Homemade Journal

Dear Diary - Homemade Journals to Write Home about by Samantha Hahn.

Posted by Abrams

About

Make a mini-journal to fill with notes-to-self, doodles, or your deepest, darkest secrets. Its wee size makes it perfect for purses, so you can record your brilliant thoughts on the go.

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You Will Need (8 things)

  • 5" by 4" piece of Cardboard or heavy card stock
  • 6" by 5" piece of Fabric
  • Hot Glue Gun and glue
  • Scissors
  • Short stack of Paper , such as recycled printer paper, vellum, or watercolor paper
  • Pinking Shears
  • Stapler
  • Origami Paper or additional fabric

Steps (7 steps, 60 minutes)

  1. 1

    Fold the 5" by 4" piece of cardboard or card stock in half (like a card).

  2. 2

    Affix your fabric to the outside of the cardboard by hot-gluing around the edges of the flattened cardboard and centering your piece of fabric on top. Then fold the cover to make sure you didn’t adhere it too tightly.

  3. 3

    Once dry, make diagonal cuts in the corners of the fabric that sticks out, so you can fold the excess fabric to the inside.

  4. 4

    Hot-glue a thin line around the inside edges of the cardboard, then fold the fabric and affix to the inside
    cover. You may need additional glue where the fabric overlaps.

  5. 5

    For your journal’s pages, cut a short stack of paper about 41?2" by 31?2". Cut with pinking shears if you want your pages to have zigzag edges. Fold the stack in half (like a card) and staple twice in the crease to hold the pages together. Be sure not to use too much paper or the cover won’t close.

  6. 6

    Hot-glue a line down the inside center of the card- board. Align the edge of your folded-paper pile with the crease; hold till dry. Further secure the pages by gluing
    the first and last to the cardboard.

  7. 7

    Make the inside covers pretty by gluing origami paper or additional fabric over them.