July 2017 Bullet Journal Setup

Welcome to the July 2017 setup in my bullet journal! This is my last full month of summer break, and I can't believe that summer break is already halfway over! I've been posting a lot on my Instagram since school's been out, and my bullet journal this past month has reflected my laziness throughout break so far. July for me will be a little busier than June, and I need to step it up with my bujo game a little. Anyway, I don't think you care too much about that, so here's my bullet journal setup for next month!

Modern Brush Calligraphy Alphabet (Bounce Lettering)

I've been doing calligraphy for a little over a year now, and in that time, I've improved a lot - well, at least I like to think that I have. In the very beginning, I think one of the hardest things about starting was that I was lost in terms of an alphabet. I used to have look at a bunch of different Instagram calligraphers for different letter inspiration, but through that (and lots of practice doing various headers in my bullet journal), I've developed my own style in terms of modern calligraphy.

That style happens to consist pretty much completely of bounce lettering, which is where the lettering is a little more free-form, and each individual letter isn't completely straight on a baseline (especially the strokes that connect each letter together, which tend to go below the baseline in bounce calligraphy). That explanation probably didn't make much sense, so look through my Instagram, and you'll see a lot of examples of it (such as in this photo). I personally find bounce lettering easier than "normal" lettering because you can be a little sloppy, but it'll still look good. Plus, it automatically gives it that cute and "whimsical" look that modern calligraphy is often known for.

So, I've decided to share with you today my own modern calligraphy alphabet, specifically for bounce brush calligraphy (though you can still by all means use this same alphabet for other types of mediums). If you've just started learning calligraphy or if you haven't started yet and you have no idea where to begin (or if you just want to spice up your own calligraphy style with some variation), then this'll be a great resource to kickoff your hand-lettering journey, whether you want to do weddings, decorate your bullet journal, or anything in between.

If this is your very first attempt at any type of calligraphy, I highly suggest trying out faux calligraphy before brush calligraphy. It's not required, but I think it would be helpful.

10 Tips for Bullet Journal Beginners

Starting a bullet journal can seem pretty intimidating, especially if you've seen all of the great - and frankly, maybe a little intimidating - pictures online. However, the bullet journal system (or bujo for short) is not created to be difficult nor complicated. So, in my experience of using a bullet journal for more than a year, I've decided to share some of the things I've learned in that time. Though these tips are aimed towards people who just began to use a bullet journal (or haven't even started one yet), I think these things might still help out a few of you more experienced bullet journalists. Anyway, without any further ado, here are some tips for bujo beginners!

Bullet Journal Instagram Inspiration Part 1

The bullet journal community has an amazingly vibrant online presence, and one of the best places to see this is on Instagram. You can find so much amazing inspiration there, so I decided to round up a whole bunch of great Instagram accounts that I follow for nice bujo pics - 20 accounts, in fact. I also included a post from each account so you can get a feel for their style of bullet journaling.

I think you'll enjoy photos from these bullet journalists like I do (even if it's just for the aesthetic), but you may also discover different things that you might want to incorporate into your own bullet journal.

And yes, I'm also on Instagram ;)

June 2017 Bullet Journal Setup

Since it's almost June, I decided to do my monthly bullet journal setup today! June is going to be my first full month of summer break, so that's nice. Anyway, I don't have much to say, so here's my June monthly bujo setup!

PSA: How to Pronounce Leuchtturm

I think that this will be quite a useful post for a lot of people. A couple weeks ago, I explained how to pronounce "fudenosuke", but in today's installment of PSA, I'll be addressing a very common issue: how to pronounce Leuchtturm. If you don't know, Leuchtturm1917 is a famous notebook brand based in Germany, and their notebooks are especially popular for bullet journaling.

The word "Leuchtturm" itself means "lighthouse" in German. I've seen a video on YouTube of an employee of the brand saying the term, but it's quite a heavily Anglicized pronunciation of the word. The correct German pronunciation is something like "LUOYSH-torm". That's really confusing (just like the language itself), so here's an attempted breakdown of each syllable:

1. LUOYSH: this is the accented syllable, and it's pronounced like "loo-oy-sh" but all mushed together so that you can't hear the distinction between each part of the syllable
• "Loo" as in British slang for toilet (rhymes with "moo")
• "Oy" as in British slang for getting someone's attention (rhymes with "toy")
• "Sh" just like in other words that end with "sh" (such as "lush" or "posh")
2. Torm: it almost sounds like the name "Tom" but with an "r" in it
• Kind of rhymes with the word "dorm" (and the pronunciation of the "o" is more similar to this than it is to "Tom"), but with a softer, less noticeable "r" sound

German is a hard language to speak, and nobody is expecting us English speakers to say it exactly like a native speaker. However, people should try to pronounce things at least kind of correctly, so I hope that this guide has helped you do just that.

What other other bujo/stationery words do you want to know how to pronounce? Make sure to leave it in a comment down below!

Edit: Sabine Dio, who lives in Germany, made a really high quality voice recording, and I think this'll be super helpful, too!