How to Fix Bullet Journal Mistakes
Bullet journaling is a wonderful tool that can either make you much more organized and effective at getting your work done, or bog you down and frustrate you to no end. It can be easy is to mess up and overwhelming to fill and keep up with. Making mistakes in your journal can amplify that frustration and make the process less enjoyable.
If you’re struggling to make your journal look good, and keep making mistakes, here are some tried and true methods for fixing those pesky errors that always seem to pop up just as the spread you’re making is beginning to look pretty.
1. Cover the Mistake with a Sticker
If you make a mistake, covering it up with a sticker is often an easy fix. It works well for incorrect dates, canceled events, or misplaced titles. If you don’t have a big enough sticker, use scrapbook paper instead. It can also enhance your design and add interest to your page.
2. Use Whiteout
This may seem like common sense, especially if the mistake has to do with writing, but I often use whiteout for more than just text. It can be a very easy way to cover up small details or flaws in drawings or lines. Sometimes the mistake is a bit too odd of a shape or is in an area where it wouldn’t make sense to use a sticker.
3. Paint Over It
If the mistake is too big to be easily covered with a sticker or whiteout, consider painting over it. This can add interest to the spread, whether it’s just over the mistake or the entire page. In my experience, acrylic paint works best because it doesn’t bleed or warp the page. However, gouache and oil paints may also work well.
4. Hide Mistakes with a Photo
If painting is too much work, consider pasting in photos for a nice scrapbook effect. Use your phone or camera to take photos, get them developed, and then paste them in your journal. This option works well for pages with big mistakes that need to be covered up.
5. Use Scrapbook Paper
Apart from using photos, scrapbook paper can be an additionally great option for covering larger mistakes. It’s easy to cut out a piece the size you want, paste it in, and then just work around it to create a nice spread that matches the paper.
6. Camouflage with Another Paper
If you have paper the same shade as the ones in your journal, you can use them to cover up mistakes. This is especially useful for drawings involving lines and color. If you make a mistake, you can just cover it up with a small patch of paper that’s the same shade and then draw right over it to make it blend in. This is a tactic I learned about in art class many years ago.
7. Rip the Page Out
As a last resort, it sometimes makes the most sense to just take the page and rip it out of the journal altogether. Just be aware of potential damage to the spine, depending on the binding, so always be gentle and careful when choosing to remove pages from your notebook. It’s also worth noting that if the pages are pre-numbered, those numbers will be messed up.
I try my best not to rip out pages from my journal if I mess up. If you truly don’t see a better solution though, and don’t want to have that page taking up space in there, then it may work for you.
Making mistakes in your journal is never fun, so hopefully these solutions will help you when dealing with another ugly slip up.