Welcome to Get Messy's newest series:

Bookbinding for Imperfect Enthusiasts

Your journal is more than just pages—it’s a container for your creativity, your experiments, and your beautiful mess. In Bookbinding for Imperfect Enthusiasts, we stitch together stress-free, handmade journals designed to hold your art, your thoughts, and everything in between. No perfection required—just curiosity, play, and a love for the process. Whether you’re binding your first book or your fiftieth, this is a space to explore, embrace imperfection, and go deeper into your art.

Come as you are, leave with a journal that’s perfectly imperfect.

✨ All of the Bookbinding for Imperfect Enthusiasts workshops come with templates, as well as digital paper and ephemera for the journal. Just print it out, and cut along the lines. We've made it as easy as possible for you to get creating. ✨

Introducing the first chapter in the series...

Buttonhole Stitch

This month we we are diving into the gloriously imperfect, creatively chaotic, and undeniably beautiful world of bookbinding. Specifically, we’re tackling buttonhole stitch binding—a binding method that not only looks impressive but is also super satisfying to make. It’s perfect for this season since it literally shows us its messy middle. As you fill the journal, you’ll see paint seep into the crease... This will show up on the spine. We’re using canvas as a cover because you’ll get to stain this as you fill the journal.

Every detail in this journal leans deeper into embracing the process and The Messy Middle—that frustrating yet necessary stage where things feel uncertain, tangled, and… well, messy.

So, let’s lean into it.

Let’s make something by hand, let’s let it be imperfect, and let’s honor the mess.