As you may have gathered from some of my recent posts, I’ve gotten very into planner stencils lately. This post has the types of stencils I think are useful for daily, weekly and monthly spreads, but can be also used for lists, meal planning – the possibilities are endless.

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Stencils are great for

Checklists – in the sidebars of monthly or weekly spreads, full page checklists, checklists in the vertical columns of your weekly planner, on a monthly planning page – basically anywhere!
Incorporating different fonts if you’re handwriting is messy and your spreads are starting to all look the same
Make it quick and easy to draw up monthly calendars
Weekly layouts you mightn’t have otherwise thought of
When you don’t have a ruler
Savings trackers
Habit trackers
If you want to keep your planner neat
If you’re drawing up the same spread all the time
Want to try a new planner supply
Want to keep your planner neat

1. Row & Column Stencils

The most functional stencil on this list! Row and column stencils help you quickly rule up spreads by not having to count the dots – especially helpful for monthly and weekly spreads.

I ranked and compared 5 different brands of row and column stencils in this post.

The best time saving tool for bullet journaling (Ink by Jeng Row & Column Stencil)

2. PA Alphabet Stencils

This brand has my favorite alphabet stencils. The size of the letters are just right for bullet journaling and there’s a variety of font styles to choose from.

Some ways to use alphabet stencils:

Dates of the week
Month of the Year
Days of the week
Lists
Monthly spread cover pages or section divider pages

Stencils weekly spread in the Archer & Olive

Simple Christmas themed weekly spread with washi tape and stencils

You can find alphabet stencils in other stencil packs such as these (but P.A. offer more variety in the fonts and not all of the ones listed below come with coordinating number stencils).

3. Sunny Streak Stencils

This brand has a few stencil collections to choose from:

I purchased the weekly layouts 2 stencils off Amazon which are for A5 dot grid notebooks. The placement of the stencils on a 5mm dot grid isn’t exact. For the spread in the photo below, I actually just used one of the daily boxes and traced around that 7 times. Too hard to get a photo to show what I mean but not all of the lines aligned perfectly with the dots on the page.

So while the stencils aren’t perfect, they still produce nice spreads

Rainbow weekly spread using the Speedy Stencils and Zebra Mildliners

One stencil I think is essential if you like doing boxes for each day on your monthly calendar, is a stencil with the boxes already measured out. I have other stencils where you trace a thin gap in the stencil but with the Speedy Spreads you just draw the border on the inside of the boxes.

Sunny Streak monthly layouts #1

Image credit

The Sunny Streak time saver stencils have a mini monthly calendar template.

4. Flags & Ribbon Stencils

Ideal for titles such as the month on a calendar, day of the week, lists, your index page etc.

Most stencil collections will include a few flag banners on the stencils like these Zonon A5 stencils and Zicoto stencils.

5. Helix Circle Maker

I mainly use the Helix Circle Maker for annual planning pages and habit trackers, but you can use it for weekly spreads as well. See this post for a tutorial on how to use the Helix Circle maker

Weekly spread with the Helix Circle Maker in the Dingbats* Notebook

Geometry stencils like these are useful if you can’t get the Helix Circle Maker (I had to wait a while for it to come in stock on Amazon).

6. Shape Stencils

There are plenty of options for shape stencils. I’ve ordered this one (hasn’t arrived yet!) as it has the most variety I’ve seen with flag banners, alphabet, icons and basic shapes like squares, rectangles and circles in multiple sizes, straight edges, scallop borders etc.

If you’re looking for more sturdy stencils, these Etsy shop have some brass stencils.

I haven’t tried them myself but those shops have so many positive reviews I’m thinking about placing an order.

7. Habit tracker stencils

If you like to include habit trackers in your weekly layout, you’re probably well aware of how time consuming they are to set up. I prefer stencils with the boxes already ruled up, then I don’t need to worry about smudging the lines when I use a ruler.

Ink by Jeng habit tracker dot grid stencil

8. DIY Stencil

If none of the stencils on this list appeal to you or you want to make your own, see this post for a tutorial I did on how to make your own stencil using Microsoft Word, Google Docs or Apple Pages.

Minimalist black and blue weekly spread using DIY stencil

9. Erin Condren

Similar to the PA Calligraphy stencil, Erin Condren has one too. I prefer the Erin Condren calligraphy stencil over the PA calligraphy stencil as the letters are smaller.

Most stencils are very bendy plastic like this one, or solid metal where the part where you put your pen isn’t big enough for a 0.7mm pen tip. If it’s a choice between bendy plastic and metal, I would rather plastic and then just carefully hold the stencil in place while I use it.

Erin Condren Petite Dot Journal & Stencils

Update: They appear to no longer sell the cursive stencil however do have this this one with all the essential shapes to make different spreads.

10. More stencils

I only have a few stencils, there are tons more to choose from:

Happy Planner line it up and check it off (can be used for other vertical weekly planners, not just the Happy Planner)
Happy Planner journaling stencils (again, could be used for other planners, not just the Happy Planner)
Day to Day (Maggie Holmes Discbound) Icon and alphabet
Moxie Dorie (journal guide, tidy slider (for lists), budget finance, cursive days, fitness, time scheduler, cursive months
Sunshine Sticker Co layout stencil for 5mm notebooks
Sunny Streak time saver stencils (instead of counting out the dots, this one has done it for you)
The Paper Studio planner stencils (habit tracker, icons, page dividers, lines)
PA Essentials lines, numbers , basic shapes and icons)
Make your own stencil material for the Silhouette Machine (adhesive and non-adhesive)
Heid Swapp Alphabet ruler
Sunshine Sticker Co. monthly layout stencil
Ink by Jeng habit tracker dot grid, Hobonichi 4mm grid, Icon stencil,
Zonon B5 stencils
Zonon A5 stencils
Zonon assorted stencils
Zicoto stencils

I don’t recommend using highlighters with stencils. Stencils can easily slip and the ink pools at each line / join that you draw. I exclusively use erasable pens with stencils as I can wipe any residue on the stencils off with a tissue. I tried using non-erasable pens once but the residue wouldn’t come off and permanently stained the plastic stencil.