Hi everyone! I made this journal on a whim and sort of forgot that I was going to do a full tutorial with it but I believe that I took enough pictures that you will be able to follow along rather easy. What I don't have pictures of, I will do my very best to explain in detail what to do. But this is a super simple little journal if you would like to make one for yourself. Also if you have ever covered chipboard or have been following me for a while and saw in my previous picture tutorials then you will have no problem whatsoever to make one. As you can see, I left the front cover plain and that was intentional. It's hard to write in something if you can't lay it flat.
Your supplies are as follows (1) piece of regular weight chipboard cut at 5 3/8" x 8 1/2" this will be your front cover. (1) piece of regular weight chipboard cut at 8 1/2" x 3/4" this is your spine. (1) piece of light weight chipboard, something similar to a cereal box and by all means feel free to recycle one, 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" this is your back cover that will wrap around and make your front closure.
I did some close ups for easy reference.
PLEASE NOTE: I didn't get a picture of this but it's important that you do this at this stage. After you have cut your back cover. Put your chipboard in your trimmer and with a VERY worn out OLD blade start scoring the chipboard so that it doesn't cut all the way thru but more or less just scores it enough so that it will eventually give you a nice bend. Starting at 5 3/8" (score) every 1/8" until you reach the 6 1/8" mark. Remember be sure to lightly score making sure not to go all the way thru. You may even be able to do this using your scoreboard if you press hard enough. But I've done this method before on other projects and know that they work and hold up especially after you put your decorative card stock to cover your journal.
In this journal I made 7 signatures. However, it may work better with only 6 or maybe I just hand sewed my signatures in to tight. I'm ok with my pages not being perfect but if I make another one I think that I'll only put in 6. Each signature is 7 pieces of plain computer paper folded in half. Once they are all folded and put together in signatures even up the edges so that they will be even in your trimmer.
This is a step that I wish that I had skipped for this particular project because I actually wanted my spine to look worn and rugged looking. So if you are looking for the shabby look skip this step. If not, continue on reading. I used a piece of 2" x 10" tyvek (or you can recycle a postal envelope) to cover your spine.
I wish that I had double checked these pictures at this point but what I was trying to show was how I had scored the back cover for you to see what it would look like and unfortunately I hadn't zoomed in enough. But you can see in the above picture and below picture how that section has started to curve naturally.
The next step is the fun part......finding some pretty card stock and covering it. The paper sizes that you will need are as follows. (1) 6 3/8" x 9 1/2" front cover. (1) using coordinating solid card stock for back cover first 9 1/2" x 9 1/2". (1) using the pretty card stock for back cover, 8 1/4" x 8 1/4" this will go on top of the solid card stock in the back. (1) 3" x 9 1/2" solid card stock to cover the spine area once the other two covers have been completed.
For the inside "lining", I used a piece of solid card stock and it is as follows. (1) 11" x 8 1/4". Note this will NOT make it all the over the "scored bend" it will stop just short of that area because you will want to use a marker and color that in with something that will match the papers you have decided to use. So go ahead and do that at this point. Then for the front inside flap, using the pretty card stock 2 1/8" x 8 1/4". Please see the pictures below for reference and I will tell you the paper sizes for the pockets under those pictures below.
I used embroidery floss to hand sew my pages in and made 2 holes and added eyelets in my spine. Just line your pages up and make it as even as possible.
The above picture is showing the front of the front cover and the inside of the front closure. I used a white hairband and a pearl brad as my closure hardware.
The above picture is showing the back pocket and the inside of the front flap. The paper you will need for the pocket is 2 1/8" x 8 1/4". Then I used my round punch only inserting it half way to make the little pull area.
The above picture is showing the front inside pocket and the first page of the first signature. The paper sizes for this pocket is made up from two different pieces of paper that I layered on top of one another. The sizes for this are (1) 2 1/8" x 8 1/4" and (1) 1" x 8 1/4". You will also need to punch a circle out of your solid card stock to cover your brad backing from the front cover if that is the method you chose. You can see in this picture where I have glued down my circle to cover the brad back. This will help keeping things from getting snagged it.
On every page of the journal I alternated stamping using 3 stamps but feel free to do whatever you would like to do. Or not do anything at all. I did snap a few shots of two of the stamps that I used. I had found these at Micheal's in the dollar bin.
I do hope that I described this in detail enough for you and hope that you have fun making one. If you stumble across something that I didn't describe enough for you or if you have questions please feel free to leave me a comment and ask away. I will do everything that I can to help you.
Have fun everyone and have a Happy Scrappy Day!
