Ranking Every Bullet Journal Setup I've Ever Made
i feel like there would be a riot from little doodles if i did not put this in chef's kiss it's getting upgraded to a chef's kiss am i gonna do that every time put one in chef's kiss probably hi guys it's amanda so today is going to be a fun video we are ranking every single bullet journal setup i've ever made over the past four and a little bit years so there is quite a lot to go through i have done a bullet journal setup every single month since february 2017 and you guys always ask me which setup is my favorite which setup i don't like etc etc and i thought we would just do the ultimate tier list today this is something that has been going around and trending recently people just making different tier lists for different things like tv shows and cartoons and all of that so you know i wanted to do that for my bullet journal setups now my main criteria for ranking all of these is basically just whether it sparks joy or not so that can mean whether the doodles that i did spark joy or maybe whether just the actual functionality of the setup worked for me so let's go through the tiers right now that i'll be ranking them in the number one tier the top tier is the one for the ultimate faves i like to call them the chef's kisses then the second one down is called makes my heart warm which is self-explanatory third right in the middle we have i called it wood swipe right because it's kind of like on tinder you know you would swipe right on it you like it you're not sure if you love it you don't hate it you know there's still it's just middle ground and then the second one from the bottom are the ones that i kind of forgot about it left no lasting impression on me it doesn't spark negative energy when i think about those setups but it also doesn't spark necessarily positive memories and then finally the bottom tier the bottom of the barrel are the ones that do not spark joy at all maybe even sparks negative feelings associated with those setups so those are my ranking criteria for today just as a little disclaimer this is all in good fun of course bull journaling is very personal so when i say that something doesn't spark joy if it does for you and if you set up your bullet journal in this way that is totally fine we're just having fun here and this is my personal opinions on my own bullet journal anyway with that being said let's start ranking i have uploaded all of my bullet journal steps as you can see there is 50 i think 50 exactly so i guess we'll start chronologically february 2017 rose theme this is the very first full-on monthly setup that i've ever done on my channel honestly this one just because it's so nostalgic for me it i'm gonna put it in makes my heart warm i actually recently because this year is my fifth year bullet journaling i mentioned this in my bullet journal setup video but i really took inspiration from my 2017 bullet journal the very first bullet journal for this year's bullet journal um kind of like going back to where i started and i really liked the simplicity of the spreads in the setup i think i was like 18 or 19 which is crazy i always say that my bullet journal is kind of like a time capsule and it's really interesting to see like how i grew up and my art style changed and everything next we have march 2017 which is the tropical leaves this one honestly i'm gonna have to go with ultimate faves slash chef's kiss the reason why i love this one so much is because these leaves i i feel like they've become a staple in my life in my channel i literally ended up making wallpaper for my apartment kind of based on this bullet journal setup and it was also a favorite amongst little doodles at the time and also still to this day i still see so many people recreating this april 2017 which is the constellation and start setup uh i'm torn with this one because i personally love anything to do with like stars and constellations and stuff but setup wise i'm not sure if it's my favorite oh my gosh i feel like i'm gonna say this for a lot of my 2017 ones because they all really do make my heart warm because it's the first year that i started i think the fact that i'm contemplating that this much on it means that i would swipe right on it okay may 2017 which is the waves theme i already would say that i kind of forgot about it i remember the cover page like most of these i remember the cover page but just thinking to the setup like the actual setup and the spreads i don't think i remember i don't think i remember anything about it june 2017 uh this one okay this one really makes my heart warm for the longest time when people would ask me what my favorite setup was i would say june because i really liked the architectural drawings it was the city skyline and actually like in my art class in high school i would always draw like architectural stuff i feel like it really works well with my like loose drawing style and it was also like a fully black and white theme i literally can physically remember the way the calendar looks there's like the negative space and just the lines and i used a lot of like black backgrounds with the white text on top which i think worked really well with this scene just reminiscing about it it's getting upgraded it's getting upgraded to a chef's kiss am i going to do that every time but one in chef's kiss probably next we have july which is this daisy theme this one is really pretty i like the daisies i can kind of remember some of the spreads that i did but i also kind of forgot so i think we're gonna put in kind of forgot about it this august also immediately can place and kind of forgot about it because i literally forgot that i did a seashell theme until just now we're getting to the end of 2017 here so moving on to september 2017 which is this succulent green theme i actually do remember a lot of these spreads i would say this one is a wood swipe right i remember some of the weekly spreads that i made with this and i like the different shades of green that i used so that goes in the solid wood swipe right next up we have october which is the autumn leaf seam um oh this is tough i would say also this one goes in wood swipe right i would also maybe recreate this into an updated version i would love to recreate some of these super old ones in my bullet journal now and see like how my style has changed and what type of setups that i can make with these themes all right moving on to november which is the crystal and i can already say for me personally this one goes into an ultimate faves chef's kiss this one for the longest time was one of my favorite setups it's also been recreated by you guys a lot a lot i've seen a lot of different versions of this and it was really fun for me to make i also just like lilac i know a lot of you guys like lilac as well because when i made a lilac doodle planner that one sold out like immediately so yeah the crystals a chef's kiss i think it's still so cute i would probably if i were to do this theme again i'd probably just make it exactly like this so that tells you a lot we have december 2017 which is a snowflake theme and i really like this one i'm gonna put this one in makes my heart warm i actually remember a lot of the weekly spreads that i made with this i played a lot with different styles of setups and calendars and all of that and i just like the the layout of the cover page as well with the the little sparkles going down next up we have january 2018 which is the fireworks theme i remember so many of these spreads i really liked doing this i also remember doing like some doodle tutorials on this i feel like i got to start being a little bit more ruthless or else we're gonna have so many good good ones my whole tier list is just gonna be chef's kisses this one i'm gonna go makes my heart warm start of a new year i think it was a cute theme for a new year theme and even if i go through my like weekly spreads from that month i remember some of them and i really liked how they worked for me at the time next we have february 2018 which is this valentine's day heart theme even though it's a love theme i don't know if i love it too much so i'm gonna go s i'm gonna go kind of forgot about it i kind of forgot about it oh that's kind of sad so march 2018 which is this cactus cacti cacti theme you know i'm gonna go wood swipe right on this one i liked this theme can remember some of the spreads that i made but i don't know if it gives me those tingly feelings moving on to april 2018 which is the cloud theme i really really like this theme i actually remember pretty much every spread that i made i remember the mood tracker i did like a cloud and then the raindrop length was like the mood i thought that was pretty cool so and i like like neutral colors um so i'm gonna makes my heart warm makes my heart warm you know may 2018 which is lavender i know a lot of you guys really liked this setup and i even had like a doodle tutorial on how to draw lavender flowers which you guys liked but personally i kind of forgot about it like i don't really remember any of the spreads i remember though my theme for this like my overall word of that month was relaxation so i tried to focus a lot on relaxation which i guess is kind of good uh would i swipe right on it i would i think i would swipe right on it i think i'm being a little too harsh i'm being too harsh on my own setups june 2018 which is the traveling around the world theme i remember making this setup because i was actually traveling a lot during that that year that or that month um so i have really positive memories associated with this theme i just thought the doodles were fun to make i i remember making some of the setups from like actual hotel rooms and stuff and live streaming from there so i feel like this one just i just since i have such positive memories associated with i'm gonna put it in mix my heart warm now we have july 2018 which is my sunflower theme i personally really like this theme i remember a lot of the setups that i made with this and i think i really liked doing it i think i did if i'm remembering correctly i did a lot of different types of weekly spreads and like trackers and stuff for this one and i played a lot with like washi tapes and stuff which was kind of fun and also just doodling sunflowers in general is you can't be sad while doodling sunflowers they're like the happiest flower of all time so i'm gonna put this one in makes my heart warm august fruit theme 2018 i liked it i think i'm gonna put it in wood swipe right oh i'm putting it in wood swipe right because i think the colors are really fun this was probably one of the first themes where i'd use like a lot of different colors and a lot of different ah actually now i'm just thinking back and i remember some of the weekly spreads that i made with like the mason jars that's kind of cute though no we're sticking to my initial my initial reaction i'm remembering some of them i liked the lettering the lettering was kind of fun i'm gonna put this in makes my heart warm okay next we have september 2018. i was waiting for this one because i already knew i was gonna put this in does not spark joy at all i don't know what it is about this setup but even i remember even when i made this in 2018 i really didn't like how it turned out and i just didn't enjoy the spreads that i was making maybe i was in a little bit of a slump or something funnily enough it made it into a doodle planner this year and i actually like it better in the doodle planner as like a coloring book type of thing for for the data planner but for the setups and like my bullet journal i don't know if i like it that much this one i'm so excited for this one this is october 2018 which is the magic wizardy wizardy harry potter theme and this one is an ultimate faves chef's kiss i love this setup so so much not just because you know like harry potter we all love a harry potter moment but it was so fun to make these spreads i remember every single spread that i made and i remember having so many so much fun making the setups and trying out different layouts and everything the lettering was really fun for me to make and i remember drawing the scrolls and everything and um also besides that this was when i did like a little trip to new york for like actual harry potter fantastic beasts and it just lined up perfectly with this theme i also remember like making a lot of different spreads that weren't just like bullet journal productivity based i made one about my harry potter like houses and all of that so this one is a really fun one and you guys recreated this one a lot so i'm glad we are in agreement i hit 1 million during this month too so that is an another positive memory associated with it i didn't even remember so thank you guys we have november which is this like autumnal cozy theme and honestly i'm gonna say kind of forgot about it right off the bat i like the cover page and like the doodles were really fun to make but i kind of remember oh wait now i'm remembering it there was like sweaters and scarves and stuff yeah i remember making the weekly spreads with the scarves and stuff okay uh no you know i'm keeping it i'm keeping it and kind of forgot about it i feel like i'm bashing my own children moving on to december 2018 which is this christmas ornament spread and oh my god i have negative memories associated with this one i'm putting this and does not spark joy at all just because i remember i was in such an art block at this time and just a video creation block in general and i remember having to redo this multiple times just because i didn't like the way it turned out and i wasn't enjoying it this is like a true deep cut if you have been following me on instagram or social media since that time initially this spread was like a nutcracker theme and i hated it so much there's actually pictures of it somewhere but i hated it so much so i ended up redoing it and then doing this like ornament theme it turned out okay but i just have negative memories associated with it because of like the creative block and i don't know if i necessarily even remember any of the spreads that i made during this time so okay we have made it to 2019 we have my lantern theme kind of lunar new year inspired theme i liked this one i'm gonna put this one it makes my heart warm i had fun making the different weekly spreads for this there's this one weekly spread that i remember in particular actually i recently recreated it on the january theme um and it had cool like patterns that were a bit more like in the oriental like lantern style so i remember this one i loved this one moving on to cherry blossoms february 2019 ultimate faves chef's kiss i love this one for the longest time whenever people ask me what my favorite bullet journal setup was it was this one i remember every single spread that i made and i remember having so much fun making it and i just loved it it's a chef's kiss for me and i even made a doodle doodle tutorial video for for cherry blossoms as well so this theme is a great era on my channel okay we have march 2019 which is this like green abstract plant leafy theme you know what i'm gonna put this in wood swipe right i remember some of the spreads particularly i just mostly remember the like i made a lot of quote pages with this that i thought were cool and i thought it was really cool using because usually i use like a fine liner a lot but with this setup i didn't use the fine liner and i just did kind of leafy shapes with my super tips so this one was a wood swipe right but i don't really like it doesn't spark joy it doesn't really spark joy i like it but it doesn't spark joy april 2019 you guys love this theme i loved it as well hot air balloons were really fun to draw and i saw so many different like color palettes that you guys changed it into it's really versatile easy to draw and i remember a lot of the setups that i did were kind of like fun and experimental and funky i am going to put this one i'm trying to decide whether it is deserving of the chef's kiss but i think the fact that i didn't immediately know that it was a chef's kiss maybe means that it should go and makes my heart warm well everyone in the chat is telling me that since i'm hesitant i should put in make my heart warm so we're doing that ah no wait you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna give my chance at the end to shuffle three around if there's anything that really sticks out to me so we're just moving on may 2019 butterflies i really liked this one butterflies were fun to make however i don't remember a lot of the spreads i don't really remember so i'm gonna put this in i liked it but i kind of forgot about it to be honest like it was cute don't get me wrong i really like the setup and the cover page and the doodles were so fun but i can't even remember what the calendar looked like or the trackers or the setups or like the weekly setups i mean the weekly spread that it's it's kind of hard because this is one of my favorite themes just because butterflies are super cute to do and like but i just don't remember the setup i literally only remember the cover page from this setup there's no other spreads that are sparking joy in my heart and that's the criteria it's the setup as a whole like the difference spreads this is what happens when you have 50 kids well t i feel like there would be a riot on my channel from little doodles if i did not put this in chef's kiss and personally i agree this one was a chef's kiss it really was a chef's kiss it was recreated a lot by you guys and also i had so much fun making these setups like the weekly spreads one in particular that i remember is when i made each day just like a full-on bubble tea i remember that we could spread so clearly and i just really liked the pastel colors i remember the calendar spread for this i love this one i think it's really fun and quirky and um also ended up making it into the doodle planner so there you go okay july which is the fish theme july 2019 is kind of funny it's like this fish under the sea theme really cute however there are two spreads that really stand out to me which is the iconic wavy dutch door to this day i think it's still one of my most liked pictures on instagram for some reason so that one just really stands out to me i think it might actually also be one of the first times like i started doing dutch store spreads more frequently so that really stands out to me i also remember i did this spread and a lot of people said the waves ended up looking like bacon um so that was kind of like a funny memory the spreads like the actual layouts of the spreads that i made are so memorable memorable to me so i'm gonna put this in makes my heart warm we have august 80s theme and i love this theme so so much this one goes in the chef's kiss this setup was so fun for me to make i love the color palette it was also surprisingly really easy and fast to do in terms of like the setup because it was a lot of doodles i experimented a lot with the doodles and even the actual like spreads and setups um the weekly spreads in particular i can remember some of them another one that ended up making it into the doodle planner this year i remember making like a throwback spotify playlist to kind of go along with it and you guys had fun with this theme as well so i like this one chef's kiss september stationary theme a lot of people love this theme i've seen this theme be recreated a lot personally i kind of forgot about it i'm sorry i know some little doodles are gonna come for me for that one like okay actually you know what maybe i'll put in wood swipe right i liked it but i just don't know if i remember a lot of the spreads i liked the style and it was fun for me to draw especially it was kind of meta you know i was like drawing stationery with stationery i'm keeping it in wood swipe right moving on to october 2019 which is the moon lunar phases theme um first of all when i look at this i just keep noticing that i messed up the moon phases it's wrong like the bottom two or the top two so that's kind of funny that's the first thing i immediately noticed but i also remember how fun this setup was to make because i used a lot of like black paper in the setup with like the white gel pen and um like the white on black i think this one deserves the chef's kiss this one's a dark horse i didn't expect this one to be in chef's kiss but now that i'm thinking about it the black paper which i don't really ever do and i also don't really ever do fully black and white themes so this one was fun to make also because it was easy for you guys to recreate since all you really needed was literally just a black pen we have november coffee theme i kind of forgot about that one honestly just i literally forgot i did a coffee theme until seeing this until seeing this picture now that i'm looking at it i remember making it but the setups like the the spreads i don't remember any of them all right we have december 2019 which is the aurora borealis northern lights theme this one i love this theme so so much i think this one goes in a chef's kiss for me i feel like i'm putting a lot in chef's kiss but again we're gonna do a shuffle afterwards once i see everything laid out i just love this one because i i had a lot of fun with the watercolor it was the first time i actually did watercolor in my bullet journal and i think it turned out so well it was also really easy to make because if you watch that video i just did the aurora borealis like the northern lights a few times on watercolor paper and i just had it ready to go to cut out for my setups and i also used a lot of stamps for this one which stamps are some of my favorite stationery items to use in my bullet journal and i try to use it sparingly so that i don't get tired of it because every time i break out those stamps it just i love a good stamp you know it's more of like a wintery theme that can be applicable to everyone non-denominational unlike the other december theme which sparks a lot of anger and hatred in my heart okay we have finally made it to 2020 which feels like ages ago we have january art deco theme i'm gonna go wood swipe right on this i remember some of the spreads and stuff and it was it was fun for me to make and i like the gold pen um and the lettering stuff but i'm just gonna go swipe just swipe right that's it okay february 2020 this is the month that i took the first extended youtube break on and i feel like a lot of people might think that i would put february 2020 in does not spark joy at all because i was going through such a hard time but on the contrary this one actually makes my heart warm it was the to all the boys i've ever loved before inspired theme like the laura jean doodles and the reason why this one makes my heart warm is because i was on break making making bullet journal spreads so i think in this was my fourth year bullet journaling and obviously as you guys can see from this tier list there's a lot of different spreads and i've mentioned this before but it's kind of when you make videos about bullet journaling and when you showcase your spreads to the internet it becomes this weird it becomes this weird thing where you don't know whether you're making something for yourself or for the viewers i really had to figure that out over the years of like what i make for me and what i make for other people and this it was fully for me because i didn't do a full-on plan with me video um so i just had fun with it i had no pressure i just made whatever i want and it was pretty fun and simple and i also remember being on break traveling that was actually the last time i traveled was february 2020 because then the world shut down so this one just makes my heart tingle makes me warm makes me feel warm and happy and i really like it we have the march monstera theme from 2020 i love this theme i think it's really cute this one was like really therapeutic to make i liked the color palette the leaves were to this day are still fun to draw it's still fun for me to draw monster at least yeah i'm going to put swipe right as well april 2020 you guys already know you guys already know i feel like i've talked about this so many times april 2020 is a chef's kiss this is the lo-fi theme one of my all-time favorite themes also very special to me because this was like around the second month of quarantine and i feel like a lot of people were struggling and people like recreated it but added different things from their workspace which i thought was really special and it was just a very comforting theme and it's crazy that we're kind of a year from that is coming up soon so and we're still in this pandemic on to may which is the animal crossing flowers theme this one i'm gonna have to say makes my heart warm i remember being so obsessed with animal crossing uh that was another era of quarantine was just when everyone was playing animal crossing and it also sparked me to create twitch and stream which has been such a lovely a lovely discovery for me and has been such a fun part of the community june we have the like 50s diner theme i think this one's so fun um i liked i had so much fun with the doodles i think i just like this color combination slash like anything retro because the august one was also kind of similar and i remember using like the checkerboard the checkerboard paper a lot and the setups like the spreads were really fun so for me this one's gonna go in ultimate chef's kiss i like this one personally okay july i think a lot of you guys will already know that july goes in does not spark joy for me july 2020 i think i even talked about it in the setup video that i was just having such a difficult time during this time period not only from like quarantine and the pandemic the panini the panoramic if you will but um also i was just going through a creative block and this is what i squeezed out of my blocked body this creation it's still my child so i still appreciate it and where it's gotten me but it does not spark joy at all so we're putting it putting it down there next we have august which is the studio ghibli miyazaki inspired theme and i already know this one is going in ultimate chef's kiss it's also a lot of your guys's favorites as well but even just personally i've mentioned this before studio ghibli films have been such an inspiration to me even growing up as a child it inspired me to draw a lot of like anime style thing which in turn made me be more interested in art and that was really like the beginnings of me as a creative human being a creative small b it almost felt like i was doing an homage to studio ghibli and miyazaki and also just that part of my artistic background as a child so it was super special for me to make and i love this one it just this one gets a chef's kiss makes my heart warm it would swipe right it gets all of all of the above next up we have september 2020 computer theme i personally i like this one i thought it was really fun to make it was also kind of like simple to make i also experimented with a lot of different spreads i remember doing the rolling weekly a lot and i specifically remember i remember a lot of the spreads actually so i'm gonna say this one goes in swipe right i didn't fully forget about it probably also because it's more recent but i don't necessarily get the warm feeling in my heart october 2020 which is like the goosebumps halloween theme green neon slimy i love this it's actually it's not necessarily a favorite on my channel from like viewer perspective but personally i had so much fun making this i like cut out all the slime and use neon green and it was just such a different style of spread from my previous ones and i experimented a lot as well with the spreads there's this once weekly setup in particular that i remember it was like dutch door i also did a lot of dutch doors i think during this time so this was really fun i'm gonna put this in i'm gonna put this in i'm gonna go in chef's kiss just because i was really proud of myself for experimenting that much and i got inspiration from a lot of different cool things like goosebumps and wicked and billy eilish so this was a fun one november 2020 among us another phase in quarantine when everyone was just playing among us and this one this one's a chef's kiss it's gotta be a chef's kiss it's kind of iconic if i do say so myself i had a lot of interactive spreads like the i remember the one where you slide stuff out it was kind of like a pop-up book um and i whenever i think of this theme i just remember like playing among us on stream with you guys and also drawing your guys's among us characters i just drew among those characters a lot i feel like i could draw amongst characters in my sleep if i had to but just even like the colorful aspect of it it was such a fun time and it was so special to see everyone connecting with so many different types of people just through this game and besides that the setup itself was a lot of fun some spreads in particular that i remember i had started doing like more category type spreads instead of like a full-on monthly calendar like i had a monthly calendar but then i had different categories for to-do lists same with like my weekly my weekly spreads as well so the categories were really nice for this month in particular because i was getting really busy for the 2021 doodle planner launch and then besides that the trackers itself that those were like a game to play in my bullet journal and it was it's just so much fun it was a blast we have december 2020 which is this vintage parcel i like to call it like my brown paper package is tied up with string that's my december 2020 theme i liked this one i don't know whether it necessarily makes my heart warm i think i'm gonna put it and kind of forgot about it which is sad because i do like it i liked the aesthetic of it but that's not the only thing we're evaluating here right guys so i think i'm gonna put kind of forgot about it we're finally in 2021 which is not a full year yet but we have three setups to include so first up we have the january paper crane theme i am gonna go if i'm being super honest with myself i'm gonna go makes my heart warm makes my heart warm strictly because of the back story the back story in honor of the paper crane society and uh sadaco i just remember when i was a kid in fourth grade my class made a thousand attempted to make a thousand paper cranes so getting inspiration from like a past memory i feel like that's what makes my heart warm but the setup itself it was fun to make like the paper cranes were fun to draw but i don't know whether it's a chef's kiss yet maybe it deserves a chef's kiss just for the story itself because i know what's coming up i'm gonna put this one in in chev's kiss um so speaking of which february 2021 this is also i was on my second youtube break it always ends up happening around february um it was actually pretty recent i made this one on stream it was really fun to make on stream like i did it completely live for the first time like i didn't actually edit it down into a youtube video so that one was fun just in terms of the process so it makes my heart warm and again i was focusing on like just making fun stuff that i wanted to make so that one was a the candy hearts theme from february 2021 pretty chill easy to draw it's colorful it's bright no notes no notes if you guys watch new girl you you would understand the reference finally we have this month's theme which is this greenhouse full of leaves theme i think it reminds me a lot of my old stuff like even i think i even used the same like markers as this september 2017 one now that i'm looking at it i'm not sure if it's that chef's kissed here yet because we're still currently making it what we'll put in chef's kiss for now okay so i have sorted everything into a tier list this is what i have so far i'm gonna try to see if i need to shuffle anything around i'm giving myself a chance to shuffle anything if i think so i feel like there's too many in the chef's kiss category chef's kiss is for when it's like truly top tier and there's a lot up here you know what i'm going to downgrade october 2019 to make my heart warm i'm sorry i had to do it i had to do it they're all my children how am i supposed to pick between my favorite children i think it's kind of nice that there's only three that really don't spark joy for for me i know this might be a controversial move i'm gonna have to put the cactus one and kind of forgot about it now that i'm thinking about it if i'm choosing between the chefs kiss ones the ones that i met about are the june like the 50s diner theme and the the march just because march is most recent like i'm not finished the spread yet so we're biased right now because we're currently in that i think june should go in makes my heart warm we're in the honeymoon phase with march 2021 because we're currently in it i think we'll put it in makes my heart warm for now and at the end of the month if i decide that it is deserving of an upgrade to ultimate chef's kiss then we will do that but for now you know it's just it makes my heart warm alright guys so here is the definitive tier list of amanda h lee bullet journal setups in my opinion the opinion of amanda h lee i can actually link this tier list down below the website is public so you guys are actually able to rank my bullet journal setups as well i'm really curious to see how you guys would rank it and see if there's any crossover or any differences because a lot of the criteria for whether i put something in certain categories was whether it sparked joy or whether i had good memories associated with it so obviously that'll be different for you guys so if you guys end up doing the tier list then send me a picture on instagram or twitter or something because i want to see how you guys end up ranking them all right i think that's it guys have a good day keep doodling and i will talk to you in the next one bye everyone you
2021-04-09 02:00
