I was excited to start a Book of shadows because i love journaling already and this is basically going to be your magical journal! Now, when i first researched Book of shadows i saw beautiful illustrations, aged paper and leather bound books and i was so overwhelmed because i thought i probably couldn't achieve that. But then i realized that a book of shadows can be made out of anything, a basic notebook, a sketchbook or whatever i could find. Before i even had a physical BOS, i just made a bunch of folders in bookmarks on my phone, so definitely start there! It helped me a lot.
My first physical book of shadows was a notebook with lines and i liked it but i wanted something i could close and something more private so i got an all black $5 sketchbook from 5 Below and i was in love. The first thing you have to remember is your book of shadows is yours and it's not going to be like anyone else's. Mine has a protection sigil on the first page and then an index. My first pages are filled with information i know i need regularly: elements, a list of herbs and uses, candle colors and correspondences, essential oils and powers,sigils,healing crystals and more. You can set up your BOS anyway you want, it's for documenting information you'll need and your experiences with spells and rituals.
You can write a list of herbs and glue dried herbs or draw them on the page or you could add stickers. I use colored pencils and markers to make mine more colorful. I get most of information from The Practical Witch's group on Facebook, Pinterest and Exemplore.com I have a whole board on Pinterest filled with witchy info.
Here's my index as an example:
So, all you need to start a BOS is your phone or a notebook, some writing utensil, and yourself.
Don't be intimated, just get started!