Hi, Mark here, and let’s kick off the new year with a collection page in our journal. A collection spread is something to include in the first pages of your journal. For your new bullet journal set up, I want to show you a step by step tutorial of a spread that helps us focus on what we want to accomplish in the year. This can include goals, yearly priorities and a memories to celebrate.

Here are the supplies that I used for this spread.

2024 Bullet Journal Supplies:

• Square Bullet Journal
• Clear Stamps
• Acrylic Blocks
• Ink Pad
• Pencil
• Fineliner or Pen
• Ruler
• Letter Stencils

Before we begin, I want you to know that you don’t need these exact stamps or stencils to create this 2024 Kick-off page. You could always draw and hand-letter your own headers, numbers, and symbols. 

Step 1: Penciling in your grid

The best tip when laying out a collection page like this is to always start with a pencil first. That way you can mark out where you need elements on your page without committing to pen or marker. 

Check out the printable with this blog for Square, B5, and A5 layout ideas. 

We are going to break our page into 3 sections.

• 2024 Header
• Goals, Priorities, Notes
• Celebrating Little Wins

Our header section only needs to be as tall as the stencil, stamp, or lettering we are going to do. Start by laying our your stamps on the page and measure how tall you need the space to be. Draw a small dash or dot in the margin to let you know the space you need.

Next, we need to divide our Goals, Priorities, and note section into 3 columns. You can do this by counting your squares across your page and dividing by 3. If you have a ruler that has the dot counting on it, use that. I like to leave 2-3 squares between my columns for some visual space. 

The last section is for little wins. Through the year be sure to come back to this collection page to leave a note on something small that you did great at. I believe that little wins add up to big triumphs - so let’s celebrate as often as we can.

Step 2: Stamping Your Page

Now that we have these sections penciled in, I like to lay my stamps out on the page for placement. Once things are in a good spot, you will start at the top and attach the book stack stamp to the acrylic block. 

Taking the inked pad, lightly tap the pad onto the stamp. This allows you to control how much ink is on the stamp and also ensures that there is even coverage. 

Carefully place your stamp into the area you marked out in pencil, apply even pressure across the stamp, and lift your stamp straight up off of the page. 

If at any point you don’t get even coverage with your stamp, my advice is to never try to double stamp again. Usually, you will miss the mark and then you will have a double lined image that looks blurry. Instead, use a fine-tip pen or fine liner to draw or color in the space.

Continue down your page, carefully inking your stamp and stamping your image on the page. Before to pay attention to the space markings on your page so that you don’t accidentally place a stamp somewhere you didn’t want it to be.

Step 3: Stencil In Your Date

Once all of your stamps are placed on the page, let’s add the year to the header with the numbered stencil. As a reminder, if you don’t have a stencil to do this, you can hand-letter the year instead.

Now that your page is all setup, you can take some time for yourself to think about how you want to start your year. What are the big goals that you want to accomplish? What priorities do you have? Also, be sure to visit this page in your journal every few months to check in on what you need to do. Have you accomplished a goal and celebrated those little/big wins?

Want to plan along with me, watch the video of this set up here:

Want to get some other collection spread ideas for your 2024 journal? Check out this blog. 

Wish you the best start to the new year!