8 easy header ideas for your bullet journal

Sometimes you just don’t have the time to make super artistic spreads in your journal, but you still want it to look good. My advice: focus on your headers. When I have a busy month, I keep my spreads minimal and focus on making decorative headers. I’ve put together this list of low-effort ways to make your headers pretty enough that you won’t have to do anything more to decorate your spread.

Starting with the most basic header ideas and getting progressively more involved (although in reality, none of these should take much effort), here are 8 easy-but-beautiful header ideas:

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Highlighters, markers & ink

I’m putting this one first because there are tons of examples on Pinterest of how to make a cool header with a single highlighter or marker. I love the simplicity of these, especially when you choose a limited color palette for your headers, like neutrals or muted tones (I talk about my favorite neutral markers in this previous blog post).

I’ve been using a variation of this in my dailies, where I write just the daily header in pretty fountain pen ink and keep the rest of the spread as basic and messy as I need (using a regular old gel pen).

Alphabet stamps

Stamping takes a bit of patience but it’s my favorite way to get low-effort pretty headers. I ordered my two favorite stamp sets (a serif stamp set and a typewriter stamp set) on amazon, but you could find these at any craft store too. One tip: get a stamp set that also has numbers for headers. Another tip: rather than buying a stamp pad, you can use any marker you own to color in the letters before stamping them out. An alternative to alphabet stamps is alphabet stickers, which are coming to the shop very soon!

Stickers

I’ve been using my new pressed flower stickers to create headers for my dailies, so not only does it require very minimal effort to make a header each day, but it also looks really light pretty. I think they also look really good combined with a stamped header. Check out my stickers on Etsy to recreate this one!

Scripted outline

This header is incredibly easy and always turns out so pretty: Write you header out in script using pencil, then outline it with a fineliner, erase the pencil and voilà! You could also play around with coloring it in but I like to leave it just as the minimalist outline.

Copy a font

One way to have a cohesive theme in your journal without much effort is to choose a font and use it for every header. Once you’ve chosen your favorite font, here are three ways you can recreate the font in your header: (1) you can simply draw it out, but if that sounds like a lot of time and effort, try (2) typing out your headers in the font, print them, and then just trace! Recently, I’ve made this even easier for myself by (3) creating a stencil of my favorite font, which is coming to the shop soon!

I’ve used the same serif font stencil over and over in my journal this past year, in everything from super minimalist to more complicated headers, and it always looks great!

Collage

If you happen to have a lot of scraps lying around, this is a great way to make a beautiful header without thinking too hard. I like to use ripped book pages and kraft paper then add a sticker or, my personal favorite, a pressed flower or leaf (or even a sticker of a pressed flower or leaf from my shop). Of course, you could also use old newspapers, magazines, textured paper, or printed images. It takes less than a minute and looks beautiful every time. Then all you have to do is write or stamp out your header and voilà!

Illustrated headers

Ok, I admit this one seems overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. On months where I have the time, I love to include a spread’s header in an illustration. But to make your life easier if you don’t have the time for a full illustration, you can use stickers instead! I’ve done this in the past using the typewriter sticker from my shop, and have even turned some of my illustrated headers into stickers for others to use as headers, like my bookshelf stickers.

Calligraphy

I’m putting this one at bottom of the list since it requires learning calligraphy, which admittedly takes both time and effort. Once you are comfortable with it, though, it is the simplest way to make any header look artistic without getting too involved. Plus, writing your headers in calligraphy is a great way to practice!

What’s your favorite low-effort way to make a beautiful header? Let me know, especially if it’s not mentioned in this list!