Hi friends! It’s Hannah from the instagram account @Ink.and.home ! Reading and planning are my passions, so why not combine the two? I decided this month I’d make a more elaborate reading spread as I’ve been reading much more the past few months. Bullet journals are so customisable so I gathered lots of ideas for reading spreads and then picked the headings that suited me most. I’ve added a few more heading ideas at the end of this blog too, if you want to change any to suit you better. Here’s what I chose to create: 

• Books I read this month

• My number 1 book this month

• Favourite quotes

• Pages and mood tracker 

I’d love to share with you my reading spread for bullet journals and tips on making it work for any monthly theme.

Don’t forget, if you’d like to purchase any Archer and Olive supplies I have used for this spread, you can use code INKANDHOME for 10% off.

Monthly Reading Spread Supplies

• Archer and Olive x Amanda Rach Lee Acrylograph pens (any acrylograph pens if you are working with coloured paper/brown package paper)

• Mermaid washi tape/Coloured Washi tape to suit your theme

• Scissors 

• Pencil

• Card or thicker paper for the shapes 

• Fineliner pen: Sigma Micron in 0.5mm

• Glue tape

• Craft knife if you have tricky corners to cut out

My theme this month was inspired by the Amanda Rach Lee Acrylograph pens ‘Stormy Seafoam’, ‘Faded Pear’ and ‘Crisp White’. Queue a whole Pinterest board of shell doodles and seaside scenes!

A trick I use to make my bullet journal spreads more uniform is drawing the shapes for my theme on thick card and then cut them out to make a stencil. It makes it quicker to create spreads, and if (like me) you struggle with drawing, it means the shapes will all be similar. It also means I can practice drawing on the white card and pick the best one for my stencil. After choosing a shell and 2 sizes of starfish, I picked brown packaging paper and a sand coloured paper along with my label maker to complete the theme. 

What I find super helpful before I start a bullet journal spread is laying out the spread before gluing down/drawing anything. Play around with your theme and whatever shapes you chose along with what headings you want. If you cut out some shapes (in my case, the sand coloured paper shapes) and use the brown paper for headings, you can see very easily see how you’d like the spread to look. 

Next was tracing out the shapes in pencil, and then using the ‘Stormy Seafoam’ and ‘Faded Pear’ to colour them in. One amazing thing about the acrylograph pens is just how opaque they are, and how they layer so beautifully on top of each other. 

I coloured in the shells I had sketched, then used ‘Crisp White’ to draw the outline of the shells and details on the starfish to make them pop on the page. I also used this white for my headings along with my label maker for some contrast. If you don’t have a label maker - no problem - just use a different colour pen! 

I used 3 types of Archer and Olive washi tape in this spread. By adding it between the sections it breaks them up more easily then if i just used black pen (plus the colours are gorgeous so why not add more pops of colour). I also used a couple of the shells to double up as a heading box so there wasn’t too much brown on the page, and used the white acrylogrpah pen for the heading there too.

Other reading spread ideas for your bullet journal:

• Book recommendations

• Books you want to read that month/the next month

• Book delivery tracker (if you order books online)

• Track the days you read

• Book review

There you have it! I really hope you got some inspiration for your reading spread in your bullet journal. Make sure to tag me on instagram if you recreate this spread, I would love to see your beautiful bullet journals! 

Love and light,

Hannah

@ink.and.home