• For 2025, one of my goals was to start recording my cross stitch so I would have a reference to look back at. It started with a journal, then I added a spreadsheet… then I discovered Notion and it changed everything. That said, I still use my cross stitch journal every day.
• The base of my cross stitch journal is a Classic Happy Planner which is a 9-disc bound notebook/organizer from Happy Planner.
• I spent several weeks in 2024 look at different premade options on both Etsy as well as physical books that already existed. But none of them really fit what I was looking for in regards to tracking my cross stitch. Some weren’t enough and others had things than I was going to need.
• So instead of buying something, I went ahead and created my own pages, originally in Microsoft Publisher and now recreated in Microsoft Word because Microsoft is discontinuing Publisher. In addition to letting me create exactly what I needed for my journal, it let’s me tweak things as needed and try different ideas. Some things have worked and some just haven’t.
• At this time, I am not selling or offering my journal anywhere, but I wanted to share resources with you guys. Eventually, I hope to include images from my journal, but that is an eventual thing.

Example of a Happy Planner

Supplies

The links below are all for the Classic sized Happy Planner. They do have other sizes, but I use the classic.

Dividers

• Avery Tropical Fruits (Amazon) - just one of Avery’s design sets, they have multiple
• Classic DiscBound Notebook Dividers (Amazon)
• Side 6-Tab and Top 4-Tab Dividers (Amazon)
• Happy Planner - their website has a lot of dividers, bookmarks, and other accessories

Paper

• Sort Out My Life Blank 7 x 9.25 Inch Paper (Amazon) - this is the perfect thickness
• Yaridar Store 7” x 9.25” Blank Paper (Amazon) - this also works, but is a little thinner than the Sort Out My Life paper
• The Happy Planner Classic Punch - creates the notches for the discs

Misc

Journals

• Happy Planner Classic (official)
• Cover for Classic Size 9-Disc Planners (Amazon) - example of a generic “9 disc planner” available on Amazon

Pens

• Zebra Pen Mildliner Dual-Tip Highlighter Set

Examples

The images to the right are from my 2025 journal. Some things have been updated for 2026, but the overall feel of the journal is the same.

Left Photo

• Upper Left: Colorful Daily Stitch Map (inspired my 2026 yearly project)
• Upper right: WIP Masterlist
• Lower Left: First page of my Daily Stitch record keeping for February
• Lower Middle: Monthly Goal Page
• Lower Right: Finishes Masterlist (for 2026, this and my WIP masterlist have been merged into one page instead of two separate ones)

Right Photo

These are examples of my project tracking pages, where I recorded information about the project as well as the specific totals for stitch count and progress.

• Upper Left: Daily Stitching Info (same for all non-mini versions )
• Upper Right: Mini Project Trackers (for my ornaments and other 1 day stitches)
• Lower Left: Original project tracker for magazine projects
• Lower Middle: Updated project tracker, now used for all WIPs regardless of where they came from
• Lower Right: SAL project tracker