Hello! It’s Annie here from @ajournalbyannie, (www.ajournalbyannie.com) and I’m excited to share with you today my first ever Archer & Olive guest blog!

Today I’m going to talk about using a B5 journal as your Bullet Journal which, I know, some people will find a little in intimidating while others, myself included until recently, won’t have considered using a journal out-with the standard A5 size, which has become synonymous with Bullet Journaling.

So lets have a look at using a B5 journal and all the possibilities that come with it!

 SUPPLIES

• B5 Journal - I’m using an Archer and Olive B5 Night Sky Dot Grid Neapolitan Notebook
• Pencil, Eraser and Ruler
• Black Pen - I'm using Sakura Micron Fineliners (05 and 005)
• Pens/ Pencils/ Paints - I’m using Archer and Olive Acrylograph .7mm Tip Tropical Selection

B5 Sized Notebook VERSUS an A5 sized notebook

Archer and Olive B5 notebooks measure 6.93 x 9.84” and I was drawn to these notebooks because prior to journaling I always created much larger artwork and I struggled initially to downsize my work to fit an A5 journal. I thought working in a B5 journal could give me back some freedom to create larger artwork again and I wasn’t disappointed!

I genuinely felt so much freedom creating my first illustrations in my new journal and so if you’ve had this issue yourself perhaps consider up-sizing your Bullet Journal to better fit your needs. Remember your journal needs to work for you.

The first spread I created in my new journal was an illustrated comparison of an A5 versus B5 journal. I loved the idea of recreating one of my old A5 journal pages  so that I had a visual representation of the additional page space I would be working with. 

FILLING THE PAGE

A common concern I hear from journalers is an uncertainty as to how exactly they would fill a page of a larger journal. 

If you are worried that your drawings will look too small in a B5 journal and you’d like to learn to draw bigger, try drawing something the way you usually would but extend the lines slightly, doing this again and again until it feels natural.

Alternately you can use larger lettering for your headers - if you are creating a header using block capitals, as I have here, try using two dot grid spaces to create your letters, rather than one. 

You can also add more illustrations to a page than you usually would or extend your illustrations - if for example you draw a flower head, extend the illustration to include a stem and leaf of the flower also.

In smaller journals I always draw my illustrations first in order to manage space, but I found in this journal I was able to start my daily logs and add illustrations later, which is much more practical for on-the-go Bullet Journaling! On the pages below I completed my daily log (left page), then drew the florals, then added my next daily log (right page).

And don’t be afraid to make use of the blank space on your page. On A5 I usually count two or three grid spaces in to start my headers but when I created the right hand page below I counted five.

BLANK SPACE CAN BE BEAUTIFUL

When I have busy weeks I like to create a weekly tracking list of my tasks, based on The Alasdair Method. I found in this B5 journal however that I was able to combine two weeks in one spread because of the additional space available (on the pages below I ended up combining two and a half weeks as it was the end of the month). 

I love combining blank space in my designs because in addition to being attractive, I find When using pages like this It’s easier to focus on the tasks at hand when the the page designs are clear and simple.

MOVING INTO OCTOBER

Having used the first set of white pages in my Neapolitan journal for my September Bullet Journal pages (Neapolitan journals contain a mixture of white, kraft and black paper) it seemed perfect to move into the first set of kraft pages for October when we are progressing further into Autumn.

I created this October cover page using autumnal colours from Archer and Olive’s Acrylograph .7mm Tip Tropical Selection. Although the lettering of October would fit into an A5 journal, I extended the length of the decorative lines I added to balance out the design for my B5 journal.

Download this cover page now :)

I’ve created a free version of this October cover page which you can use as a printable to stick in your journal or a template to create your own colourful version.

If you decide to use the printable in your journal or recreate any of these pages please tag me @ajournalbyannie on Instagram so I can see your work!