I can’t believe that it’s already the final month of 2021 and this is the last theme I’m doing in my reading journal. I’ve had so much fun and explored many different styles while putting together my first reading journal. I’ll write more in my wrap-up at the end of the year, but it’s really inspired me to read more and broaden my horizons. And I just got my next blank journal, so I can’t wait to start setting it up for 2022!

But first, here is my wrap-up for November. It was another busy month for me and I didn’t read everything that I planned, but still a respectable 9 books finished.

And that completes the witchy theme for now, but I will definitely revisit this one in the future. I already have more witchcraft-themed stationery and stickers that I want to use.

But December is time for a new theme. I didn’t want to just go for a classic Christmas theme or anything focused on snow, since it doesn’t get cold enough for snow where I live. Then I got an Amazon catalog in the mail. Normally, I recycle catalogs without looking at them because it’s easier just to look at things online. But this catalog was so cute, and it came with a page of stickers (meant for kids to mark what they wanted for Christmas presents), so I decided that I could repurpose it.

There are so many things that I love about this. The colorful forest! The happy little fox and all his cute friends! Most of these stickers were free in the catalog. I did add an extra fox and the cozy window from my recent Stickii Club pack. The washi is from Simply Gilded. It’s such a cheerful design and it makes me feel warm and cozy inside. Such a fun way to end the year.

Now, I have run into some issues with the reading journal lately. I’ve read way more books than I estimated at the beginning of the year (closing in on 100!) and I didn’t leave enough space for them all. That means that I had to add some extra pages into the reading journal. It’s good that I’m learning this now because it means I can make extra space in the one for next year.

For example, I started off with four pages to list all the series that I was in the middle of reading. This has been very handy to help me keep track of where I am and what to read next, since I’m reading so many different series at once. But four pages wasn’t enough. I added another series list between May and June, and it’s spilled over to another page as well. That means I’ll probably need double the pages for series in the next book.

Another spread that I really loved in the beginning of the book was the bookshelf. I drew a bunch of blank books, and each time I finished another one, I would color in a book and write in the title. But there was only space for about 84 books and I blew past that in November. So I taped another page into that section (cut from the back of the book). On the other side of this sheet, I also expanded another section:

The book covers! I love to see all the cover art for the books I’m reading, but I also ran out of space for these. This page may still fill up before the end of the year, depending on how many books I read this month.

Stay tuned for my summary of the 2021 journal and soon I’ll show my setup for 2022. There are many wonderful books coming out next year that I can’t wait to read!