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How to Make a Cozy Fall Bullet Journal Theme You’ll Love

Summer is ending, and though the new season brings some excitement, it can also feel a little sad. The weather is getting colder (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), the days are shorter, and the relatively carefree days of summer have been replaced by routines, alarm clocks, and homework. But the change of season need not dampen your spirit, for it has many of its own joys to offer. From the re-emergence of sweaters to our favorite hot drinks and cozy weekend afternoons reading books by a fire, autumn is all about comfort and warmth. In this post, we’ll look at how you can embrace this cozy theme in your fall bullet journal to get you into the swing of this wonderful season, so grab your pumpkin spice latte and bullet journal, and let’s get started. 

pinnable image for the blog post "How to Make a Cozy Fall Bullet Journal theme You'll Love" two images with a text overlay. Image : several books, a candle and some leaves by a window Image 2: some pumpkins and a candle. Text overlay: Embrace Fall: Cozy Bullet Journal themes for Autumn

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Choosing an Autumn Theme

There is no one-size-fits-all autumn theme for your bullet journal. Although there are lots of events and elements associated with fall, it’s up to you how many of these you want to incorporate into your theme, if any. In this section, we’ll look at factors to consider as you design your own fall theme. 

Popular Autumn Themes

Autumn is such a fun time of year. Its distinct sites, smells, foods, sounds, activities, and natural events lend themselves well to beautiful bullet journal themes. 

Here are a few of the most popular fall bullet journal theme ideas:

  • Fall foliage
  • Natural elements such as mountains, trees, and other landscapes
  • Woodland creatures
  • Cozy sweaters
  • Steamy treats like pumpkin spice lattes, hot chocolate
  • Halloween
  • Thanksgiving

Selecting Your Theme

While there are many thematic directions you can take in your fall bullet journal, it’s important to pick one that resonates best with you specifically. Before you get started, consider these factors. 

Your Interests

Reflect on your interests and what you love the most about fall. What inspires you most? Is it the changing colors of the leaves? Cozy sweaters and blankets? Thanksgiving? Cuddling up with fall books?

Whatever fall means to you, your bullet journal should reflect that. For example, if being outdoors in autumn is a high priority on your to-do list, consider a nature-inspired theme with leaves, trees, and mountains. Personalize it by adding elements that mean the most to you. If your main goal is to stay in and read, put lots of bookshelves, books, and cups of hot chocolate. 

Your Goals or Mood

Think about the goals you plan to set this fall. If you’re goal-oriented, putting your goals at the center of your theme will help you stay motivated. For example, if you’re going to be a student, a back-to-school theme might work best for you. You may also want to include productivity, mindfulness, and self-care quotes to spur you toward achieving your goals. If the last season has been busy and you’re in need of grounding, opt for a simpler, calming vibe. 

Choose Colors that Speak to You

Although fall is typically associated with warm reds, rusty oranges, and bright yellows, these warm colors might not be your favorite. It’s ok to go against traditional seasonal color schemes in favor of palettes that make you happier. Play around with several color palette options before settling on the one that guides your theme. You may want to go for soft pastels for a calm vibe and a brighter one if you’re seeking energy and creativity. 

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Cozy Autumn-Themed Elements

Let’s dig a little deeper into some of the elements that will pop up in various autumn themes. 

1. Fall foliage. Autumn leaves are easy to tie into any autumn-themed spreads. They’re also easy to draw, cute, and adaptable to different color palettes. Introduce a few different styles of leaves and use them to embellish your headers, borders, and dividers. You can also use trees in your layouts, either as full illustrations or as smaller elements. Scatter leaves across your pages to capture the essence of fall. 

2. Pumpkin spice latte. Take your color palette inspiration from the cozy pumpkin spice vibe. Use a variety of oranges, browns, and creamy neutrals throughout your pages. Include pumpkins and mugs. You could add variety by including other warm drinks like hot cocoa, tea, and coffee. Experiment with different styles of mugs as decorative elements or even in bullet lists. They would also work well for habit-tracking icons. 

3. Woodland creatures.  Although woodland creatures like foxes, squirrels, deer, and owls are always cute, they’re especially mood-enhancing in fall. If you don’t have time to draw your own creatures, a sticker packet can go a long way here. 

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4. Cozy textures. Fall is all about bundling up against the cold in cozy sweaters and warm knitted blankets. Add doodles of sweaters, scarves, and mittens to your bujo spreads to amp up the cozy factor. 

5. Halloween. Halloween is a huge part of fall for many people. If you’re one of them, incorporate Halloween motifs using elements like bats, spiders, and cobwebs. Round out your Halloween theme with doodles of jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, and black cats. It might not give the cozy vibe as much as the other themes, but it’s still fun to play around with. 

Making Your Autumn Bullet Journal Cozy

Any theme can be made cozy if you know the key elements that evoke that warm and inviting feeling. The colors, textures, and elements you include all help build a theme that will make you want to climb into it and take a nap. 

Fall Colors

Soft, earthy tones like chestnut, terracotta, and cinnamon instantly evoke a sense of warmth. Deep reds and forest greens can pull in hints of nature, while olive greens and burgundies are good for contrast. Including some warm neutrals like ivory, cream, khaki, and wheat will pull it all together and keep your spreads from feeling cluttered. Sticking with a consistent color palette throughout the autumn season brings the theme together. 

The key to achieving a balanced and harmonious palette is understanding how to combine contrasting elements. For example, bright shades like pumpkin orange, sunflower yellow, and maple red can bring energy and excitement to your bullet journal spreads, but pairing them with muted colors—such as dusty rose, sage green, or soft taupe—will help soften the intensity and create a more sophisticated look. 

If you’re going for a bolder palette, use bright colors sparingly as accents while grounding your spreads with more neutral, muted backgrounds. On the other hand, if you prefer a subtler aesthetic, incorporate pops of brighter colors to draw attention to important elements like headers or key dates. Mixing bright and muted tones allows you to capture the lively spirit of fall while maintaining a cohesive, visually appealing journal.

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Seasonal Illustrations

Hand-drawn illustrations or stickers woven into each themed bullet journal spread keep the warm and cozy vibe going. Cozy fall imagery includes:

  • Acorns, pumpkins, and gourds
  • Candles, lanterns, and fireplaces
  • Knitted scarves, blankets, and sweaters
  • Boots and mittens
  • Hot drinks, teapots
  • Books and journals
  • Rugs and cozy throws
  • Handwritten letters or postcards

Fonts and Lettering

The fonts you choose can also be evocative of the season. Handwritten or cursive lettering gives your spreads a personal and homey feel. To make your fonts cozier, experiment with the following features:

  • Rounded edges
  • Serif fonts with gentle curves
  • Subtle weight variations with moderate thickness
  • Playful designs with natural irregularities
  • Looser spacing between letters

Textures

A warm and welcoming atmosphere is often characterized by its textures. Use scraps of paper, different washi tapes, stickers, or attached drawings to add texture. You can use any of these to capture fall patterns such as plaids, leaf prints, burlap, or wood textures, which will quickly elevate the warmth of your page. 

Themed Bullet Journal Spreads

In addition to your normal monthly spreads such as your mood tracker, habit tracker, and monthly calendar, it’s also fun to put a few season-specific spreads in your journal to mark the fall months. Here are a few of our favorite options. 

Seasonal Activities Monthly Spread

The fall season is the perfect time to connect with harvest cycles because there’s so much great produce to be enjoyed. Apples are at their prime, and one or more trips to an apple orchard to pick a few baskets of your favorite varieties are in order. Create an apple-picking spread to plan and document apple-picking trips. Write down dates, locations, and notes on your favorite varieties. This will be helpful next year when you can’t remember which ones you loved most or when they were available. 

Pumpkin patches are another wonderful field trip for early fall. Research the patches near you, plan your visit, and include checklists for things to do, pumpkins to look for, and photo ideas. 

Autumn Recipes Spread

Along with all that abundant fall produce comes experimenting with some delicious recipes. From pumpkin pie to apple cider, to butternut squash soup, an autumn recipe spread is a great way to document your favorite new recipe. 

Get creative by illustrating the different recipes and meal plans you try. For new recipes, include ingredients, cooking steps, and notes from your tasters. You can also create a tracker to write down new recipes you want to try and record when you’ve made them and what you thought. 

Fall Reading List

One of my favorite things about fall and the start of the new school year is all of the new books waiting to be devoured—both the new fall releases and those classic titles I’m revisiting with my kids. I like to dedicate at least one two-page spread to tracking the books I’m reading. I note the author, title, genre, format, date completed, and my rating. I also use this to track my overall reading stats and insights for the year. 

A wonderful autumn addition to a reading tracker would be a spread of autumn book recommendations. Visit your favorite bookstore websites, reading blogs, podcasts, and booklists, and see which cozy books everyone is talking about. Read their reviews and make a list of all the ones you want to try and whether you can find them at your library or local bookstore. 

Halloween Preparation Spread

If you’re eagerly awaiting Halloween, why not create a spread to help you prepare for the spooky holiday? You can make a brain dump page for all your Halloween costume ideas, including the various components you’ll need and where you might source them. If you’re pulling them together yourself, you can include some sketches, materials needed, and deadlines. 

If you’re planning a Halloween party, use your bullet journal to help you get organized for that. Make a spread with to-do lists, decor ideas, notes on DIY tutorials you’ve seen, a guest list, and your food plan. 

Gratitude Log

One of the best things autumn milestones is Thanksgiving. There’s something inherently soothing about a holiday set aside for being with family, practicing gratitude, and gorging ourselves on comfort foods. But Thanksgiving need not be the lone autumnal date for practicing gratitude. Instead, let it be a catalyst, spurring you on to adopt a daily gratitude practice. 

Dedicate one or two pages to a gratitude log where you can write down things you’re grateful for each day. As the busyness and stress of the season start to creep in, this practice will help you maintain a positive attitude. 

Autumn Wellness Tracker

Speaking of positive habits, let this be our collective reminder that we need to continue taking care of ourselves as the fall months come upon us and not just everyone else. The fall season brings with it a series of events (back-to-school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) that add a lot to our plates and overextend ourselves taking care of others’ needs, but we can only do that sustainably when we’re keeping an eye on our own health. 

Use your bullet journal to create a self-care tracker where you make notes of activities such as nature walks, exercising, visiting with friends, and taking time to read a good book in quiet. 

You may also want to have a separate tracker for your fitness goals and progress. This is a good place to incorporate seasonal motifs like acorns and pinecones to represent your milestones. 

Fall Sports and Activities Spread

If you or your family is sports-oriented, a fall sports and activities theme will help you keep track of game dates, practice times, and equipment packing lists. It can be difficult getting into the routines of a new sports season and having all of your info on hand in one convenient place will make it a little bit easier. 

If organized sports aren’t your thing but you still love outside time, you can switch this spread up and create one for planning and tracking outdoor activities like hiking, camping, or attending fall festivals. 

Seasonal Decor Ideas

I’m not super into switching up my decor for each season, but autumn is one time when I make an exception. I absolutely love autumn decor and bringing all that cozy warmth into my house as the number on the thermometer starts to plummet. 

The autumn section of a bullet journal is the perfect place to collect all those seasonal decor ideas so we don’t just go to the store and buy whatever they happen to have on hand. Try going analog and creating a good old-fashioned collage with all your ideas. You can cut pictures from decor magazines or print out images you like online. You can also look through newspaper flyers and cut out inspirational pictures from home decor store advertisements. 

Once you’re thoroughly inspired, make a section for planning what you need to buy or make, where you’ll buy the items you’ll need, your decor budget (or lack thereof!), and a timeline for when you want to have everything in place. 

Fall Bucket List

Another casualty of the season’s busyness is our hopes and dreams for what we would like to do before the end of the year. We come out of summer refreshed and energized for the months ahead, but by the September whizzes past, we’re usually racing just to stay on the hamster wheel. 

Fight the temptation to give into this cycle and foster mindfulness by reflecting on your hopes for the season up front and creating a bucket list. This will help you keep on track and not miss out on the most important things. 

Creating a Seasonal Bucket List

Start by making your seasonal bucket list. (You may want to do this in tandem with your goal setting for the last quarter). For specific ideas of things to add to your autumn bucket list, check out 15 Fun Family Activities for Fall. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Designing Your Bucket List Page

Like your other monthly spreads, your bucket list page should embody your cozy autumn bullet journal theme. Stick with your color palette and incorporate the various seasonal things you’ve chosen to represent your idea of a cozy fall season. Here are a few specific ideas you can work into your bucket list page:

  • Interactive elements. Make your bucket list interactive by including checkboxes or using progress trackers with fall leaves or acorns you can color in as you complete each item on the list. You could also include flippable tabs to incorporate more information about each item without cluttering up your page. 
  • Categorize your list. Organize your bucket list activities into different groups such as outdoor adventures (hiking, camping, apple picking), cozy at-home activities (baking, reading, watching movies), and self-care ideas (baths, journaling by candlelight, dinner with a friend). You can give each section its own design to differentiate it while keeping your theme cohesive. 
  • Seasonal countdown. Integrate a countdown to help build urgency and excitement. This could be something like Days til Christmas, or Days in Fall. Draw one icon to represent each day and color them in daily to keep you engaged with your bucket list. 

Getting Cozy With Your Bullet Journal

Whether you fill your pages with nature-themed elements like woodland creatures and treed landscapes or the comforts of home like cozy blankets, hot cocoa, and stacks of delightful books, selecting and setting up your fall bullet journal theme is a creative way to transition yourself from summer to autumn. Try to remember that there is no right way to bullet journal, and experimenting with new ideas and discovering what works best for you is an enjoyable part of the process. Let us know below which theme elements you’re most excited to incorporate and share links to photos of your autumn bullet journal creations if you’ve posted them on social media. Happy journaling!​