DIY: Make your own journal

Well hello everyone! Remember me? Yes, my name is Bianca and I used to co-host this blog with Dani, but now I am super lame and never post. Anywho...I'm back in action and doing a ton of DIY projects and renovations to share with you all while I am home for summer. Before, my dear friend Annalisa left for Turkey we spent one lovely summer day making journals. We got the idea from our roommate's sister.

What you will need:

Old books (Check your local thrift store. Reader's Digest books often have really cute covers)

52+ sheet of paper (printer paper works fine) that are cut to the size of your book cover

needle with large eye

thick thread or thin string

tack

exacto knife

Directions:

First, find a book cover that you really like at your local thrift store. The number of pages in the book does not matter. You will be able to decide how many pages you want to have in your journal. Using the exacto knife, cut the front and back covers off of the book.

Punch holes in the same place along the edge of the front and back covers using a tack. about an inch apart. You want to have a hole at the top and bottom, so space accordingly. Separate your paper into groups of four and fold the groups in half. These sets are called "signatures."

Now comes the tricky part....sewing the pages into the book covers using a coptic/kettle stitch. Here is a video tutorial that can explain the process much better than I ever could. I did not pre-make holes in the signatures. Instead, I lined the signatures up with the book cover and made holes in their spines as I went. Make sure that you pull each of your stitches very tight. I lined up. When you are finished sewing all of your signatures together, attach the back cover and decorate your brand new journal however you like. I used a cutout sketch from one of the pages that I had ripped out of the original book and glued it to the front cover.

Enjoy! I definitely want to hear about and see the journals that your make. I thought that they would also be good Christmas or birthday presents :-)

Love,

B