Hello friends, Crystal from @thecrystallinaperspective on Instagram and Youtube. In today’s blog post, we will discuss winter self care ideas and how to create a self care bullet journal spread. Self care is so important and essential for your mental wellness. Self care ideas varies for each individual. As a nurse during this pandemic, I have had to increase my self care significantly. Self care can be a part of your physical or mental health- depends on which area you need to feed. The winter time is also a time when we need to increase our self care measures. In this tutorial, we will create a winter wonderland for our self care ideas. My interpretation of winter may solely be different than yours. I always envision snow and snowflakes because the area that I live in rarely gets snow. So use your imagination, grab your tools, and let’s make some magic.

Supplies You’ll Need:

• Archer and Olive 8x8 Notebook 
• Archer and Olive Acrylograph Pens -Cool Fall 
• Stamps of your choice: circles, trees
• Snowflake stickers
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide: Colors- Black, Stormy Sky & Pine Needles 
• Tim Holtz Perfect Medium/ Pearl Dust
• Brushes for ink/ dusting
• Ruler or Stencil

Please remember to use the code CRYSTALP10 or my link to save on your Archer and Olive purchases.

Let’s make some Magic!

To start this spread off, think of ways that you like to practice self care. Self care in the winter time may look slightly different due to temperature changes (location depending). For most locations, winter is cold and gloomy which could affect one’s mental health. Therefore, before you start the spread, have a good idea of what types of self care you want to perform during the winter months. 

The next thing you want to do is think of the type of winter scene you want to set for your spread. For this particular spread, I went for a winter wonderland vibe minus the holiday feel. I wanted to create a landscape of pine trees with a hint of frost coming off the tree with snowflakes lining the gloomy sky. When I think of winter, I think of huge snowflakes covering the ground and trees. I think of the gloomy yet clear sky. I think of the crisp air that you breathe in and how your body slowly adjusts to the cold long enough for you to step outside and back inside. That was the scene that I created, so let’s go through it step by step.  

Down to the steps:

Step 1:

Start off your spread by creating your winter sky. My winter sky was created by using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Stormy Sky. I used a flat brush or makeup brush to spread the ink across my page. I used a light hand so that my sky could have some lightness to it. If you prefer a darker sky, then blend with a heavier hand. You can add clouds to your sky if you choose to at this point. 

Step 2: 

Take your tree stamp or if you prefer, draw your trees along the base of the page. I used a wooden stamp purchased at Hobby Lobby along with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink in Pine Needles. Stamp the trees multiple times along the base of the page to create a landscape of trees. Use light pressure so that some of the trees have “frost” or a slight white appearance to them. 

Step 3: 

Take the white acrylograph pen out of the Cool Fall collection and draw a sign into your sky. This sign will be where you label your spread. I created a 3D box by simply drawing two squares and then shading the inner square or second square behind the first square. Afterwards, you want to take the green acrylograph pen out of the Cool Fall collection and label your sign “Self Care- Winter Edition.” Within this step as well, you want to take a circle stamp and stamp 5-6 circles between your sky and tree line. These circles will be used to write your self care activities that you want to complete during the winter season. 

Step 4: 

Add the pixie dust or pearl dust. Take a snowflake stamp and add a perfect medium to it. Stamp the snowflake at the bottom of your sign. Once you stamp the page dust the stamp with pearl color dust. I used the Tim Holtz brand. This will create an embossed snowflake on your page giving definition to the spread. It’s also fun to add a little sparkle to your art every now and then. You will also add snowflake stickers to the spread at the top. I purchased my snowflake stickers from Hobby Lobby. 

Pulling it Together

At this point, you can add “stars” by creating white dots with the acrylograph pen. You also want to go in and begin to write your self care activities or tips within your circles. That is the most important part of the spread, the self care tips. I chose six self care topics or activities that I want to focus on this winter season. 

1. Buy an indoor plant
2. Create a skin care routine: winter edition
3. Get Creative: start a new hobby 
4. Move your body: exercise
5. Rest
6. Practice gratitude each day

Self care is very easy to do, and it’s okay to be selfish with how you care for yourself. I encourage each of you to participate in some form of self care. Mental health and mental wellness is very important in the winter time. 

Check out this video to see the process of creating this spread. 

I also encourage you to download the self care brain dump printable.

Use this printable to come up with your own ways to practice self care during the winter time. It has been a pleasure to discuss self care in this blog with you. If you decide to make this spread or one similar please tag @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community and use hashtags #AOShare and #archerandolive.