Make Your Own Journal!

Great for Holiday Gifts!

Posted by Maria K.

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Learn how to make your very own journal, sketch book, or calendar! Great for holiday gifts!

If you’re trying this yourself, you’ll need:

* light weight cotton paper (pages)
* book-board (covers)
* binders needle, thread, and awl
* glue
* decorative paper for the covers

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You Will Need (6 things)

  • cotton is best Paper
  • bookboard Board(s)
  • Needle & Thread
  • Awl
  • Craft Glue
  • Decorative Paper

Steps (12 steps, 90 minutes)

  1. 1

    Cut the cotton paper in the size of what you want your page to be x2 (each paper you cut will be 2 pages, back and front.)

  2. 2

    Fold each piece of paper in half, and straighten fold with a bone folder.

  3. 3

    Put each folded piece of paper inside the other. If you have more than 8 pages, make more than one booklet.

  4. 4

    Make sure the spine is aligned, (clip pages together with binder clips if necessary) and measure points .5 inches from either side and 2 inches in from either side and mark them with pencil on the spine.

  5. 5

    Poke holes on each of the marks you just made on the spine. Make sure you poke straight down, so the holes stay in the spine on each page.

  6. 6

    Thread your needle leaving about 2 inches extra. Starting on the outside of the book, thread the needle through the first hole all the way to the center of the book. Then thread the needle through the second hole back to the outside. Keep threading until you go through the fourth hole and end up back on the outside of the book.

  7. 7

    When you get back to the outside, pull the string tight and tie each end of the string in a few knots.

  8. 8

    You can put the booklet aside and start to prepare the covers. Cut two pieces of book-board a little bigger than your pages.

  9. 9

    Cut decorative papers big enough to wrap the covers, and glue them on. wrapping each paper around the back.

  10. 10

    Once you’ve wrapped both covers, it’s time to glue the covers to the booklet.

  11. 11

    Glue the first page of the booklet to the inside of the front cover. Then glue the last page of the booklet to the inside of the back cover.

  12. 12

    Now wrap some book cloth around the spine, and you’re done!