I have never made a ‘word of the year’ journal – but since I saw the December kit I wanted to use the leftovers to create one. When Lisa says everything in the kit can be re-used, I can concur – even the box which I used for the carcass of my journal. I added the post card to create a title for the cover and decorated with a strip of washi and some quote stickers.

It literally took me 15 minutes to make this. I cut up the box to make the back and front cover, added two holes to bind with ring pulls, and cut the papers to size (with some others from my stash). I then used the text boxes as the journalling spots on the majority of pages.

The first page is really simple – its the inside cover, which I cut out two journal cards from the kit zine and stuck them down. I used scrabble tile stickers to spell out JOY for my word of the year. I outlined it with pink felt tip – this was a bit of an impulse. I can decorate the pages as I go through, but the basics of the journal have been created for me to write in!

My word of the year for JANUARY is JOY. We are all guilty of focussing on the negatives of each day, and this can drag us down. Me especially. So this year my word is a prompt to focus me on the positives. I aim to find the JOY in each day. If I feel like it, I can document it here to look back on.

I also used some old scraps to fill in the pages to add space for journalling, and some home made tab tops to add depth.

We love a velum pocket and tag journalling spots, and I love the outlined look of the tags and lines for journalling done with an ink pen.

It’s so easy to make a little journal to use like this, and use bits and bobs to decorate the pages in really simple terms so you can fill it in on the fly.

It’s great to have positive quotes and finding the joy in each day.

Have you created a word of the year journal? Are you doing word of the year this year? Let me know in the comments!