My Homemade Journal

About a month ago Soulcomfort and I got together at her house, and we made our very own homemade journals. Although both were made by hand, they were very different from each other. Mine was simply a journal made from a Composition Notebook with manila file folders sewn into the cover of the notebook. Rita's was a bit more homemade than mine and had a Coptic stitch that is really neat. To see both her journal and mine, you can visit her blog entry from Tuesday, May 27, 2008. She's even got pictures of both of us and the outcome of our afternoon. It was a fun time! And for someone like myself, who can barely sew a button on a shirt, it was fun to say that I was able to make my own hand-sewn journal!

About a week after making the journal, I decided I wanted to cover it with some paper and make it pretty. Off to the local scrapbooking store I went. I picked out some funky paper and took out my Mod Podge. After covering my journal, I dubbed it my Pop Culture Mixed Media Journal. Here are a few pictures!

It may be hard to tell but the two black objects on the left hand side of the front cover are cassette tapes. I also bought and added the rub-on transfer "This Girl" to the cover.

Here's a shot of the pages. That's right - they are plain old manila file folders. Good heavy duty and thick paper. Perfect for collaging and mixed media art!

Above is a close-up shot of the paper and the front cover. Pretty funky huh? This paper really caught my eye in the store. It has keys, airplanes, light bulbs, cassettes, and even spacemen. It's a lot of fun!

Where did I get the idea to make this journal? From a great mixed media artist on YouTube by the name of samanthakira. She's a very creative lady! Here's a link to the first part of her instructional video to make your own "Easy-Peasy Journal." It was cheap (less than $10), easy, and a lot of fun!

I followed her directions for the most part. I made my own adjustments, of course. For example, I took and cut one file folder to the size I wanted them all to be, and that file folder was my template for the rest of the pages. She cuts them crazy with an Exacto knife. I wasn't that brave. I just sat with a pen and my scissors. I used my template to mark each file folder and cut them one by one.

I haven't started filling the pages yet but will very soon! I also bought a few more composition notebooks and a box of file folders to make another journal...or two...or three! :)

Happy Journal Making!