It’s a new year — it’s time for a new journal! And there is just something about a pretty new journal to keep you inspired to write in it.

And I HEART this one. It was so easy to put my own design on it. My daughter loved it so much that she already claimed it as her own and I need to make another for me.

I started with a pretty plain journal with a hot pick cover. I found this one at my local Michael’s at 50%, so it was a steal. I grabbed a this handy Sharpie Gold metallic oil based medium point marker, and I used a wood heart shape as my stencil. (affiliate link)

I placed my wood heart in the center of my journal cover and held it in place with one hand, while I stippled or just “dotted” my gold design around the heart shape. I made sure the whole heart shape was filled with dots about 1/4″ – 1/2″ width all the way around.

Then I removed the heart shape and created a gradual design of dots coming out from the heart all the way to the edge of my journal. It looks like the heart is glowing and the metallic gold is so pretty and shiny on the front of my journal cover.

I’m ready to start the new year off fresh! And I kid you not – I did this craft in 5 minutes!

Lovely! This would make a great homemade gift idea too!

Happy New Year!