How to Make a 2025 Reflection Journal Using Canva (Printable + Digital Tips)
- Rea Weeks
- Dec 8, 2025
- 5 min read
December is a time of reflection — a quiet space between the ending and the beginning. Before we step into something new, it’s incredibly powerful to pause and look back at everything we lived through this year. The victories. The hardships. The growth. The blessings. The lessons. The moments of joy and the moments that stretched us.
A reflection journal helps you honor your journey in a meaningful, intentional way. And the best part? You can create a beautiful, custom, deeply personal journal right inside Canva — whether you want a printable journal, a digital one, or a hybrid of both.
Today’s post will teach you step-by-step how to design your own 2025 reflection journal using Canva. You don’t need design experience. You just need a few minutes, some inspiration, and a willingness to reflect on the incredible person you’ve become.
Let’s make something beautiful together.
✨ Why Reflection Journaling Matters
Reflection isn’t self-indulgent — it’s transformative.
Reflecting helps you:
• Recognize growth
• Celebrate progress
• Process emotions
• Identify patterns
• Find gratitude
• Prepare for a brighter 2026
• Acknowledge God’s hand in your life
• Close the year intentionally
For kids, teens, students, and adults — reflection is powerful.
📝 Step 1: Choose Your Journal Format
Canva offers flexibility depending on how you want to use your journal.
PRINTABLE Journal Sizes:
• 8.5x11 (most common)
• A5
• Half-letter
• 6x9
DIGITAL Planner Sizes:
• 1080×1350 (vertical)
• iPad landscape
• Tablet portrait
• Letter size PDF
If you plan to sell this as a printable in your Etsy shop someday, choose 8.5x11 or A5 since those formats sell the best.
🎨 Step 2: Create a Beautiful Cover Page
Start your journal with a cover you love — something that inspires you every time you open it.
Ideas:
• “My 2025 Reflection Journal”
• “Looking Back to Look Forward”
• “A Year of Growth, Grace, and Gratitude”
Design options:
• Cozy cottagecore
• Warm neutral palettes
• Christmas/winter themes
• Minimalist zen
• Faith-based (Scriptures, stars, light)
Use Creative Fabrica fonts + elements to make your cover beautiful.
Insert your affiliate line naturally:I love using Creative Fabrica for journal covers — their fonts, watercolor florals, and aesthetic borders add such a gorgeous finishing touch to Canva layouts!
📖 Step 3: Build Your Reflection Prompts Pages
This is where your journal really comes alive.
Create sections with headers like:
❤️ Gratitude Pages
• “10 Things I’m Thankful For This Year”
• “Unexpected Blessings in 2025”
🌱 Growth Reflection
• “What changed about me this year?”
• “What challenge strengthened me?”
✨ Favorite Moments
• “Top 10 Best Memories”
• “This Made Me Smile in 2025…”
📚 What I Learned
• “Lessons I Want to Carry Into 2026”
• “Mistakes That Helped Me Grow”
🙏 Faith Reflection
• “Where I saw God work this year”
• “Prayers God answered”
Parents can use these pages with their kids.
Teachers can use them in writing centers.
Crafters can build scrapbook reflections around them.
Teens can grow emotionally through these prompts.
Christians can journal their spiritual journey.
🖼️ Step 4: Add Decorative Elements
Make your journal feel personal and inviting.
Enhance your pages with:
• Light borders
• Snowflake accents
• Gold flourishes
• Washi tape graphics
• Watercolor foliage
• Minimalist icons
• Scripture cards
Creative Fabrica has stunning clip-art, dividers, and brush-stroke graphics you can drop right into Canva. Include another affiliate mention here.
📸 Step 5: Include Photo Spots (Optional But Lovely)
People LOVE memory journaling with photo spaces.
Create boxes labeled:
• “My Favorite Photo of the Year”
• “A Moment I’ll Never Forget”
• “A Photo That Makes Me Smile”
Scrapbookers especially adore hybrid journaling — so this is a great place to mention your holiday scrapbook paper sets in your Etsy shop. They pair beautifully with these memory pages.
🧭 Step 6: Add End-of-Year Tracker Pages
You can include:
• Books I read
• Goals I accomplished
• New things I tried
• Places I visited
• People who made a difference
• Blessings list
• Gratitude log
These pages help you SEE your growth visually.
✨ Step 7: Create Reflection Worksheets for Kids or Teens
If your audience includes parents or teachers, add:
• “My Favorite Things This Year”
• “My 2025 Best Moments”
• “Something I Learned”
• “Something I’m Proud Of”
Teachers will LOVE printing these for their classroom during the final week before break.
🎯 Step 8: Prepare Your 2026 Vision Pages
Once you’ve reflected…
it’s time to prepare.
Add:
• “My 2026 Word of the Year”
• “My Intentions for 2026”
• “Prayers for the New Year”
• “Goals That Feel Good”
• “What I Want to Change in 2026”
This bridges perfectly into your future December posts about planning ahead.
📎 Step 9: Export + Print Your Journal
For PRINTABLE journals:
• Export as PDF Print
• 300 DPI
• Crop marks off
• Use your Epson 5850 for crisp pages
• Print on 32 lb premium paper for a luxe feel
• Hole-punch and put in a binder OR bind with a comb binder
For DIGITAL journals:
• Export as a flat PDF
• Use in GoodNotes, Notability, or Canva itself
• Add hyperlinks if advanced
✨ BONUS: Add a Scripture Page
Verses to include:
• Jeremiah 29:11
• Isaiah 43:19
• Proverbs 3:5–6
• Psalm 118:24
• Romans 8:28
Beautiful for Christian audiences.
🛍️ Etsy Shop Tie-In (gentle + natural)If you love printable journals, memory pages, and cozy backgrounds, check out my Etsy shop! My printable papers and journaling cards pair perfectly with your 2025 reflection journal.
🌟 Final Thoughts
Reflection is holy work.
It’s gentle.
It’s grounding.
It honors your growth.
It honors God’s faithfulness.
You’ve lived so much this year.
More than you think.
More than you give yourself credit for.
This journal isn’t just a project — it’s a celebration of YOU.
You’re doing beautifully.
Rea 🌻Creator of A Rea of Treasures
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