I decided last night that I wanted to make journals, So I began look far and wide for the best tutorials and so I did I rounded up some of the best tutorials for journal making.....

1.This is from blog Henry happened 5 Diy journals

Ok, so you don’t have to be a world traveler to enjoy today’s post. Wherever you go this summer (did anyone make it to the Olympics?), these travel journals will keep you inspired. I’m working on my own travel journal right now! I particularly love #2 because I am a big fan of miniature things, especially paper crafts. Making mini projects means I use less of my prized paper goodies and can enjoy them longer. Which journal style are you drawn to?

2.This is a short video on a fathers day mini album but it teaches you a great way bind!

3.Creme de Craft blog, this is a great tutorial on taking a cereal box and turning into a journal...

I am still a little old-fashioned when it comes to taking notes and I usually have at least two pocket notebooks in my purse at all times (one for craft ideas and the other for making to do lists). I realized that I am also very picky when it comes to choosing the perfect notebook, and for those of you who are like me, I've got a solution for you!

Follow the directions below to make your own personalized, budget-friendly pocket journal out of cereal boxes inspired by my favorite Moleskine notebooks. Choose your favorite decorative paper and a stylish button to create the perfect notebook that suits your own style. These were so easy and fun to make, I ended up making four...one for me and three for my friends.

Materials:
• Cereal box (1 cereal box makes 2 notebooks. You can also use cardboard, cardstock or gift boxes)
• Paper for the inside pages (I used 20 pieces of 8.5" x 11" computer paper, but you can also use lined or graph paper)
• A piece of decorative paper (to cover the spine)
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pen
• Glue stick, tape runner or double-sided tape
• Needle and embroidery floss
• Button

Steps:
• Cut out the cereal box to create the cover for your notebook. I cut a 5.5" x 8" piece for mine, but you can make it as small or large as you wish.
• Fold it in half so that the blank side is facing out.
• Run embroidery floss through the needle and sew on the button to the front of the notebook. Leave about 20" of the thread hanging. This will be used to wrap around the notebook to close.
• To cover the images of the cereal box, apply glue or tape to the inside of the notebook (make sure you get the corners!) and place a piece of paper on top to attach. Cut around the edges to remove any excess paper.
• Grab your paper for the inside pages and trim them down so they are slightly smaller than the notebook (about 1/4" shorter on all sides).
• With the needle and embroidery floss, stitch the paper to the notebook down the spine.
• Apply glue or tape to your decorative paper and attach it to the spine of the notebook.
• Optional: For a more finished look, cut rounded corners on all four edges of the notebook.

Follow along on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with my new DIY projects each week!

4. making a super cute little journal super fast!

5. Simple as that blog DIY pocket travel journal

01

DIY pocket travel journal

Well, I'm officially on my way to Queensland tomorrow and I can't even tell you how excited I am to get there! It's sure to be a memorable trip and to keep a record of my travels I created this quick + simple pocket travel journal.

The pages are blank - ready to be filled with journaling, memorabilia and when I get home - photos. Since its a long trip and I'm packing as light as I can I didn't want to take anything too bulky, so this little journal is perfect. Created using a small notebook from the dollar store + various scrapbook supplies, the journal measures 3.5" X 5.5" and all I need to keep it up to date on the trip fits neatly inside a regular ziplok bag.

I'm excited to get to work on filling it with memories from my trip to Australia. When I get home I'll be sharing images of the completed album along with more detailed instructions on how to make your own. You can see the complete supply list for the album below.

6. Poppy talk handmade, craft bookbinding

I used to shoot weddings, and my partner and I would also make the albums for our clients. We used the "stab-stitch" method. I've since picked up a book called "How To Make Books" by Esther K. Smith, to pick up some other methods. My niece wanted to make some books to give her friends when she goes back to school, so I chose a simple stitch and gathered up some bits of paper and cardboard that I had laying around. Here we go...

The materials used for this little book. Everyone seems to have left-over bits of paper, so rather than toss out, make a book!

Tools used for this project. A paper punch (to create circles), needle, awl, bone folder, bulldog clips, exacto blade, scissors, and a ruler.

Cut and fold paper and cardboard to the size you want the book to be. Burnish the folds with a bone folder.

After scoring the back side of both the front and back covers (about 3/4" from side), clip all pages and covers with bulldog clips. Use some paper to pad the bulldog clips to prevent dents in cardboard.

For a 5"x7" book punch three holes with the awl: one in the centre and one on each end about 1" in.

Using book binding thread or a sturdy cord or ribbon, start stitching. I used a stitch very similar to what I did with wedding albums. It's pretty easy, but you really can come up with many different patterns. Try it out!

Cut out shapes with your scrap paper. We made some simple birds and circles. Glue stick was used to attach cut-outs to cover.

My niece wanted a place for "secret messages and stickers", so I made an envelope for the inside back cover. Every girl should have a safe place for secret messages and stickers!

You can do so much with a few bits of scrap paper and some book binding tools. Have fun!

7.Judy Wise, Making a journal from a paper bag

A few days ago I promised you a tutorial on making a journal out of used grocery bags which I think are a great material to recycle. Well, here we go. First you carefully open the seams of the grocery bags. (or you can just rip them open like I did)

Tear them to size. My size was 10" x 15 1/2 ". They'll be folded in half. I got 3 sheets that size out of each bag so it took 6 bags to make the journal.

Next I soaked each sheet in water and squeezed it out. Then I hung the sheets on a rod in my studio to dry.

Next I ironed out each sheet with a little spray and my iron.

Here are all the sheets folded and stacked into 3 signatures of 6 each.

After sewing the signatures in a coptic stitch (there are many tutorials on that online. Just google "coptic stitch" and choose one) ---

I cut a sheet of tarleton (use whatever you have. Fabric, cheesecloth - I happen to have tarleton because I'm a printmaker but I would have used anything else that presented itself equally) - anyhow, cut a piece of something and get a sheet of cardboard to fashion a spine so you'll know which end of the book is which.

Here is the spine cut out. Dont measure. This isn't that kind of a book.

Slather gel this way and that until the spine is roughly in the spinal area and the fabric is glued to the cover.

Let it dry. It's gonna be a wet puppy.

Ta Da! You now have a floppy, friendly, fabulous book in which to gather up all your ideas and flotsam. Throw it in your purse, let your friends draw in it, do anything but treat it like it's a big deal. This journal is just for sloppiness. (come to the wild side!!)
8.Crash notes Diy quick hand bound mini journals

quick hand bound mini journals: tutorial

A few weeks go, I shared this instagram of some journals I made for my sister and had a few people ask for a tutorial. Finally, I'm getting around to doing it! These are really easy and though they may look labor intense, they can be done really rather quickly (especially if you do a bunch at a time and have a little assembly line going.)

You really only need a few supplies. Your cover material (I used kraft cardstock...because you can never go wrong with kraft cardstock.) Your inside pages (these have 20 pages so you'd need 10 sheets of paper to cut in half. Recycled or ledger type papers would work great as well!) If you're doing the peek-a-boo cover like I've done, you'll need some type of patterned paper or pages torn from a magazine. For these, I used pages from a yarn catalog. For my sister's set, I used landscape scenes from an Urban Outfitters catalog - they worked fabulously! To bind the journal, a needle and thread or embroidery floss.

First, trim your cover to 5.5 x 8.5" and cut your title from the cover. I made up a set of cover templates for you to download. The file includes the two shown ("now" and " "to•do") as well as twelve months. The placement is random (you can kind of see in the photo of my sister's set) because that's how I like them. If you aren't comfortable with an exacto, these titles are all chunky enough that they could easily be done with fine tipped scissors. You can grab the files HERE.

Now trim your inside pages to the same size as your cover. If you want to get a bit fiddly (totally unnecessary), you can trim them to different sizes so that when the journal is folded, the paper edges don't extend past the edge of the cover. For instance, for these journals, I first cut the 10 sheets in half and then progressively trimmed off a 1/16" sliver from the edges to the following sizes: (2) 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" (2) 8 7/16 x 5 1/2" (2) 8 3/8 x 5 1/2" (2) 8 5/16 x 5 1/2" (2) 8 1/4 x 5 1/2"

Fold everything and collate your cover, patterned insert and pages together.

Now you need to punch holes to bind the pages. I find the center of the pages (10" in the photo) with my ruler and position everything on a foam pad.

Punch the first holes through all of the pages.

Punch four more holes for a total of 5 - each spaced 1" apart from the next.

Thread your needle. I double up the thread before threading the needle so there are a total of four strands.

Using your threaded needle, pass through the top hole (inside or outside of the journal makes no difference and proceed in the pattern shown.

Wrap the needle around the end of the journal and into the first hole, threading in the opposite pattern of the first pass.

To finish, tie off both ends of the thread with a couple of knots and trim off the excess. There is surely a neater way to do this but I like the look of the loose ends and it holds up to regular use well.

Since I did a couple of these journals for the tutorial, I'm happy to send them to one of you :) Just let me know in the comments if you're interested in them and I'll choose someone Friday! Here are the completed journals:

9.talk to me craft soft cover wrap around notebook

How to make a Soft Cover Wrap Around Notebook

I made a tutorial about how to make one of these notebooks.

Things I used:
25 sheets of paper
a paper cutter
a bonef older
a sewing machine
a press
two pieces of scrap board
white glue
paintbrush
two pieces of card stock
plastic vinyl material
an exacto knife
Super 88 spray glue
a decorative button
needle and thread

Soft Cover Wrap Around Notebook tutorial 1

How it was done:
1.Cut the 25 sheets of paper to 5 x 8 inches. Put them into 5 stacks, with 5 sheets in each stack.
2.Using the bone folder, fold each of the stacks in half.
3.Using the sewing machine on the widest stitch setting, sew down the center of the crease on each of the five plies.
4.This is what each of the piles will look like.
5.Fold the pages in half again and pile them up neatly, with the sewn side facing out.
6.Using a press, or something to keep the pile of sewn papers together, put an old board on either side of the pile and insert it all into the press.
7.You can see here the paper clamped inside of the press with the two pieces of scrap board on either side.
8.With a brush, spread a generous amount of glue across the paper. Leave it to dry, and repeat this a few more times.
9.When it's completely dry, you can remove the paper block from the press and carefully remove the two pieces of scrap board.
10.Your paper stacks should be glued securely and have a stiff spine to keep the 5 stacks of sewn paper together.

Soft Cover Wrap Around Notebook tutorial 2

11.Now cut two pieces of card stock that measure 5 x 8 inches. Fold them each in half with the bone folder. These will be the end papers for the book.
12.Take the vinyl material and cut a 11 by 5.25 inch piece. You are going to want to cut three small lines into one side oy the vinyl, approximately in the middle, and about one half of an inch away from each other. This is going to be where the thin strip to wrap around the entire journal will be inserted through.
13.Cut a long thin strip of contrasting vinyl at least 22 inches long. Insert the strip from the bottom into the first hole, then over and into the second, then back up from the bottom and leave a little bit sticking out.
14.Take the card stock pieces you have prepared for the end papers and place them on a covered work area. Use the spray glue and cover the visible side of the card stock. Be sure to use the spray glue in a well ventilated area and to cover up your work area, as this stuff is really sticky and can get all over the place if you aren't careful.
15.Attach the one of the end papers to the paper block, making sure the crease in the card stock is in line with the spine of the paper block. Now attach the other side of the end paper to the inside of the vinyl piece at the opposite sides of where you cut the holes and attached the strip.
16.Attach the other end paper to the other side of the text block and then wrap the vinyl around the paper block to attach the other side.
17.The cover should snugly wrap around the paper block. If you have made any mistakes, it is best to act fast, as the spray glue affixes quickly and can rip the pages of the paper block if you try to take it apart to re attach the end papers.
18.You can now either simply glue the little bit of the vinyl strip sticking out of the hle to the cover, or you can get a needle and thread an a button and sew the button on the cover, making sure to go through both the thin vinyl strip and the vinyl cover.
19.You might want to put a couple heavy books on top of your notebook for a while to let the spray glue dry and make the cove nice and snug.
20.You just made a soft cover wrap around notebook! Way to go!

10.The The creative place

I've been trying to decide on what to make my hubby for a Valentine's gift and decided that I wanted to write more than a letter - so I decided to make him a mini journal / album / book of things I love about him, different memories I have of our life together, things like that (hopefully he won't read this before next weekend ;)). I found this fab tutorial awhile back about button and string closure and somehow wanted to incorporate it, thus I came up with this fun journal - it has a vintage feel - the button and string closure, and a bunch of found papers inside, including old school writing pages, graph paper and strategically cut magazine pages. The fun thing about these journals is you can use them for any occasion- to record a special event, to keep as a personal journal, to write a note to a friend, many possibilities!

First, gather your supplies:
- Cover paper - cut to 11" x 6"
- Inside pages (however many you prefer- I used 7 sheets) cut to 4.25" x 8"
- 2 eyelets (1/8")
- 11" of baker's twine or string
- 2 paper round die cuts - 1" each
- Eyelet punch (1/8"), eyelet setter, hammer and pad
- Stapler and staples
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Paper scorer (if you don't have one you can use a dull object - like a bone folder edge, a pen with the top still on, a butter knife- pressing lightly so as not to rip the paper)

Take your cover sheet and score a line 1.5" in from the right side (see below).

Then score a line 4.75" in from the left side (see below).

Fold your inside pages in half. Now your book cover and pages should look like this:

Next, center one of the paper round die cuts on the outside flap (not sure how to explain that, lol- see picture below). Using your eyelet punch and hammer, punch through the die cut and cover sheet at the same time (hole punched should be in the middle of the die cut). Set one of the eyelets through this hole.

Now, fold your cover closed and line up the other paper round die cut about 1" from the other die cut you just set. I made pencil marks as a guide on where to place it once I lined it up.

Using the tutorial over at Erinzam, tie your string or twine around the eyelet (AFTER punching the 1/8" hole in the die cut paper round and putting it on the eyelet), set this eyelet and paper round punch where you just made your pencil marks as a guide.

Now it should look something like this. Trim off the extra string after setting the eyelet. *EDITED* Ok. So somehow my string ended up on TOP of the paper round die cut. I think I just got so excited about making it that I got carried away and forgot to put it UNDER the die cut before setting it. Haha :) So don't make that mistake ;)

Ok, now you need to attach the inside pages. I don't have a super huge stapler punch thing, so I had to get creative. So here's a picture to make you giggle: I stapled the pages to the cover by stapling them to my bulletin board, pulling the book off gently and then folding the staple prongs down carefully inside. If you choose to have a bunch of pages and it's getting all wonky when you try and staple it, you could try hand sewing it with a needle and embroidery thread.

Voila! A string and button mini journal! Now you can decorate and embellish the cover (or leave it blank with a simple title).... add pictures, journaling, mementos. :)

I changed my header up top... still trying to decide if it's too "busy".... what do you think? Any thoughts or suggestions? *EDITED* Thank you for the suggestions! I changed it again so that the title was more legible... still trying to decide. Maybe it will grow on me. :)

So there you go, those are some great journal making tutorials to get started with! I will post what I have made here soon, let me know what cool kind stuff you come up with!!

- See ya soon

Shana

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1.This is from blog Henry happened 5 Diy journals

01

DIY pocket travel journal

quick hand bound mini journals: tutorial

How to make a Soft Cover Wrap Around Notebook

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