Low-Energy Grimoire Ideas

Also for witches who just don’t have a lot of time.
I have a lot of anxiety, which can lead to perfectionism, and stress myself out worrying that drawing in my grimoire will turn out horribly. I’m also naturally a pretty low-energy person, and can’t afford to spend all of it working on a single page. These are some things I use to speed up the process, and to make it much less consuming.

• Check out the scrap booking section of craft/hobby stores. There’s many things you can find that could be useful, like small frames, borders, stencils, appliques, patterned paper. During Halloween they usually have more spookie-type stuff, like black cats and bats.
• Washi tape. There’s so many different kinds of washi tape, and they make really nice borders. I particularly like the floral ones, and the ones with polka-dots.
• Stickers. You can get stickers from so many places, and you can usually find some pretty cute ones, like animals or flowers, and seasonal ones for holidays/sabbats. Dollar stores also usually have quite a few in the school supply aisle. Online stores like LookHuman and Etsy have some fun ones, though they can get kind of expensive. If you have a printer, you can also try making your own stickers.
• Craft scraps. Bits of colored paper, fabric scraps, ribbon, buttons, tiny bows. Anything you want. For example; I glued the last bit of some black lace ribbon to a page about graveyard dirt. My grimoire is a mini three-ring binder, so it’s easy for me to take pages out in order work on them. If your book does not have removable pages, be careful of the materials you use. Things that don’t lay flat, like buttons, can make it difficult to work on your pages.
• Print out pictures. I try to avoid this unless I can really make it look nice, and not look like a school-project collage. Unless that’s what you like. In which case, go for it! This could also be an easier way to add in pictures of animals and plants without having to draw tiny little details.
• Print out whole pages. (If you have a book to which you can add pages.) Things like recipes, articles, or anything information-heavy. I get that writing things down yourself can be helpful, and even make you feel more connected to your grimoire. But, personally, I don’t feel like every page needs to be hand-done. Some recipes I’ll keep on recipe cards in pockets/envelopes inside the book, or if I want full mythology stories, I’d print it out instead of trying to hand-write the whole thing.
• Use photographs. These can be printed out, or maybe you have one of those instant Polaroid-type cameras. If you go on walks, you could stick in pictures of local flora and fauna, or make of page for spots around town that help you connect spiritually, like your favorite beach or a local cemetery.
• Cut out pictures from magazines and newspapers. It can be difficult to find pictures that work with what you’re writing about, but it’s still worth flipping through them. Specialty magazines may work better, like a gardening magazine. Around September/October, history and travel magazines will usually do articles on haunted locations or the history of witchcraft in different areas, though I would check the accuracy.
• Keep the drawings simple. There’s so many pictures floating around of these beautiful, hand-drawn grimoire pages. And while those are great, it’s also important to keep in mind that yours does not need to look like that. It’s fine if you want something simple, or need something simple. It’s your book, do what works best for you. Don’t stress yourself out trying to make a masterpiece.
• Write out your initial notes before copying them into your grimoire. For me, it would take too much time and energy to hand-write everything twice. I also tend to reorganize things a lot. So I use word documents on my computer instead. Most computers will come with some type of text program, like Notepad or Microsoft Word. If you need one, I recommend checking out OpenOffice, which works just as well as Word and can be downloaded for free.

That’s all I have! I hope it was helpful, and feel free to add ideas.