Fixing a Mistake in a Journal Layout

Forrest Gump said it best when he was doing his cross-country run and some guy comes running up to him and asks about slogans. After stepping in dog poo, Forrest says,

It happens.

It’s the absolute worst when I realize there are spelling errors, smears, spills, paper tears, or measurement issues in my journal layouts. But, it happens.

When I first started creating journal layouts, I absolutely hated making mistakes. Regardless of how beautiful the layouts looked, my eyes would only focus on the problem areas. I was way too critical and would often recreate the layout.

I burned out pretty quickly as I was taking the fun out of the creating process. What I needed was a new approach, a new outlook. I realized this was my journal, my fun, my creativity, it can look however I wanted it to. I CAN have spelling errors, mistakes, messy layouts, it could be riddled with correction tape or white out, I could even rip out the page if I wanted. I had to remind myself- perfection wasn’t my goal, creativity was.

Early on I found that correction tape was my solution. Two years later…I still use correction tape in my layouts. Whenever I misspell a word, I don’t hesitate. I grab my correction tape, and correct the spelling. But sometimes, the solution isn’t correction tape.

Just last week, I experimented with my journal layout and for the first time ever, I added watercolor (read more about the watercolor layout here). The layout turned out beautifully, but a couple of parts seeped through to the other side of the page (I was aware this could happen before the watercolor even touched the page).

Now, that the other side of the page was slightly stained pink, I needed to figure out what to do. Here’s some options I considered:

skip the following page and design on a clean layout
use stamps to hide the blemishes
cover the layout with Distress Inks and a stencil
create abstract art and use color pencils to color it in

Although those were good options, I just wasn’t feeling any of them. Then it hit me. Washi tape!

Not too long ago I received some beautiful washi tapes from The Ton Stamps. Effie designed these Wildflowers Washi and Pink Peonies Washi from her watercolor designs. The floral patterns are soft and there’s rose gold foil accents, perfect for Spring… and to cover the flaws left by my previous layout. Check it out.

Supplies

Step One

First things first, cover the spots. Using the dots as a guide for a straight line, I placed the wildflowers washi tape to both sides of the notebook.

Step Two

With scissors, I cut-off the excess tape and shaped it to that of the page.

Step Three

Then, with a ruler and a purple Tombow TwinTone Marker I created the weekly layout portion, one large box for notes and such and six smaller ones for the days of the week (the weekend shares a box).