I’ve reviewed quite a few bullet journal stencils and Archer and Olive have finally released a dot grid stencil to add to my collection.

Archer and Olive Stencils

The stencil is just over 7.75″ long x 3.5″ wide and comes in a box ready for gifting to someone else – or yourself!

Here is the stencil in my A5 Archer and Olive notebook:

And here it is in my B5 Archer and Olive notebook

The stencil has the number of dots required for each shape printed directly onto the stencil which I haven’t seen another bullet journal stencil do. It makes it faster to see which stencil shapes could fit where in your spreads.

My sister stocks the Archer and Olive Stencil in her planner supplies store, Carefully Crafted.

Some ideas for using these stencils

• Flag banners & small rectangle boxes – days of the week and title headers
• Large Rectangle boxes – boxes for each day, sidebar boxes, top 3, borders around sections such as habit trackers, boxes for meal planning
• Circles – days of the week / date circles, 52 week savings tracker
• Small shapes (circle, star and hexagon) – checklists, habit trackers, creating page borders (color in the shapes e.g. in rainbow colors)
• Inches – the ruler has notches for 7 inches which is ideal for horizontal 1 page weekly spreads (use 1 inch per day of the week)
• 38 x 5mm markers – perfect fit for the Archer and Olive A5 notebook which has 38 dots x 5mm boxes vertically but also ideal for any bullet journal

Related post: Comparison of 30 Dot Grid Notebooks for Bullet Journaling (Buying Guide)

Tips for using these stencils

It may feel a bit weird but I find it easier to use smaller stencils (like the circles) if I write anti-clockwise – probably because my hand doesn’t block where I’m trying to write. The circles are much neater when I go anti-clockwise rather than clockwise.

I prefer to use stencils with various shapes ‘sparingly’ for part of a spread. If you use too many stencils on the same spread, it doesn’t look that great (at least I don’t think so). I’ll let you decide…

I used to draw borders around every section in my spreads, but lately I’ve been liking the ‘floating’ look which is very easy to do with stencils.

In case you were wondering, yes you can use these stencils with bullet journals other than Archer and Olive. The stencil is based on a 5mm dot grid so will work with any bullet journal with that grid size (which is about 99% of them).

Related post: Bullet Journal notebooks with the best paper (my top 7)

The only part of the stencil that I think is flawed is the small star. It’s too hard to use and all 5 points of the star are never perfect because of the tight fit and awkward angle. I tried it with both 0.7 Frixion pens and 0.38 Uniball Signo pens:

Here’s some spreads I created

I’ve been loving the Zebra Clickart pens lately – they’re great for headings with a slightly thicker pen tip than a ballpoint of gel 0.7mm tip. They come in nice colors too!

Read more: Japan stationery haul (washi tapes, pens, stamps, highlighters)

I do wish there was a rectangle that was less than 11 dot grid boxes wide. I don’t often use this width but a thin rectangle makes a great days of the week header box – one that is 5 or 6 dots so could suit a wider variety of page sizes.

Minimalist spread in my B5 Archer and Olive notebook…

And… Full color!

The flags are a bit too short for my liking, I’d like a template that is 8 dots across so I can fit an entire weekday or 3 letters for the weekdays plus numbers for dates.

52 week savings tracker using the circles. I used my Rhodia Goalbook for this.

Do I recommend the Archer and Olive stencil?

Yes. The plastic is thicker than most planning stencils which means it stays in place when you are using it. The stencil feels better quality than many of the cheap stencils you can find on Amazon (those bulk packs where there’s a variety of 10+ stencils). It’s easy to wipe off any pen residue with a tissue.

Where can I buy the stencil?

My sister stocks the Archer and Olive Stencil in her planner supplies store, Carefully Crafted.

How does the price compare with other stencils?

Notebook Therapy stencils come to mind as being similar. Those are $46.93 AUD but you can only get them in a 6 pack, not individual stencils.

Bujo spread using notebook therapy stencils

You can find stencil packs on Amazon (usually 10 or more stencils in a bundle) for about $8 USD – but keep in mind these are thin plastic. If you don’t want them to move as you use them, use some washi tape to stick them to the page.

The Archer and Olive stencil is $30 AUD / $19 USD but the stencil is a thicker and more sturdier material. The Notebook Therapy stencils are better for planner decorating, the Archer and Olive stencil is better for functional planning.

More bullet journal stencil reviews:

• Review of the Speedy Stencils by Sunny Streak (plenty of weekly and monthly layout ideas)
• Best stencils for bullet journal daily, weekly and monthly spreads
• The best time saving row and column stencils for bullet journaling

Planner spreads & inspiration

• 50 Themes for your planner or bullet journal spreads
• 8 Ways to use highlighters for Bullet Journal Spreads
• 20 Bullet Journal Weekly Spread Ideas (One Page Layouts)
• 10 Quick and Simple Bullet Journal Daily Layouts
• 26 Non-typical 2 page weekly spreads to try

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