You guys, I made all these journals in, like, an hour! I've made journals before, but this is the simplest way I've found to create a little collection in no time at all. These little guys make great gifts, and I love that it's easy to build up a stash.
Here's how:
Supplies:
-regular 8.5 "x 11" printer paper (you need about 7 sheets per journal)
-Crop-A-Dile punch tool
-string or twine
-paper trimmer
-embellishments for the cover (I used letter stamps and StazOn ink)
-paper, leather, faux leather, or oil cloth for your cover material
Step One: Trim your 8.5" x 11" paper in half. I usually trim about five pieces at a time with my paper trimmer. You are trimming the long side in half so your new pieces are 8.5" x 5.5" inches.
Step Two: It's up to you how many pages you put in your book. I usually do about seven pieces, which makes 14 halves, which makes 28 pages. Just fold them in half so you can see how big your pages will be.
Step Three: Use the pages to measure how big you want your cover to be. I like to leave about an extra inch so there's half an inch around every edge between the pages and the cover.
Step Four: Trim the cover to size.
Step Five: You can see here how that extra inch (or so) makes the pages fit more comfortably within the cover.
Step Six: Use your Crop-A-Dile to punch two holes through the pages and the spine. The reason I use a Crop-A-Dile and not just a regular hole punch is that it can punch through lots of layers or thicker textiles like leather.
Step Seven: Next, use twine to attach the pages and the cover together. Hide the knot by tying it inside the book rather than on the spine.
Step Eight: It's that simple! Once you've made one, you can make 10 really quick. It's super fun!
Variations: To spice up your covers, try stamping, try using watercolor paper and paints, try leather or oil cloth, and add personal touches like names, dates, and occasions.
If you make your own journals, tag me on Instagram or Twitter, or leave a link in the comments here so I can see them. xo! Elsie
Credits// Author: Elsie Larson, Photography: Sarah Rhodes. Photos edited with Petal from the Fresh Collection.
What size of Crop-A-Dile did you use?
I have made so many of these from your tutorial, such a great diy! There is no limit as to how creative you can get by mixing up the papers, bindings, etc. I like to use these elastic headbands from Threddies to hold my books together – they come in a million colors: https://threddies.com/collections/elastic-headbands
These are so cute! And this is the easiest step-by-step I have seen! Hella, this is the best step-by-step I have seen! Thank you so much for sharing!
Its so easy and simple. I luv them. I want to make a whole stash of them now!
What a lovely and easy-to-make idea 🙂 I guess you could also use larger sheets of drawing paper and cut them to size for hand-made sketching books for arty friends or family members 🙂
I love this project so much, they are adorable and so easy to make! Perfect for when you need a quick craft fix 🙂
I made a little recipe book version, check it out on my baby blog! www.regularrabbit.weebly.com
The “step by step” photos are both creative and very helpful! This is a great idea!
They’re so cute! Thanks for the great idea!
Elise! I had a blast making these mini notebooks this weekend. I’ve tagged you in both instagram and twitter.
instagram: peacelovenfood
twitter: @peacelovenfood_
Thanks again for sharing!!!
xx Michelle
peacelovenfood.wordpress.com
So sweet! I mdae my own journal this week and stamped it with bicycles.
http://claireabellemakes.com/2014/04/04/diy-hand-stitched-bicycle-notebook/
So crafty and simple 🙂 I love it. Definitely gonna make some soon!
Hi! First of all, I love your blog and I’m so glad I found it, it’s so full of inspiration. There’s so much ideas that my mind is about to explode because I have no time to do everything. 😀
I read from your “Frequently asked questions” -post that “You can post one photo of our finished project with a link to our original blog post”. I still felt like asking – just to make sure – that is it okay if I sometimes use your photos in my blog? I thought about doing inspiration collage -posts (a little like this one here -> http://www.helmihytti.fi/2014/03/inspiraatioleikekirjasta.html ) that are like pages from inspiration scrapbook. I’d like to do those every now and then, and because you have so many brilliant ideas here, I’d like to help to share some of them with my blog’s readers too. (My blog is written in Finnish, and it’s mostly about my life, crafts and diy-stuff.) And of course I’d write & link under the collages where the pictures are from.
I’m really thankful if you have time to answer! There is not much blogs that are full of inspiration, crafts and diy-stuff and also written in Finnish, but fortunately there are blogs like this one. 🙂 Keep up the good work!
With love,
Helmi
http://www.helmihytti.fi
Lovely photos. Nice post 🙂
ℓα ℒιcσrηe – ℒa vie est ℓa petite ℓicorne.
* Giveaway *
This is a great idea. They look so cute.I’ll make tons of these. I can even sell ’em. Thank you so much for sharing.
http://www.abbyramirez.blogspot.com
I was JUST dreaming up journal, notebook and mini book projects yesterday. This isn’t the approach I was thinking of, but it looks a lot easier! I’ll have to try it out 🙂
what a gorgeous project!
I did a graphic design course last year and bookbinding was by far my favourite part! Thanks for reminding me to get back to it, haha.
These look gorgeous, I will have to give them a go!
Elsie, I totally agree homemade/handmade journals are fantastic and sure do make gift giving just that more special! I’ve made several and what I love most is that I can recycle the untouched sheets of paper in my old note pads from school (admittedly long ago) that I haven’t used in x years. Thanks for sharing yours. You can check out a couple that I made here: http://www.spamusings.com/category/projects/ *Coco*
really nice D>I>Y thanks for tutorial