As the days gets colder and the nights draw in on the Northern Hemisphere. Or, hell, as the summer holidays draw closer for the Southern Hemisphere. We’re all looking for things to keep us busy inside. We might all love to read, but sometimes you just want to do something creative. It can be a great excuse to listen to podcasts or an audiobook, and in the end, you should have something you’re proud of.
Or you at least had fun doing it.
I’m a creative person. Obviously, I take bookstagram photos, and I write. I’ve also attempted to draw and vid in the past. But visually…I’m not the best at these things. Yet, I still want to sit and be crafty sometimes. And being crafty in a way that I can relate it to books.
Sounds awesome to me.
I know there will be other people out there like me, and I’m sure many of you already do these things. But I thought it could be fun to make some suggestions and maybe see what people come up with!
Journaling
This is probably the most obvious one. Reading journals are something you can buy, and bullet journaling is a big thing. There are online journaling opportunities too, and it can be a lot of fun. I’m not someone who is about to bullet journal as not only would I not keep up with it, but I don’t have the energy to make them as pretty as I’d like. I’d just wind up sad that it didn’t look as nice as others.
I did, however, always want to have a reading journal. I got a half-year one with Fairyloot a few years ago, and I found it so useful. I’d always been eyeing up the ones I could see for sale online, but they’re so expensive. I couldn’t excuse buying one, especially if I wound up giving up.
So I decided to make my own.
The beauty of making your own is that it can look however you like and include whatever you like. If you wanna go the full bullet journal kinda effort then you can. Or, like me, you can just get a pretty notebook that you love and just write in what you need for the different months.
I use a lined notebook. Each month is a two page spread with pre-orders, books I’ve received, tours I’m on and books I’ve bought. There are no pictures, and I’m not doing one of those fill in the bookshelves drawings. Though you can if you’re more artistically minded. I’ve also included pages to list all the ARCs I get so I can tick them off and see how many I have at the end of the year as well as my yearly stats.
It’s super simple, but I’m happy with it.
If like me you’ve always wanted a journal, but haven’t as you have no money or skills – you can still work on one. You just need to make it suit you.
Bookmarks
Now you’re probably wondering why bookmarks if I’ve literally just said I’m not artistically minded. You can get loads free, and if you want to buy some, they don’t have to cost much. All of that is true. But, sometimes, it can be fun to make your own. Even if it’s just a business card that you’ve taped the edges of to stop it from curling.
Yeah, I just said business cards.
If you’re anything like me and you love buying art or fanart merch, you might have a few business cards that have art you like on them. It could just be a pattern background that you put stickers on or a leaflet with pretty colour on it. Whatever you have, provided you’re not printing art without the artist’s permission, you can have fun. This is why I like the use of business cards because they’ll still have the artist’s name on, so if someone comments on it, you can immediately tell them where to go to buy their art.
Now, these are bookmarks you shouldn’t sell. Not unless you’re drawing everything yourself or making them out of resin or something. But if you’re editing business cards or cutting up art prints you’ve bought, you can alter them so they’re personalised, but make sure you keep them to yourself.
It’s a nice way to clear out some of those prints and cards you’re not using, and it’s fun too.
Bookish Cakes and Biscuits
This is a fun one as then you have a snack for when you’re reading later.
If you like to bake, then why not throw some snacks that remind you of your favourite books in the oven. Some books may have recipes that you want to try. That’s a definite possibility if you’re into that.
For many of us, our skills are limited to basic cakes and biscuits.
They can be bookish though. You might not have the skills to decorate full-on drawings or book covers. Though you can get them printed on edible paper if you know where or how. At its simplest? Why not just make the icing a colour related to the book and put the characters name on them? You can still include them in photos if you want and they’re still related to books you like. But it’s no more effort than you’d usually spend baking.
You can have fun with these, go as in-depth with the theme as you like, then eat them with your book later. Sounds like a winner to me.
Do you guys have any other bookish craft ideas?
Lace and Dagger Books 