Coloring Pages as Bullet Journal Monthly Cover Pages

I recently found this book at my local Ollie's store. If you don't have an Ollie's store near you, the motto is "Good Stuff Cheap," and that's about what you can expect. The store has a warehouse feel to it. You're getting a good deal on the merchandise, partly because they keep overhead costs to a minimum. I especially enjoy their book section, since I can usually expect to find books at 75%-off the regular price. I've found a nice selection of adult coloring books there in the past year or so.

This book caught my eye because it's about the same size as my bullet journal. I looked through it and discovered that I like most of the images. Most of them would work as monthly divider pages - also known as cover pages - in my bullet journal. I've been looking to branch out of just washi tape decorating my bullet journal, and this seemed like a good place to start.

I don't know about you, but I can't color well in a bound book this thick. So I took a utility knife to it and cut all the pages out.

I cut as close to the spine as I could, and it worked perfectly. Now I have a whole book full of coloring pages that will stay flat while I color them. I was inspired to get started on one right away.

This is the finished product with the pencils I used and my homemade blender (on the far right). When I first looked at the blank page, I wasn't sure what colors to work with. But I started with the obvious - the leaves. Then, since I know virtually nothing about flowers, I searched online to find out what type of flower has five pointy petals. I found a yellow one with an orange-red center. That color scheme works perfectly for this time of year, so I went with it.

I enjoyed blending the colors a bit - something new for me (at least without using baby oil). I outlined each letter in red, then colored it in with orange. It created a lovely, blended color.

My baby oil is long gone, so I used some vitamin E oil that I had on hand to blend the flowers a bit. It didn't turn out exactly like I had envisioned, but it will do. I'll get better with practice.

I'm envisioning cutting around the outside edge - letting the leaf and flower edges spill out onto the page. I don't want to do that until it's time to paste it into my bullet journal, since I don't want to risk having the leaf and flower edges bent or torn.

I'm not sure what to think about adding it to by bullet journal with the oil blending. I didn't think about that part until after I did it ... I may put it between two pages until next month to see if it leeches any oil. I'll keep you posted!