Bookish Bullet Journal Archives

March Bookish Bujo: The Burning God

May 18, 2021

Happy ~~March~~ May everybody! To be honest with you all, March and April were really rough. I was going through a lot of loss and instability and I started shutting myself down from everything. I know this is two month’s late, and I missed love yourself saturday and the guilt piled up. But all to say I missed you and I’m doing my best, and I send you whatever you may need; love, warmth, strength, courage, or faith.

One of the things I love most about The Burning God is Kuang’s ability to reach into my chest and play my heart like a drum. March was heavy for me and I know dissociation and escapism (especially when it’s also heavy) isn’t the best coping mechanism, but in some weird way, there was a comfort.

In case you couldn’t tell from my past bullet journal posts, I love burning paper. I didn’t do a TDR journal theme, but if I did…I know for a fact I would’ve used burned paper there too.

Oh, but history moved in such vicious circles.

In addition to burned paper, these watercolor crayons are nothing new. I love finding different ways to experiment with them, and back in March I used a sponge to smudge the paint in. At first, I wasn’t sure about it, but I ended up loving the splotchy unevenness the more I did it.

Okay so also, this was the first time I’ve ever actually burned the pages of my journal. And I loved it! (Yes, I say that to everything, I’m sorry). I normally burn separate paper and glue it in, but I did Dutch doors last year, and I had this idea about a little peek-a-boo behind the burned edges.

However, the difficulty with the burned edges is what to put behind them. I end up settling for just some painted things, but it definitely forced me to plan way ahead (and currently doing that with my current journal theme).

I think the tones of this theme in general are comforting to me; it kind of reminds me of smoke and ashes, which coincides with what’s left at the end of this trilogy 🙂

And since it was only right to use the book cover as my cover page, our trio on the back had to close. I’ll be honest, though: drawing anatomy is hard, so tracing was my bff.

I hope you all still enjoy seeing these. If you’d like to see more of my non-book related journal spreads, you can follow my bujo instagram @joijournals. Also!! I’m super excited to show y’all June’s theme, based on my current read and a book recommended by one of our dear friends, to be revealed soon.

January 2021: A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

January 23, 2021

Happy new journal! This month’s book inspiration is A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, and it’s one I’ve been saving since I read it in November. While the colors are very much Lila and Orion inspired, and the quotes were some of my favorites from the book, the idea of the fans came from some random stuff around my room. I was actually kind of nervous to use these colors just because the last time I tried them I felt a little iffy, but I actually love how they turned out!

Without further ado, grab some tea and a pastry, and your own journal if you’re inspired, and scroll on to look at my January journal theme!

I think I was extra nervous to start just because I started a new journal for the year, and I haven’t been feeling super inspired lately. I’ve been putting more pressure on myself to create things and I think maybe I let myself hold back a bit.

What’s funny is that at the same time I’m in a creative rut, I find myself in a reading rut as well! The world works in mysterious ways, so I’m hoping I can navigate my way out of all these weird mindsets, hence my lists and empty spaces meant to “clear my mind.” We’ll see if it works *crosses fingers*

This was when I started to get really excited about this theme. I’m not always a perfectionist when it comes to art, but I couldn’t help but feel relieved when my first weekly spread turned out almost exactly how it turned out in my head!

Aaaaaaand then it went (slightly) downhill again. If you really look, you’ll notice that this is in fact NOT the second week of January, but the third. The second week did NOT look like the thing I had in my head, but this was definitely the month for accepting the little wins and taking punches as they come. In other words, I had an Orion week.

I might be the most proud of this last week. I experimented with making patterns on the marker bits and it almost looked like washi tape! Not to mention the color combo is visually stunning.

I hope you found my journal spreads as soothing as I did making them, and if you’re new to these segments, let us know how you like them! Lauren just started a reading journal and I’m just waiting to see how pretty it is.

Wishing you all the best, here’s to tea, tomorrow, and fake washi tape.

September: The Wolf of Oren-Yaro

September 1, 2020

Hello again!! We’re just really on a roll here, aren’t we? I’m really pleased not only because I’ve gotten this month’s spreads done early again, but because September’s inspiration is one of my favorite books of the year. In honor of the Bitch Queen herself, as well as the release of The Ikessar Falcon this month, I give you one of my most ambitious journal themes thus far.

August: Spin the Dawn

August 3, 2020

It’s been a while since I’ve liked any of my bullet journal spreads (or done enough of them to actually post), so I was extremely pleased with myself when I not only made spreads for the whole month, but I made them early. It helps that this month was inspired by one of Love Yo Shelf’s all time faves and one of my current reads, Unravel the Dusk (going amazing btw, lots of ouch (: ). This month’s inspiration was none other than Elizabeth Lim’s Spin the Dawn. Scroll on to see my spin (ahahahahhaha) on this amazing story.

April: Jade City

May 21, 2020

It feels good to be back to blogging! It’s been really hard to blog lately because of all the chaos with online classes and my laptop in the shop, but I’m (hopefully) back and better than ever! April’s bullet journal theme was inspired by Jade City by Fonda Lee, and I took inspiration a little more literal this time around: a jade marbley ish background with various cities throughout.

February & March: Descendant of the Crane and The Gilded Wolves

March 29, 2020

Well. The past two months were…a lot, to say the least. I don’t know about y’all, but March is feeling about 3 years long, and it’s not even over yet. That being said, my themes for February and March were for some of my favorite 2019 reads, and my bujo is joined by my trusty sidekick xiaolongbao today!

March: The Poppy War

March 18, 2020

It truly is the month of madness. With all of this going on, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that my bullet journal inspiration for this month was the one and only The Poppy War.

If you haven’t read The Poppy War, or either of our “favorite reads” posts, let this be your introduction to one of my favorite books of all time. The writing is beautiful, and the characters are so spectacularly complex that I honestly can’t help but recommend it to anyone who’ll listen. This month especially has left me feeling angry and upset and scared, and I think this book was a much-appreciated story of the raw truth of those feelings. That being said, enjoy my visual representation of beauty and abstraction and burning edges.

January: Everything and Nothing

February 2, 2020

One of the last books I read in 2019 was Descendant of the Crane, and I absolutely loved it, and couldn’t wait to use it as inspiration for the first of my 2020 spreads. I think with all of the plot twists in DOTC (and 2019), I really wanted to bring that into the new year and start off with a book that reminded me how important it is to stay grounded and roll with the punches – and sometimes, throw a few back.