bullet journals and #areyoubookenough gems

My artists' book didn't end up being the only book I bound in April. Yay me! I had started a trio of bullet journals for myself way back in March, but it took me over a month to put the covers together and sew the lot. For all of April I was dependent on notes and to-do lists scribbled on random post-its and backs of envelopes. Normally I rely on my bullet journal routine and get tons of stuff done, so maybe that's why I didn't manage to fit all that much bookbinding into my schedule...

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All that will change now, thanks to these long stitch bindings, with a custom printed dark purple 4 mm dotted grid on recycled kraft paper for pages (a smaller than usual grid as I have a smaller than usual handwriting). The yellow one is the first in line for me - already filled with a few months' worth of calendar markings and plans for new books. Larger kimono books are underway as well as some tiny sketchbooks with watercolour paper covers, which have been sadly out of stock for a long time.

Now that the first days of May have flown by, it's time to share my favourites books of the April #areyoubookenough bookbinding community challenge. Visit the instagram post below to click through to each book artist's profile and see more of their work!

The May theme for the challenge is 'Secret'. I look forward to seeing what people come up with - will there be writing in code, hidden compartments, or personal secrets revealed? I have a list of possible ideas, but I'm still miles away from actually deciding what to create.