1. you'll probably be using natural ingredients since they usually call for things you already have in your kitchen

2. you will save TONS of money

3. you will be creating less waste because you can store your DIY natural concoctions in containers you already have, and

4. you will have fun, because it's like science.

Quick note from 2025: I removed this post from my site because it has nothing to do with journaling or planning, but it’s back by popular demand. Plus, it’s something fun to do on a screen-free Sunday.

Oh Hello Sweet Savings

Recently (hello two days ago) I started a no spend month. So on Wednesday, I decided I wouldn't spend money on anything besides food and necessities. Then on Thursday I realized I had a routine wax scheduled.

I went back and forth, trying to reason with myself. I already had this scheduled, so does this pass my rules of my no-spend challenge?—and—I mean, it's kind of a routine thing; don't I *need* to take care of myself?—and—Yeah but it's expensive as ducks.

A… um… personal wax costs $53 a month. Add a $10 tip. That's $63 a month, or $756 per year. That's an insane amount of money! But let's face it, as crunchy as I am, I do not like to be wild and wooly. Just personal preference.

Enter Sugar Waxing

I've heard of sugar waxing before. Heck, I've even tried it within the past few years.

For whatever reason, the last time I tried sugar waxing, it was a huge mess. And it didn't work. And I'm pretty sure I burned myself a few times. And bruised myself.

But hooray for stubbornness or whatever you want to call it. Full steam ahead.

I re-googled sugar waxing and found a recipe that works for me.

And—spoiler alert—it worked really well. And I'm never going back to my Wax Center of European Decent.

The Sugar Wax Recipe

Okay okay, thanks for hanging in there. I know, I always give too much back story. Here's the recipe and instructions.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar, white or brown (I used white)

• 2 tablespoons water

• 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon salt (optional, but I used it)

Preparation Instructions

Combine all of your ingredients in a pan. Stir that shit up. Simmer it over low-to-medium heat (low is better so you have a lesser chance of burning your mixture).

Stir stir. Watch the sugar crystals liquify (did I mention science?).

Stir stir. Stuff will start to bubble a little.

Stir some more. Your mixture will start to go from white to amber to golden brown. All of this transformation takes about 8 minutes.

Once it turns golden brown, turn the heat off and let it cool. The mixture will start to thicken.

LET. IT. COOL. MORE.This shit is hot. And it's sugar, and sugar burns suck. You want it to cool to the point where the consistency is… well… like liquid wax.

Somewhere in the cooling process I throw my mixture into a mug for portability (because I'm gonna go wax myself in the bathroom; I'm not going to drop trou in the kitchen…).

Sugar Waxing Instructions

This is where the step-by-step pictures stop, because that's just weird. You can find (G-rated) videos of sugar waxing on YouTube.

Your mixture should be cool enough to where you can touch it, but warm enough to where it will spread on your skin smoothly.

Test it with your fingers first. (By the way, you can EAT this stuff. The household consensus is that it tastes like a Sugar Daddy. Talk about natural.)

Take a butter knife or the back of a spoon and spread the mixture against the direction of your hair growth. Let it cool on your skin until it isn't tacky anymore.

Pull your skin taught. Rip the wax off in the direction of your hair growth.

Clean up any wax residue with your wax "strip". If you waited long enough, there won't be much wax residue left on your skin.

A shower or sponge bath afterwards will probably be necessary.

Tips For a Successful Sugar Wax

I totally failed at sugar waxing the first time I tried it, and I think these tips will help you have a good experience:

• Use actual lemon juice. Like, fresh-squeezed from a whole lemon. I think this made a HUGE difference. Something with the enzymes or something. Science.

• Don't rush preparation. It honestly doesn't take that long, so don't try to speed up the cooking or cooling process.

• Only apply one or two wax strips at a time, and let them cool properly before removing them.

• Be prepared to take a quick shower afterwards.

• (If you've come across it…) the hard sugar method will work, but I found applying fresh wax strips every time wax much more effective.

• Gently exfoliate after to help prevent ingrown hairs.

• If your wax cools or hardens too much, zap it in the microwave for 10 seconds.

• Make clean-up easy by gently dunking containers and tools into hot water.

• My best tip: let the whole mixture cool in the fridge in a glass jar. When you're ready to wax, microwave your mixture for about 10 seconds. Use a little bit of that wax and it'll be at the perfect temperature. This will also prevent you from having to make a batch of wax every month.

Sugar Wax Happies

COST: This whole thing cost me $1 for the lemon, and mere cents for the sugar and salt.

TIME: All in all, the entire process from the start (cooking) to finish (hopping out of the shower) took an hour and a half. Might seem like a long time, but by the time I drove to Wax Center, signed in, waited in the lobby, got waxed, paid, and drove home, it was about an hour total. I'm happy to "spend" the extra 30 minutes and save $756 per year.

RESULTS: The results were exactly the same.

NEARO WASTE:All of the waste is compostable (the lemon rinds and the used and leftover wax).

I'm pretty. darn. happy.

Have you ever tried sugar waxing? Or, do you have a favorite natural beauty recipe you'd like to share? Comment below!

Cover photo by Jess Watters

Pens always appealed to me, even as a kid. There’s a super nice rush to going into a stationery store and picking out a candy-colored assortment of pens, markers, and highlighters.

I’ve slimmed down my collection on my perpetual minimalism journey. The hundreds of pens and markers went down to a select few. Then, a few things happened to get me to hone my collection even further: I dove into the world of fountain pens in 2024, and then I also discovered the Tom’s Studio line while at a visit to Of Aspen in Swarthmore, PA.

In this post, I’ll go through which pens I use, why, and will provide reviews of them.

My illustration marker of choice - the Tom’s Studio Wren pen

Somewhere in the journey of starting and owning Lettering League, I discovered brush lettering with the ever-famous Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen. What a lovely and juicy felt-tip brush pen—always laying down super black strokes with a smooth and resilient tip. The Fude quickly became my favorite pen both for brush calligraphy and illustration because of the pigment ink and the quality of the nib.

But every time I finished a Fude, it hit me that I had to throw it out and buy a new one. So not only was my drawing habit creating trash in the form of dried up markers, I also considered the pen’s packaging and the shipping needed to get pen after pen to my house.

One happy day, I visited the brick-and-mortar Of Aspen store after my friend told me about it. Little did I know I would also discover my new favorite brand, Tom’s Studio.

The deal with Tom’s Studio is that he is a pen aficionado, and he designed a refillable pen for his wife (a calligrapher and artist, if I remember correctly), to help with the single-use pen phenomenon.

Their pens use a cotton core to soak up bottled ink over and over again. And, to my delight, their nibs are Japanese-made and are super high quality.

My first Tom’s Studio pen was the Duo Lumos, as I fell in love with the idea of having a dual-tip pen at my disposal in one beautiful aluminum body. (Save 10% with my code, HELLOBRIOSTUDIO)

I purchased the Tom’s Studio Lumos Pro duo tip and a bottle of the Tom’s Studio Pigment Ink right away, and I delighted in filling up the pen with the wicking action of the cotton core.

The Lumos Pro is a “beautiful & infinitely refillable fineliner, writing & brush pen including 11 professional artist's tips.” Yes—that means it replaces all of my Microns and similar fineliner pens all with one beautiful barrel. (And let’s face it, as much as I loved having a smattering of all the fineliner sizes, I only ever reached for two: a thick and a thin.)

I keep my Lumos stocked with the .1 fineliner and the brush tip. So why am I giving you all the backstory of the Lumos when I don’t use it? Well, honestly I don’t reach for it very often. For whatever reason, the pigment ink doesn’t show up very dark for me on MD paper or Tomoe River paper.

But in comes the Wren.

The Wren is “a beautiful and infinitely refillable writing pen, equipped with a Japanese-made writing tip.”

For whatever reason, the Tom’s Studio Pigment Ink works beautifully in the Wren, laying down black ink on both MD paper and Tomoe River paper.

AND… the Tom’s Studio Wren pen writes and draws like the Tombow Fudenosuke. It is truly the only illustration marker I need.

I am so in love with my black Wren pen, and my love for it even convinced my 8-year-old artist son to purchase his own, too!

Some quick bullet points about why I love the Tom’s Studio Wren pen:

• ICYMI: It’s exactly like the Tombow Fudenosuke.

• Even though it’s heralded as a writing pen, I truly love it for its nib flexibility and control.

• It’s a pocket pen.

• The cap pops off so easily and when posted, it’s the perfect length for drawing.

• It’s a beautiful, timeless design.

• It’s made from anodized aluminum so it will last and last.

• You can buy spare parts at a very reasonable price—without all the plastic waste. A 3-pack of pen tips is $4; a 5-pack of spare ink reservoirs (the cotton cores) is $3.

Oh—and because Tom’s Studio is so conscious about the environment, all of their packaging and packing materials are made of paper and are fully recyclable.

Tom’s Studio Wren price: $45

• Options: 8 colors to mix or match, engravable

• Link

• Pigment ink

• Their recommended inks

• Save 10% with my code, HELLOBRIOSTUDIO

Two quick notes:

• For all Tom’s Studio refillable pens, only use non-permanent fountain pen inks or their pigment ink. Stay away from shimmer inks or permanent ink! I found this out the hard way.

• Sometimes you need to warm up the pen a bit by drawing on scrap paper before the ink flows freely. A small price to pay for a luxury pen that could last me for the rest of my life.

My fountain pen of choice - the Kaweco Brass Sport pen, extra fine

Back in early 2024, I dragged a couple of friends to a fountain pen show. My goal was to go to see if I even liked writing with a fountain pen. Little did I know, I was introducing us to a world so intricate and huge and overwhelming, that we walked out with just stickers and maybe a notebook or two.

But I was sold on the idea of fountain pens:

• Refillable ink

• An unparalleled writing experience

• The fountain pen community

• The chance to get a fountain pen barrel that would appeal to the luxury minimalist within me

After said fountain pen show, I went to Omoi Zakka in Philadelphia and picked up my very first fountain pen, a Kaweco Sport in a limited edition color. It took me a bit of testing and fussing to learn how to use it and to discover that the extra fine (EF) nib was the one for me… but after I switched to EF from a Medium nib, I was hooked.

It wasn’t long before I had my eye on the Kaweco Brass Sport—the same design but in a much heavier duty material that would also patina beautifully with use and age.

So, the Kaweco Brass Sport became my second fountain pen purchase in my life… and still remains only 1 of 3 pens in my possession. It’s worth noting that even though I own 3 fountain pens, I only use this one, and I use it every day.

Why do I love the Kaweco Brass Sport?

• It has a timeless design.

• The heavy, solid brass material makes it so lovely to write with.

• It’s a pocket pen.

• It’s so beautiful that it’s a conversation starter.

• I pair it with a permanent black ink, making it perfect for writing and drawing.

Kaweco Brass Sport price: Around $90

• Options: Choose from Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, or Extra Broad nibs

• Link

• Gold-plated steel nib, EF

• Gold clip

• The ink I use currently: Colorverse Permanent Black

My pencil of choice - Blackwing

A couple of birthdays ago, my husband bought me the Blackwing starter set. They’re the pencils of writers and artists everywhere—and it wasn’t until I tested them that I believed it. The graphite is so smooth and dark.

And let’s face it: wood pencils are sustainable. Period.

I carry a pencil because I use it for:

• Sketching before inking

• Drawing lines in my bullet journal (because I’m so tired of making mistakes or smearing ink lines)

I also got this beautiful Blackwing eraser to go along with it, keeping in the theme of metal luxury stationery items.

Usually, I’m a mechanical pencil person. However, my last mechanical pencil broke, and I couldn’t get myself to replace it with another plastic pencil. I do have my eyes on the Kaweco Brass mechanical pencil, however, but that’s a pie-in-the-sky wishlist item for now.

Blackwing Pearl: About $2.60 each

• Options: They have a few different lead options, like Matte or Natural

• Link

• Handheld Eraser

Oh, and let’s talk about my actual pencil case - the Yuruliku flat tool case

The analog journaling and planning community is huge online. It wasn’t soon after I started diving into videos and posts that I discovered the Yuruliku flat tool case. Yes, I had to order it from Japan. It is so worth it.

Here’s why I love my Yuruliku flat tool case:

• It is sustainable (canvas, no plastic).

• It has a natural and neutral aesthetic.

• It’s minimal and functional, keeping my supplies organized.

• It is the same size as my Travelers Notebook.

• It’s high quality—no weird stitching or mesh/plastic dividers here.

• I can pack just a couple of items or I can throw in a few bonus stationery items, too.

• It keeps my pens organized without me having to latch them each into their own pen loop (that “feature” drives me nuts with other pen cases!).

• I customize it with enamel pins—another favorite of mine.

Yuruliku FLAT tool case: $44

• Options: Beige or brown (I have beige)

• Purchase from Japan ($44)

• Purchase from a USA dealer ($74)

Hope you enjoyed the longer-than-anticipated foray into my 3 luxury minimalist pens/pencils and my pencil case. You can watch my YouTube video for all of the accessories and a complete walkthrough and demo!

I fell in love with handwriting my journal entries on my iPad with the Apple Pencil, and I’ve found that the best handwriting journaling app for the iPad is Notability. This is no secret. I LOVE Notability for handwriting on my iPad.

Daily journaling helps me solidify my thoughts and feelings, makes me feel more at peace, and boosts my creativity. (Plus, it’s a good front line of defense when I’m wondering what to do about something before I enlist the help of my spouse/friends/neighbors/complete strangers because I’m having another existential crisis 😅)

I get a lot of questions about how I keep a handwritten journal on my iPad. In this post, I’ll walk you through:

• My process of journaling on my iPad using the Notability App and the Apple Pencil

• Some benefits and downfalls of digital journaling

• Some tips on how to get the most out of the experience

Recommended tools for digital journaling on the iPad using your handwriting

Before I get into my process, benefits, and tips, though, here are my recommended tools for handwritten journaling on the iPad:

• iPad Pro. You certainly don’t have to use an iPad Pro; I’ve also done this on my iPad Mini and my son uses Notability on his student-level iPad! However, I find that I love the performance of the Pro. I recommend any iPad that accepts a magnetic Apple Pencil so you don’t have to worry about charging the pencil separately.

• Apple Pencil. I use the 2nd Generation Apple Pencil to handwrite my journal entries (and to draw in Procreate and Affinity Designer) because it’s the one that’s compatible with my iPad. This link is for the Apple Pencil Pro because it has lots of new features and is compatible with the iPad Pro linked above. Ask for help if you’re not sure if the Pencil you’re looking at is compatible with your iPad.

• Notability. Sure, there are other handwriting-to-text apps or PDF markup apps, but I love Notability because of its streamlined UI, frequent upgrades and app store releases, and excellent support team.

• The Paperlike screen protector. This screen protector does exactly what it says it does: it makes the experience of writing on the iPad more like putting pen to paper. The paper-feel screen protector provides more friction and a matte surface to write and draw on. I made a video about it here, and still swear by it as the best matte screen protector for handwritten journaling and drawing on the iPad.

My process of setting up my handwritten journal on my iPad

Keeping a digital journal on my iPad is SO simple and fun. I look forward to the practice, as it’s so relaxing and creatively rewarding. I found a way to make it super easy in Notability:

• I have one locked journal “Subject” in Notability where all of my journals live.

• Each note ends up being my journal for one full year. It may seem like a lot of entries in one note, but because notes are searchable and bookmarkable, it makes sense for me to store them like this.

• When I’m done for the year, I simply start a new “note.”

This is also great because I can have everything I need at my fingertips when I want to go to a coffee shop and travel light.

• I can review all of my past entries within Notability because of prior years, and also because I scan my analog journals.

• For peace of mind, I keep my journal entries separate from my digital planner in Notability, so that private stuff stays safe behind a password.

Here are a couple of journaling methods that I practice in my journals, as well as a walkthrough of my digital journaling template bundle:

Morning Pages

For Morning Pages à la Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, I go into my journal of the year and scroll to the next blank dot grid spread from my journaling bundle template. I drop the date and time at the top, and then write in a stream of consciousness for as long as I can. I do my best to remove all self-doubt and self-judgment and just keep writing.

Traditionally, Morning Pages are 3 full handwritten pages. Because of the zoom ratio, I aim to complete 3 half pages in my journaling template, which equates to about 3 pages in a hardcover notebook like an A5 Leuchtturm 1917.

Gratitude log and deep gratitude journaling

One of my favorite new habits is gratitude journaling. I make sure to do this daily, but the amount I go into detail for each gratitude item varies. At the very least, I will jot down 3 quick things I’m grateful for; maybe a few words each.

However, I get the most out of deep gratitude journaling, where I spend a few minutes diving into the details of something I’m grateful for. By taking the time to write out salient details, it cements the positive memory and allows me to find more delight in the experience that I might’ve previously glossed over.

I love using my deep gratitude journaling template that I included in my digital journaling bundle because it gives me just the right amount of space to get into the details while staying on track.

Rapid journaling or interstitial journaling

For quick journaling, I will oftentimes use the side of my daily planner template in order to capture quick notes or ideas throughout the day, Bullet Journal rapid-log style. This is sometimes called Interstitial Journaling, which is like writing down thoughts and items between meetings or between focused blocks of work, sometimes with the time noted, just to be able to reflect upon later that night in more depth.

Weekly reflection

For these weekly journal reflections, I use my weekly reflection template and document, in 3 columns:

• What went well and what I accomplished

• What didn’t go well and what needs to be improved

• What I want to prioritize next week

This works well because it helps me assess time in smaller chunks than say, a whole month, or even the entire year. It makes it a lot easier for me to amplify my habits or behaviors that are working for me, and adjust the ones that aren’t.

Daily 54321 reflections

This light, neutral journaling bundle is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a blank journal but want a tad more structure and prompts for ideas on what to journal about. Plus, it saves you from having to draw the same layouts over and over!

Find the video walkthrough on YouTube here.

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps.

The download includes 11 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates, both good for guided digital journaling and long-form digital journaling like Morning Pages or stream-of-consciousness journaling.

• Monthly mental health tracker

• Daily check-in

• Weekly 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 log

• Weekly rose, thorn, and seed log

• Weekly review

• The Why Dive

• Daily deep gratitude log

• Short-form gratitude log (4 per page)

• Blank dot spread

• Blank grid spread

• Blank lined spread

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

I recently started using a 54321 nightly reflection that I developed. I created a weekly template in my journaling bundle.

This 54321 method guides you to capture:

• 5 things on your mind

• 4 things to do tomorrow

• 3 things you’re grateful for

• 2 things you want less of

• 1 soul moment

This journaling method is great because it takes the guesswork out of what to write about, and it also takes only a couple of minutes to complete. I love doing this when I really want to continue my journaling streak but when I’m not in the mood to write in full sentences.

Here’s more info on the 54321 journaling method:

The Why Dive

Sometimes you need a really quick rate of revelation when you’re journaling. I’ve found that the Why Dive is one of the best functional journaling methods because it helps me discover what’s behind a certain decision or thought I’m having, quickly. It almost asks as a life coach, because it pulls meaningful emotions and reasons from you that you might not have been able to uncover otherwise.

You can read more about the Why Dive here, but essentially you state your phrase and then ask yourself “Why?” about 5 times until you get to the core reason of something. It’s scary effective and very eye-opening.

Benefits of digital journaling

Handwritten journal entries—on your iPad!

Because handwriting on the iPad is possible with the Apple Pencil, journaling on the iPad allows you to get a lot out of the experience of writing longhand like you would in an analog, paper journal. By writing longhand on your iPad, you’re able to tap into the same/similar core-centered experience that you get from writing in a traditional journal. Your muscle memory is there, and your slower processing of emotions and events happen naturally when you write journal entries on the iPad.

Typing a journal entry like on Day One or even Apple Notes can be great, but sometimes you just need to slow down to process everything and get out your thoughts in a more mindful way.

Your handwriting will probably look different at first because you’re writing on a glass surface rather than with pen on paper. The Paperlike screen protector can help a lot with this, adding friction so that the writing experience feels more natural. With some practice (and some handwriting drills, if you’re looking for a gold star), your handwriting on the iPad in your journal can improve quickly!

Security and privacy with your digital journal!

With an iPad, you have extra layers of security with biometric passwords, numeric passwords, etc. Your iPad may already have a lock on it that can only be opened with your FaceID, TouchID, or your numeric passcode, and you can also add a layer of security to your journal notes in Notability, protecting your innermost thoughts one step further.

Never again do you have to worry about leaving your journal out for a friend, family member, partner, or child to pick up and start reading.

As far as your data privacy, Notability stores all notes on your device, and it’s only if you choose to sync your notes with a cloud solution like iCloud or Google Drive will it be shared at all. (Though I highly recommend syncing your Notability data to the cloud, because life happens.) Notability never has access to your notes, and they do not sell or give away your data. You can read more about their data privacy if that helps.

Nostalgia, memorabilia, memory keeping, and scrapbooking in your digital journal is so easy!

Because it’s all digital, you can insert a photo of anything and plop that image directly into your journal without having to whip out the printer, scissors, and glue. (While an iPad is very expensive up front, you might end up saving a ton of money on scrapbooking supplies, pens, highlighters, stickers, photo printers, etc!)

I love to doodle in my digital journal and digital planner, especially on the go, and it makes for a very fun memory keeping journal if you use a digital planner template.

With a digital journal, you definitely lose the same nostalgic experience of leafing through old journals or pasting in photos or washi tape, etc. The lack of tactile experience can feel a bit sterile at times. But—I have to say, the versatility of digital journaling and digital scrapbooking is amazing and easily make up for it in a different way. You can do anything you imagine—without having to go out and buy supplies.

Plus, journaling on the couch on your iPad is much easier than whipping out your stationery supplies and losing pens and stuff under your blankets and pillows.

Digital journaling supplies are endless!

Digital journaling allows me any highlighter and pen color under the rainbow. For this, I am eternally grateful—and so is my stationery budget. Plus, I created some digital stickers that I love to use, and I plan to make more. And also—you always have these supplies at your fingertips.

BUT, I know there’s nothing quite like a trip to a stationery store to have a big spending spree on stickers, washi tape, pens, etc…. But I do have to say that my back and bank thank me for keeping these hauls minimal.

Cloud syncing!

If you lose your iPad, you’ll likely have a cloud-synced version of your digital journal entries that you set up through Notability. (By the way, make sure you set up Cloud backup through Notability!)

If you were to break or lose your iPad, it’d be a bummer, but you can rest assured knowing your journal isn’t completely lost. You’d be able to spin up your digital journaling practice as soon as you’re in front of a replacement iPad.

It’s also really nice that you can have your journal on you at all times, no matter what device you’re on. You can open Notability on your computer and your phone, too. Sometimes I’ll have old journals open on my computer while I work on the current journal on my iPad, for example.

Give digital journaling on your iPad a try!

Most of all, have fun with digital journaling! Whether or not you end up trying a digital journal, I’m glad you’re here. Journaling is a rewarding and therapeutic practice that people swear by. I constantly thank my 10-year-old self for penning her first journal entry about learning to crochet, giving me a 30+ year hobby. Journaling is a practice that provides solace and a safe, patient place to air my thoughts and feelings.

Digital journaling, especially with using your own handwriting, brings the journaling experience to the next level, with all of the benefits I mentioned above: digital handwriting, security, cloud syncing, endless stationery supplies, the ability to import photos, and doodling and drawing. I hope you give digital journaling a try with the Notability app, iPad, and Apple Pencil, and love it as much as I do!

I created some templates that can help make your digital journaling a little easier and provide some guidance, if you’re not sure where to get started with journaling in general. As an avid journaler, I’m always surprised when I reach for my own templates to get me unstuck.

This light, neutral journaling bundle is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a blank journal but want a tad more structure and prompts for ideas on what to journal about. Plus, it saves you from having to draw the same layouts over and over!

Find the video walkthrough on YouTube here.

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps.

The download includes 11 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates, both good for guided digital journaling and long-form digital journaling like Morning Pages or stream-of-consciousness journaling.

• Monthly mental health tracker

• Daily check-in

• Weekly 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 log

• Weekly rose, thorn, and seed log

• Weekly review

• The Why Dive

• Daily deep gratitude log

• Short-form gratitude log (4 per page)

• Blank dot spread

• Blank grid spread

• Blank lined spread

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

These light, neutral blanks pair perfectly with the light, neutral planner. You asked—here it is! These are great for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a bullet journal and want to use blanks to match their Hello Brio Planner.

The download includes 8 blank templates:

• Blank landscape

• Blank portrait

• Dotted landscape

• Dotted portrait

• Grid landscape

• Grid portrait

• Lined landscape

• Lined portrait

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

This light, neutral planner is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a bullet journal but want a tad more structure to avoid having to draw the same layouts over and over.

Set goals and plan ahead with these quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily planner templates.

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps.

The download includes 9 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates:

• Daily digital planner

• Weekly schedule

• Weekly tasks

• Weekly planner

• Weekly review

• Week at a glance *NEW*

• Quarterly goals

• Quarterly planner

• Monthly planner

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

Leave your tips, questions, and comments below for digital journaling on your iPad using Notability and your Apple Pencil.

Thanks for reading! Please share the post with anyone you think would love to try this.

Gratitude journaling worked for me—but also didn’t. More times than not, my gratitude practice consisted of me rattling off 3 easy-to-name things just so I could cross it off from my task list.

I saw the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal, but I knew something had to change so I could get more out of it.

A deep gratitude journal improves mental health

I can’t take credit for this idea—my therapist recommended practicing deep gratitude. A close follower of Cal Newport, author of Deep Work and proponent of helping others live a deep life, my ears perked up immediately at the buzzword-heavy suggestion.

• Therapist: “By going into the details of what you’re grateful for, you’ll gain a deeper practice, which can positively influence your levels of self-compassion.”

• Me: “I need all these things. I will start tonight.”

By removing the word limit on the things I was grateful for, “my awesome desk chair” became long-form gratitude poetry about how sitting in the chair makes me feel emotionally—and how it saves my fidget-prone legs because of its physical design. I went from 4 words to a paragraph about why I loved the things I’m grateful for.

Besides writing about the comfort of chairs, I also went into detail about the bubbly peal of my kids’ laughter. The warmth of hugs. That fall, I also went so far as to journal about my gratitude for the almost impossibly bright red leaves littering my lawn from one of our trees (not the amount of work it’d take me to clean up said leaves).

Deep gratitude struck a chord with me and changed my thinking.

On an all-too-common 4am walk with Erma the dog over a prematurely wintery weekend, I believe my deeper gratitude practice helped me swap my default victim mindset to one of awe and love because I’d reprogrammed my brain to see things with curiosity instead of taking them for granted.

The pitch blackness of the very early morning and the piercing 30-degree weather shocked my system, but shortly after we started our walk, I noticed that the grass sparkled under the streetlights. I ended up thoroughly enjoying my 4am, 30º walk with Erma, feeling as if the neighbors’ yards were dusted with glitter overnight just for me.

Benefits of digital gratitude journaling on the iPad

I’ve talked about so many benefits of digital journaling in past posts, so I won’t go to far into why digital journaling is awesome in general.

But… gratitude journaling is particularly helpful on the iPad because:

This light, neutral journaling bundle is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a blank journal but want a tad more structure and prompts for ideas on what to journal about. Plus, it saves you from having to draw the same layouts over and over!

Find the video walkthrough on YouTube here.

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps.

The download includes 11 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates, both good for guided digital journaling and long-form digital journaling like Morning Pages or stream-of-consciousness journaling.

• Monthly mental health tracker

• Daily check-in

• Weekly 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 log

• Weekly rose, thorn, and seed log

• Weekly review

• The Why Dive

• Daily deep gratitude log

• Short-form gratitude log (4 per page)

• Blank dot spread

• Blank grid spread

• Blank lined spread

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

• You can create a dedicated gratitude journal in Notability. With a dedicated gratitude journal in Notability, you can page through all of your deep gratitude (or regular gratitude journaling) in one spot.

• Using a digital gratitude journal makes it easier to keep the habit. Have your iPad on you at all times anyway? Then you’re just a few taps away from adding your gratitude journal entry for the day. No longer do you have to go into another room of your house to find your separate gratitude journal.

• Use the gratitude journal format that works for you in the moment. Some days or weeks you might want to rapid-log your gratitude journal entries. But if you lean into deep journaling, you can have your deep gratitude journal template right there. I created a digital journaling bundle that has a 3-column deep journaling template for just this reason. Anyway, no more missed or wasted days from pre-printed gratitude journals.

• One less journal or notebook. I get the struggle of having too many notebooks. They don’t all quite fit in your backpack, and you may not want to travel with all of them. Your trusty iPad is just there, holding all of your journals and planners in one trusty app. You can even reference your other digital planners and journals right there in Notability without causing back problems.

Related Articles:

• How I journal on my iPad in Notability

• How to stay focused and get the most out of digital journaling

• An introduction to the Digital Doodle Diary

How to start your deep gratitude journal in Notability

If you’re already journaling on your iPad in Notability, a deep gratitude journal is just a few clicks away.

I recommend having all journals in a locked subject in Notability. This adds an extra layer of privacy, especially if you share your iPad with family members.

If you don’t already have a journaling Subject, go ahead and:

1. Select the plus sign next to Subjects

2. Select New Subject

3. Name your Subject. I have mine as “🔐 journal” **(**because why not add emojis to everything)

4. Long press on your new Subject and select Edit

5. At the bottom, toggle on Lock Subject

6. Select Save

Within your journaling Subject, tap the blue New button. Scroll down on the page to name your notebook, and select the paper type you want.

You don’t really need anything else to start your deep gratitude journal in Notability—but if you like my digital journaling bundle and want to set up your journal with the deep gratitude journal template, here’s how to do it:

1. Purchase the digital journaling bundle and import it into Notability

2. Scroll down to find the deep gratitude template

3. Select the double Pages icon in the top right

4. Select the three dots on the page and then select Create Template

5. Name the template Deep Gratitude; select Save

6. Go back into your Deep Gratitude Journal and select the three dots on the top right

7. Select Template settings

8. At the bottom of the prompt page, select My Templates

9. Scroll to select your new Deep Gratitude template

10. Select Apply at the top right

Now, every new page will have the Deep Gratitude template in your notebook! You can also choose another gratitude template or blank journaling template as your base and bring in the deep gratitude template when you want to use it. It’s up to you!

Try a deep gratitude journal on your iPad and let me know how it goes

A deep gratitude practice can help you tap into the magic, beauty, and awe in life. Plus, it’s a nice way to wrap up the day. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. If you feel brave, share your digital gratitude journal on Instagram and tag me using #hellobrio.

This light, neutral journaling bundle is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a blank journal but want a tad more structure and prompts for ideas on what to journal about. Plus, it saves you from having to draw the same layouts over and over!

Find the video walkthrough on YouTube here.

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps.

The download includes 11 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates, both good for guided digital journaling and long-form digital journaling like Morning Pages or stream-of-consciousness journaling.

• Monthly mental health tracker

• Daily check-in

• Weekly 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 log

• Weekly rose, thorn, and seed log

• Weekly review

• The Why Dive

• Daily deep gratitude log

• Short-form gratitude log (4 per page)

• Blank dot spread

• Blank grid spread

• Blank lined spread

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

This light, neutral planner and journal is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a bullet journal but want a tad more structure to avoid having to draw the same layouts over and over.

These templates were designed with inspiration from the planner world where many planner-keepers also use their planners as memory-keepers with stickers, doodles, and short-form journaling. I drew inspiration from Hobonichi planners and other popular Japanese planners.

Draw your own memories or use digital stickers to help you fill up your digital planner and journal!

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps. The grid in this bundle is set to be 3.5mm to mirror more popular smaller-form journaling in the planner world.

The download includes 11 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates:

• Day memories

• Day planner spread

• Day planner with journal

• Day schedule with journal

• Day tasks with journal

• Full week

• Weekly journaling

• Weekly memory keeping

• Weekly memory spread

• Monthly memory keeping - 5 weeks

• Monthly memory keeping - 6 weeks

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

ANYWAY—you’re here to learn how to download digital stickers to Notability! Let’s get to it.

In this post, I’ll walk you through:

• How to download your file

• How to import PNG stickers through photos

• How to use sticker book sheets

How to download your digital sticker file

Customers—Thank you so much! Now that you’ve made your purchase:

1. Select the download link in your browser after you buy your digital stickers, or

2. Select the download link in your order email

3. Save the file to your Files, in an easy-to-remember location (Desktop works well for me!)

You can move your sticker pack to another place in Files after you’ve got them imported into Notability. I just like to have whatever I’m working on placed on my Desktop so I can find it easily during import!

How to add digital stickers to Notability or Goodnotes using Photos

In order to get your digital stickers into Notability or Goodnotes, or if you’re using a different PDF-editor app, you can always drag and drop the individual PNG files into your Photos and import your stickers that way.

1. Within Files, locate the PNG folder

2. Open Files and Photos side-by-side, and then drag and drop the PNG’s into your Photos

3. In Notability or Goodnotes, import a photo using the Photo tool

4. Resize and place your sticker!

How to add digital stickers to Notability with the sticker sheet

Okay y’all. If you’ve already hopped ahead and are wondering why the sticker sheets are so gosh-darned big, I’ll show you!

I designed the sticker sheets to be the size of Midori sticker sheets—tall and slim—so that you can have two Notability windows open at once, side-by-side.

1. Within Files, locate the .NOTE file

2. Tap the file and you’ll get a prompt asking you where you want to save your Notability sticker sheet. I usually just leave everything as-is and then select Import.

3. Open your digital planner and journal on one side, then swipe in from the left to open your new sticker sheet as well

4. Use the Select tool and then tap a sticker

5. Select the Copy icon

6. Tap on the planner or journal side of your screen

7. Select Paste

8. Resize your sticker, rotate it how you want it, and place it wherever you’d like

Does Notability have stickers?

Yes! Notability does have built-in, pre-saved stickers. When you tap the Photo icon, you can select the Sticker icon below it. A Stickers panel will show up where you can browse through their sticker collections.

I find the Notability stickers VERY cute but VERY limited. Hence why I wanted to make my own stickers!

It’d certainly be nice to have digital stickers save in the user-generated sticker collection within Notability, but for now there’s no way to save a “photo” as a sticker. But… you can make your own digital stickers in Notability if you doodle them in the app!

Can you make digital stickers in Notability?

Yes—absolutely! I love doodling in my Notability app because the tools are versatile and fun. While you don’t get nearly the amount of drawing control and power that you do in an app like Procreate, you can still doodle your own stuff.

All you have to do is draw your item, then draw a Selection box around it. Then, tap Save, and your stickers will automatically be in your User sticker collection!

I hope you enjoy using your digital stickers in Notability! If you have any questions about downloading or using your digital stickers in Notability, Goodnotes, or another app that you like, please comment below or email me so I can help.

If you share your digital planner or journal on Instagram, please tag me @hellobriostudio and use #hellobrio!

In this post, I’ll discuss how and why to prep your iPad for focused digital journaling.

If you’re really good at staying on one app for a long time and ignoring notifications, then you can skip this. You should also email me right away so I can pick your brain on how the heck you do this in this attention-stealing economy, and so we can discuss Catherine Price’s work on the impacts of screens on our life. Anyway.

For the rest of us? Staying focused on a digital device can be really hard. We’re programmed (and brainwashed) to respond to dings and haptics and banner alerts. We’re also programmed to check our inboxes, constantly.

So, if you want to learn how to get the most out of your digital journaling sessions—while writing on your iPad with your Apple Pencil in Notability—then read on!

Step 1 for focused digital journaling: Delete unnecessary apps from your iPad

If you want to use your iPad as a tool instead of an entertainment center or a second computer, you’ll be better off deleting apps you don’t need on your iPad. Don’t worry—you’ll still be able to access Instagram on your phone and email on your laptop.

By setting an intention for how you want to use your iPad, you’ll get the most out of digital journaling or digital planning. Design your iPad life!

For me, I use my iPad as a drawing tool, a digital journaling tool, and a digital planning tool. I try not to use it for browsing the web, ping-ponging back and forth on email and LinkedIn, or even messages.

For me, when I get a little sloppy with my iPad use, I find myself deleting these apps or apps like them:

• Instagram

• Email

• LinkedIn

• Financial apps

• Netflix

• Amazon

This allows me not to be tempted to use my iPad for these entertainment or social media purposes. Sure, I will re-download Netflix on my iPad if I’m sick and I need a rest, but otherwise I keep it off of there.

You can do the same—delete distracting apps and re-download them if you absolutely need them. Increasing the friction between you and distracting apps by deleting them can be a powerful trick to helping you use your iPad like a helpful tool and not a consumption machine.

Step 2: Turn off iPad notifications so you can focus on journaling. Like all of them.

Whoa, scary right? But if you’re using your iPad for your digital stand-in for a planner and journal, you’re going to want to do this. For example, I turned off all sounds, badges, and banners for text messages on my iPad. I still get notifications for important messages on my watch or phone, but when I’m in my iPad journaling, I don’t have to worry about being distracted by pings.

Sure, this is a great practice to do on your other devices, as well, but sometimes easier said than done. By practicing Screen-Free Saturdays/Sundays, I’ve been able to

1. Significantly decrease my screen-time use

2. Gain clarity on how I want to use my devices

3. Organize my thoughts around which device should be used for what

4. Continue to use my iPad on screenless days, because I designed it to be a tool and (mostly) trained my brain not to skip around on apps

And let’s be honest, turning off notifications for everything is pretty freeing. I now only get push notifications for messages having to do with my kids.

Step 3: Set up Focus Modes on your iPad for digital journaling

Do. Not. Disturb. This is up to you, but I always recommend using Do Not Disturb or a specific Focus Mode when you’re journaling.

This is your time to focus on yourself and what’s on your mind—so don’t let other demands get in the way!

You can do this manually by turning on Do Not Disturb on your iPad, or if you’re feeling fancy you can set up an automatic Focus Mode for when you use Notability to turn off notifications and banners when you use the app.

If you want to get really fancy, you can set up your iPad to hide or lock certain apps with Focus modes and Screen Time in settings.

Since I started using Screen Time blocks for my kids, I also realized I could do it for myself. So, I will set downtime for myself during certain times where the more distracting apps aren’t available.

Play around with your settings, and try to find the best combination of deleting apps, turning off notifications, and setting Focus modes that works best for you.

Step 4: Save your eyes by adjusting your iPad display

On my iPad, I keep my brightness turned down to as dim as it can go but so I can still see my handwriting, and then I’ll also use Night Shift at all times of the day so the iPad gives off the warm amber color instead of the harsh blue light.

Also, you can try Notability’s Night Mode. Notability has its own version of night mode which creates a color inverse of what you’re working on. This is different than using night mode on your iPad, or using a dark template with a white pen. This will allow you to switch between dark-on-light and light-on-dark seamlessly with a toggle. Try it with the 3 dots at the top-right corner, View, and toggle on Night Mode. It’s great for late night journaling or if you just prefer writing light-on-dark.

Step 5: Practice mindfulness in everyday life

Okay, I know it’s a big ask to say “practice mindfulness,” but that’s what it really comes down to. So quickly we can get into popcorn brain mode when using our devices.

One thing that’s helped me immensely is a tip from The Power of Less by Leo Babauta where if you feel the need to task-switch:

1. Pause.

2. Recognize the urge to switch apps or tasks.

3. Take a deep breath.

4. Make the decision to stay on task.

You can do this with anything in your life, and it’s especially helpful when you’re using screens. How often have you picked up your phone to look at your calendar but then 20 minutes later you realized you answered all of your emails and scrolled Instagram stories, and that you never actually looked at your calendar?

Set intentions, pause, and slow down.

If you DO need to switch tasks, I still recommend pausing and staying on task for at least 5 more minutes to help train your brain. If you feel like you’ll forget, you can make a note elsewhere. (This is why I keep an analog day journal in my Traveler’s Notebook Passport size these days!)

Enjoy your newfound focus and journaling on your iPad in Notability or your app of choice! I’m here to help—comment below or get in touch to ask questions about digital journaling on the iPad.

Oftentimes, we end up not sticking to our habits because we don’t take the time to dive into why we want to do them. Sure, there may be surface-level reasons that you want to do something. For example:

• I want to stop eating sugar so my lab results are healthier.

• I want to save money so I can go somewhere cool on vacation.

• I want to write in my journal every day because some book told me it’s a good idea.

When we pick new habits blindly, they likely won’t last long. You need to get to the WHY behind your decision!

How many times have you gone down a path in life to discover it’s not for you? Or that it makes you miserable? Often, we get caught up in doing things or feeling a certain way that we forget to ask ourselves “Why.”

With the Why Dive quick journaling exercise, you’ll be able to gain perspective quickly.

The Why Dive is a quick journaling exercise

In a Why Dive, you ask yourself a series of questions to coach answers from within. Usually, “Why?”

You know how they say that any good coach or therapist just asks questions? They don’t provide you with prescriptive answers—because the answers are already within you.

This light, neutral journaling bundle is perfect for tablet users who love the freedom and flexibility of a blank journal but want a tad more structure and prompts for ideas on what to journal about. Plus, it saves you from having to draw the same layouts over and over!

Find the video walkthrough on YouTube here.

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps.

The download includes 11 un-dated, horizontal PDF templates, both good for guided digital journaling and long-form digital journaling like Morning Pages or stream-of-consciousness journaling.

• Monthly mental health tracker

• Daily check-in

• Weekly 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 log

• Weekly rose, thorn, and seed log

• Weekly review

• The Why Dive

• Daily deep gratitude log

• Short-form gratitude log (4 per page)

• Blank dot spread

• Blank grid spread

• Blank lined spread

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it in a note-taking app. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

1. Grab a copy of the Why Dive exercise in my Digital Journaling Bundle.

2. Write your goal in the first slot—this may be any belief, thought, or feeling about a goal or anything else.

3. Ask yourself why you believe/think/feel that.

4. Continue with why, over and over, until you discover your core belief. You can usually uncover it with about 5 why’s.

5. Once there, acknowledge it, explore it, and make changes to your course of action accordingly.

You may be surprised what you uncover.

From the exercises above, here are some sample deep core reasons why you may want to do what you set out to do:

• I want to stop eating sugar so my lab results are healthier I can live a longer, healthier life and be able to enjoy seeing my kids grow up and be around and healthy for their children, too.

• I want to save money so I can go somewhere cool on vacation fulfill a lifelong dream to be a digital nomad and work for myself anywhere in the world to experience true freedom.

• I want to write in my journal every day because some book told me it’s a good idea I know I have a hard time connecting to my emotions, and with the help of my therapist and my journaling practice I’ll be able to explore thoughts, feelings, and emotions instead of suppressing them so I will be in control of my own mind.

Give the Why Dive a try, for any goal or habit you wish to accomplish:

• Starting personal habits

• Achieving business goals

• Adding something new you want to try

• Removing something that weighs on your life

Write your mission statement everywhere!

Once you figured out your deepest and most compelling core reason why you want to do something, use this as a mission statement on top of habit trackers or digital planning dashboards so you can be reminded of your mission statement every time you navigate to that page in your digital journal.

Having the core reason why you want to do something will help you stay motivated and accountable to yourself.

Introducing: The yearly (adulting) tracker:

Honestly. Do you remember when you last switched out your toothbrush? When you last ran your dishwasher on a clean-only cycle? These things are so hard to remember, but doing them helps keep your life running smoother. Regular maintenance of the things we own is a top minimalism principle. By taking care of our possessions, they will last longer and work better.

Here’s why monthly household chores are hard to remember to do, and how I use my yearly tracker in my digital planner in Notability to help me do adulting better when I use my iPad for life management.

Why monthly habits are hard to keep

Anything you want to track daily is going to be easier to keep tabs on. It’s a high-touch page in your planner, whether you bullet journal digitally in an app like Notability or Goodnotes, or even in your analog planner. You might keep track of your daily habits in a weekly log or on a master page. But either way, it’s something you probably look at every day.

Monthly habits and household chores are really hard to remember!

Even if you set a calendar appointment for yourself or add a reminder in your phone, it’s so easy to skip over these tasks. They’re usually lowest priority and when they pop up, they feel like an annoyance. So we swat them away, ignore the calendar slot, or delete the reminder altogether.

How a yearly household chore tracker can help

This light, neutral yearly tracker PDF template is perfect for pesky monthly tasks. Inspired by @lindseyscribbles’ Adulting Log, this can help you do adulting, better.

The template features monthly tasks to fill in as completed. This solves a major problem for me because it helps me remember monthly tasks that I always seem to forget, like cleaning the dishwasher filter, changing my toothbrush, etc. I hope this digital planning template helps you, too!

Optimized for Notability but can also be used in Goodnotes or other iPad PDF-markup apps. Included is the same template in a printable format for those who just want to go old school and put pen to paper.

The download includes 1 horizontal PDF templates with sections for:

• Monthly tasks

• Date of completion for each month

Buy it once, and use it year after year.

Note: This is a digital download. No physical item(s) will be shipped. You will receive a link to download your file(s) after purchase. You need to unzip the file before using it. No refunds or exchanges are permitted.

A yearly tracker can really help you set intentions for the habits and household chores that you want to complete monthly, and then stay on top of it.

You’ll visit this page in your digital planner whenever you complete a task on the chart, which will then help you get a reminder to the other tasks and chores you need to pay attention to that month.

This year, I will track self-care and household tasks to be completed monthly in my yearly tracker, like:

• Changing contact lenses

• Switching to a new toothbrush

• Cleaning my dishwasher’s filter

• Deep deodorizing the carpets

• Reviewing my budget in depth

For each of these items, I write down the day of the month in the corresponding cell. This allows me to see when I last completed the task so I don’t repeat a task too soon. It also helps light a fire under my butt to remind me to get on a task where I’m behind.

I can also write an intended date in pencil to give me guidance, and switch it over to ink once I complete the task.

Try a yearly tracker in your digital planner

I have a new yearly tracker template which goes along nicely with my minimal planner in light neutral. This page works great as the one of the first pages in your digital planner so you will see it often. Make sure to bookmark it, too, so you can use it as one of your main pages in your digital planner! I think this is how the yearly tracker will work best for me, since I often read through my bookmarked pages in my digital planner out of habit.

Thank you to @lindseyscribbles for the inspiration from her analog “adulting log.” What a great idea, and I’m glad to have created a minimal digital template for all of you fellow digital bullet journal fans.