Build A Bucket List – Making A To Do List Of Dreams

Hey there Magpies! As you may already know I am running the March Challenge over in the Hey Little Magpie Papercraft And Scrapbooking Chat And Inspiration group on Facebook. In the spirit of the Challenge, I’ve decided to share how I put bucket lists in my Happy Planner, and what fun things I plan to accomplish in March!
But first off, if you’re not part of the group, why not? Get on it! It’s a fabulous place to share your creations, chat with like-minded crafty people and get tonnes of inspiration! Now you’ve joined us, hopefully, check out the Challenge post and join in if you want! It’s super duper fun, and there is a great prize up for grabs.

On To The Good Stuff

I came up with the March Challenge in part to challenge myself to actually achieve the things on my bucket list. Cause whilst I love a bucket list and make one every month, I rarely end up doing any of the things on it. Silly, I know, but it’s true! There is something I really like about setting up a seasonal page in my planner, filled with ideas that are specific to the time of year and that help me appreciate it, but then I don’t go out and do them, and it’s pretty redundant. Which lead me here to this moment. I have settled on three main things that I HAVE to do in March, partially because of the Challenge but mainly cause I do WANT to do them. With these plans as my jumping off point I’ve built a big bucket list around them.

Go Big Or Go Home

Spring is one of my favourite seasons. The world comes back to life after the dreary winter, and I finally want to go outside again, so a big fun-filled bucket list feels exciting. For my spread, I grabbed a couple of sheets of Classic dot grid paper. You could also use a Happy Notes dot grid notebook if you wanted, or some new Classic colourful dot grid paper. To create a fold out effect, I kept one sheet as is but used a paper trimmer to slice the punched section off the other sheet.

This left me with a slightly smaller sheet that I then attached to my regular sheet using washi tape. I used seasonal tapes from the Seasonal washi sticker book, running them down the spine of the paper on the inside and outside to make sure the two sheets were stuck together well. When the set up was complete, I was left with a fold out, book-like layout.

New Month, New Plans

With four sides to fill with plans, I have space for my three must do bucket list items and a bucket list roundup, which is how I usually add bucket lists to my planner. I decided to put my roundup on the front, almost like a title page. I settled on a green colour palette, of course, because St Patrick’s Day is in March. Then I lettered my title in the middle of the page.

The great thing about making a bucket list in the Happy Planner is that there are already a lot of bucket list stickers in Happy Planner sticker books! So once again, the work is done for you. You can just pick and choose activities that sound fun and stick them on the page. The Seasonal sticker value pack is especially good. I used a lot of prompts from it, like this one about visiting a botanical garden.

If I couldn’t find the exact prompt I was looking for, I used a couple of stickers to build a cluster and then hand-lettered my idea. These adorable tulip illustrations in the Happy Memory Keeping Everyday Memories sticker value pack inspired my ‘buy myself fresh flowers’ prompt, and I love the clover box sticker from the Seasonal Tiny sticker book sitting behind the St Patrick’s Day clear sticker from the Seasonal sticker value pack.

Make It Happen

I dedicated a page each to my larger bucket list items. Setting them up was, therefore, pretty straight forward because I had so much space to play with. Hand-lettering the prompts and using large floral stickers from the Seasonal sticker value pack as decoration brought the spreads together quickly and cohesively.

I want to include a lot of photos on these pages, so that when the month is over, they can become memory keeping spreads. I marked out spaces for the photos, to make sure I left enough room for them, and I can always add more stickers later on.

For a little reality check, I want to highlight the fact that I made a mistake on this page. I feel like it is rare to see errors on beautiful spreads and the endless perfection can be intimidating. So here is mine. I messed up my spacing for my lettering and am left with this random ‘bake’ until I cover it with a photo. And that’s the secret guys if you mess up in your planners just put a sticker on it, or in this case a picture! I also used a lot of fun stickers on this page from the Happy Memory Keeping Seasons & Holidays sticker value pack and the Food sticker value pack. Who can resist a cake sticker?

I also tried out a tip-in for the first time in one of my spreads. This journaling card is from the Healthy Hero multipack and actually comes punched but I sliced off the punched section and used washi to tape it onto the page. I like the flip out effect and the extra space it offers.

One Bucket List Built

With my set up all complete my spread is ready to rock and roll! The plan is to take some time to tick off my three main bucket list items during the month of March and when I do come back to these spreads and fill them in with photos, journaling and of course more stickers. I am hoping it helps me to actually go out and do more fun things, and eventually, it turns into a monthly practice. If you want to see how I get on do check out my Instagram, @veryimportantplans, and come on over to the Facebook group if you’re not already a member. The Challenge is running until the end of March and is open to all you amazing Magpies! I am super eager to see all your awesome bucket lists! Stay golden guys, catch you in my next one!