18 Items You Can Use as Bullet Journal Decorations

Once you’ve been bullet journaling for a while, it’s easy to get into a rut and feel like you’re making the same spreads over and over again. In the time I’ve spent bullet journaling (almost two years!), I’ve found that one way to get out of a bullet journal slump is to try some new decorations. One of the most fun things about bullet journaling for me is finding fun ways to decorate my spreads. In this post, I’ll be detailing 18 different things you can use to spice up your bullet journal spreads.

1. Photos

Sticking photos in your journal is a super easy way to make your pages look nice and include some memories with your to-do lists.

If you have an instant camera, you could even use old film (either ones that didn’t work or photos that didn’t turn out well) as frames for drawings or quotes like I did on this page:

2. Ticket stubs

Going to a movie? Play? Sports game? Paste the ticket in your journal and be reminded of all the fun you had every time you flip through your notebook. You could even try drawing frames around your tickets.

3. Pretty scraps of paper

Next time you come across a aesthetically pleasing piece of scrapbooking paper, save it for a page in your bullet journal. These look especially nice when layered with photos or drawings.

4. Washi tape

Washi tape is a popular tool for bullet journal decorating. This paper tape comes in a million different colors and patterns, and unlike some tapes, washi is sufficiently sticky yet still repositionable.

5. Magazine Cutouts

Magazines tend to have very nice-looking and inspirational scenes. If you wanted to take this a step further, you could try creating a mood board or collage with magazine pieces.

6. Newspaper clippings

See an especially significant newspaper column? Stick it in your daily log. Or rip up newspapers and use the pieces to make a collage.

7. Sticky notes

Ah, the joys of sticky notes! One way to use these little guys is to jot down an important list or idea on one and then place it next to your current daily log. Try layering the sticky with colored paper or washi tape.

8. Fortunes from fortune cookies

I don’t keep all of the fortunes I get in fortune cookies, but I occasionally happen across a really great fortune. These are perfect for gluing into a journal.

9. Stickers

No matter what age you are, stickers are always fun. You could opt for an event-specific sticker like the voting sticker in the photo below (I got it from the mock election at my school.) or just use fun stickers to brighten up a page.

10. Pressed flowers

Flowers are a super fun decoration for your journal. To press them, simply place the flowers or leaves between pieces of wax paper inside a very heavy book (maybe stack a few books on top too) and leave them for a few weeks. Once they’re finished, they’ll be dry and ready to be used as decorations!

11. Key cards

This idea sounds weirdly specific, but really any card could be used, whether it be a hotel card, an old id, a public transit pass, etc…anything that has memories associated with it. I taped this hotel key card into my journal as a memento of a trip I took over spring break:

12. Mini envelopes

Mini envelopes look adorable, and they have two uses when put in a journal—they look pretty, and you can also use them to store small, flat items in.

13. Random memorabilia

Any sort of small, flat souvenir is perfect for sprucing up a daily log. For this monthly recap spread, I used the paper from the Day of Silence and a clipping from a paper I got during an art museum trip.

14. Maps

Maps tend to have very nice aesthetics, so they lend themselves quite well to journal decorations.

15. Cut-out shapes

Cut any sort of shape you want from a piece of colored paper or a sticky note and you have basically made your own stickers! Just use glue or double-sided tape to attach the shapes to a page of your notebook.

16. Paint samples

You know those little papers at paint stores that have samples of the different paint colors? Yup, perfect for adding some color to your journal pages.

17. Drawings

Paste drawings into your journal using colored paper to outline them. For this page, I taped in a drawing of Black Panther that my brother made for me (isn’t it awesome?!):

18. Book pages

Do you have any old books that are damaged or that you don’t have any interest in reading? Try having some fun in your journal by making art with them.