A few years ago, a friend of mine gifted me a blank bullet journal designed by the amazing Archer and Olive. At first, I was unsure how to use it, but after diving deeper into the bullet journal community and the endless inspiration out there, I quickly became hooked. I realized that I could turn my list-making, calendar-keeping obsession into a uniquely creative endeavor.
Bullet journaling became a huge creative outlet for me. I designed, illustrated, and hand-drew each page, dedicating a spread for each week of the year. When I was listening to sermons at church, I would draw a spread. When I was at home watching TV, I would draw another page. If I was feeling anxious, drawing more designs gave me comfort and peace. I felt like I had unlocked a creative unicorn that had absolutely no pressure or expectation involved. I could create what I wanted, however I wanted, and at any time I wanted, all in one place. I love my sketchbooks, but this served a practical purpose for keeping up with my calendar and work to-do lists in a beautiful way!
I starting sharing my drawings with a few friends, and one in particular said that she would totally buy what I was creating. I realized that I had the opportunity to turn my spreads into a full, undated, hand-illustrated book that I could sell! At first I was daunted by the task, but then I decided that I could allow myself to take all the time I needed to do this. I spent 2023 drawing my next bullet journal in only pen and ink, for the purpose of digitizing the drawings and creating a book to sell. I scanned each page before I used it for my week, and then slowly began digitizing and cleaning up my drawings in Adobe Illustrator, followed by laying out each spread in Adobe InDesign.
Over the course of 12 months, I drew, scanned, digitized, and designed what became a 120 page undated, custom bullet journal. Even though it was an incredible amount of work, it felt refreshing because I could take my time, and draw whatever I wanted to. Whether or not this would amount in any kind of monetary profit, I was just so happy to do something that just gave me JOY.
In January 2024, after finding Lulu, an affordable online printer and seller that worked well for my product, I released my passion project into the world! Fully un-dated, the final journal works for any year and doubles as a coloring book. I am so extremely proud of it and thrilled that it is out there in the wild for anyone to purchase. You can find it here!!
I also wanted to create an even more affordable option available not just in A5, but 8.5×11 as well for easy, at-home printing. I developed the book into a fully printable PDF that is available for purchase on my Etsy shop. For $20, you can download PDFs in both A5 (5.8 x 8.3) and US Letter (8.5×11) to print at home and make into your own book. This also allows bullet journalers to pick and choose pages they want for their own custom bujo!
To have both of these options available for purchase is such a fun, amazing accomplishment in my artistic endeavors. I hope you will check out my custom, hand-illustrated bullet journal and spread the word to any who may be interested!! Thank you so much for being here <3
