PSA: My bullet journal turned into a blurry mess after a pen mix-up

Last weekend, I was working on my mood tracker spread and I was SO proud of the gradient effect. I reached for my blue marker to shade a section, but I picked up the wrong one from my cup. It was a permanent ink pen instead of the water-based kind I meant to use. When I noticed a smudge and tried to wipe it, the whole page became a blurry, streaky disaster. It looked like someone spilled juice on it, but nope, just my own mistake. My first thought was to rip the page out, but then I decided to embrace the chaos. Now that spread has its own section called 'abstract emotions' and I kind of love it. ALWAYS double-check your tools, folks, or you might end up with accidental art.

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3 Comments

kim_jones7mo ago

Saw an artist say the best pages in a sketchbook are often the messy accidents. Your abstract emotions section proves that point.

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nora_sullivan87mo ago

Do you really think every messy page is a hidden gem? Some spills are just spills, and calling them art feels like a stretch. Not every accident needs to be special or big to be part of the process.

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jenniferj237mo ago

Glad it reads as abstract emotion and not just a coffee spill I tried to salvage. My sketchbook is mostly happy little disasters.

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