only had a few hours late at night to do my setups, so I really went for something fast.

The second and most challenging of both challenges, though, came to me during the setups, when I realized it takes FOREVER for gel pens to dry and it’s super easy to smudge them (you’ll see this happening quite a few times in my Plan with Me Video).

Seems like I covered all the rules I put for myself, so let’s dive in!

Cover Page

Since white on black creates such a fantastic effect, I went with lots of very simple star doodles for the cover.

Granted, coloring the moon took a while, but other than that, it was a pretty fast and easy page to draw. I decided to add white stars on the blue of the letters for August, but it ended up looking more like polka dots which I find hilarious, for some reason.

Nonetheless, I love how the colors match, so I’m quite happy with the cover.

Monthly Log

The last time I used a vertical setup, I quite liked it, so I decided to go back to it.

Ok ok, FINE. Yes, the real reason why I did it like that is that I didn’t want to actually calculate and draw the calendar grid. Also because a one-page calendar is too small but on two pages is too big. You got me, Sherlock.

I started by just framing the monthly layout, but I decided it looked quite empty, so I went crazy with the doodles, which was quite honestly, very satisfying. 

Once again, I have a whole page for the to-do list. Considering how packed this August will be, I went with an approach of more tasks and less decoration.

Habit Tracker

This is possibly my favorite spread of August. I’m really happy with how it came out.

Having a doodly habit tracker in July was fun, but honestly, not so productive, especially since for some reason, I picked different colors for each habit. 

I’m fixing this error in August and going back to my favorite format – lots of small calendar habit trackers. I really love how nicely it occupies the page, and it’s great that you can clearly see how you’re doing on each habit.

Since I cut down the number of my habits to six, I still had some space at the bottom, and I decided to add a little motivational quote. That was the moment when I really wanted to use some brush pens, but rules are rules. 

I’ll make sure to add more quote pages in this journal to play around with all the metallic brush pens and such.

Goals Page

Quite the same format as always, there is a space for goals and space for weekly checkups. The first few days of August aren’t included, because they are a part of my July.

I did try something new – I used a quote as a header for the page. I was gonna go with “Don’t be a blob!” but, then I chose something that reflected the spirit of it, but was… let’s say, more academic.

In a month of so many changes and scary steps forward, I want this quote to remind me that goals have to be a little scary. This is definitely something for me to keep in mind.

Gratitude

I love having gratitude pages in my BuJo. I know I’m the kind of person who can take a lot of good things for granted, so I’m using this spread to remind myself that I should really be grateful and happy for everything I have.

For the last few months you have been voting on Instagram for me to have a doodly gratitude log, and this format became my absolute favorite one.

This allows me to doodle every day, and I don’t even need to think about the prompt – there are so many fantastic things to be grateful for! Of course, there is always coffee – probably the most frequent doodle in my gratitude log.

Weekly Spreads

These pages always come last, since I set them up as I go and add to the post after I started the new month already.

Hope you like this, and it will once again prove to you that to Bullet Journal all you need is just a pen and a notebook!

Plan With Me Video

Finally, here is my Plan With Me video. I’m sorry for being so late this month, but health issues kept me busy by the end of the month (nothing serious, don’t worry!).

I hope you guys enjoyed watching my little setup, and if you ever feel like recreating any of my spreads be sure to tag me – I always absolutely love seeing your take on these spreads!

What’s your theme for this month? Share with us in the comments.

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And remember: Keep Bullet Journaling, and Don’t Be A Blob!

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