Hi Friends,
Today I'm sharing a tutorial on how to create this adorable personal journal using
Teresa Collin's beautiful "
Stationary Noted" collection. It's no secret that I adore Teresa's clean, fresh designs and this collection is one of her first offerings with the adorable file folders and envelopes.
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| Cricut Rosette, Medallion & Sewn Edge |
I just had to have these striking colors, cute stationary items and inspiring sentiments. There are so many wonderful sentiments to choose from but my favorite was "Do not let anyone ever dull your sparkle" and "Don't be afraid to dream big." I reserved both of these for the front cover. You're welcome to follow along or pick something that speaks to you and customize your cover anyway your heart desires.
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| Cricut Doily, Noted Button & Sentiment |
This journal is 6" x 9" making it perfect for a an everyday diary, journal or scrapbook. At 70 pages its also thick so I've included a ribbon closure which is sewn into the front and back covers. There's plenty of room throughout the journal for photos and lots of nooks and cranny's to tuck away whatever memorabilia you want to save.
Take a look at these simple directions, collect your supplies and join me in creating your own personal journal. Ready to get started? Here's what I used for my design:
Supply List
2 ea 12 x 12 Stationary Noted Paper Collections
1 ea 6 x 6 Stationary Noted Paper Pad
2 ea Stationary Noted Sticker Sheets (these already come inside the 12 x 12 collection packs, so there is no extra cost for these)
1 ea Stationary Noted Chipboard Button Collection
1 ea Stationary Noted Decorative Brad Collection
1 ea Stationary Noted File Folders Collection
1 ea Stationary Noted Envelopes Collection
1 ea Teresa Collins Vintage Finds Collection Medallion
2 Sheets of Matching Gray Paper (reserve one sheet for your Cricut rosette and doily)
1 Sheet of Matching Red Cardstock
1 Sheet of White Cardstock
1 Sheet of Black Cardstock
Close to My Heart "Artiste" Circuit Cartridge
Circuit Machine & Cutting Mat
Sewing Machine
Black Spool & Bobbin Thread
2 ea 10" long 3/8" Black Double Sided Satin Ribbon (For Journal Closure)
2 ea 7" long 3/8" Black Double Sided Satin Ribbon (For Tri-Fold File Folder Closure)
Silver Stickles
Glue
Pop Dots
Corner Rounder
Paper Scoring Board and Scoring Tool
1 ea 7" piece of 1 1/2" White Cinch Binding Wire
Cinch Binding Machine
12 x 12 Paper Trimmer
Scissors
Directions
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| Inside Front Cover, Pages 1 & 2 |
Step 1 - Creating Journal Cards & Mats: From one of the 12 x 12 collection kits, pull both pages of 3 x 3 and 3 x 4 journal cards and trim the sentiments them down to size. Set these aside to decorate with later.
Step 2 - Creating Pages & Pockets: Take the remaining 20 sheets of 12 x 12 paper and cut off a 3" strip from each of them. This includes the remainder of both collections plus the black, red, white and gray sheets of cardstock. Next score all of your 12" x 9" sheets in the middle at 6" creating a folded 6" X 9" page. Once cut and scored, a 12" x 9" sheet creates four journal pages, two outside and two inside. Next take your corner rounder and shape all four corners of each sheet. Now take the 3" x 12" strips and score them in the middle at 6" and round only the two bottom corners on each piece. You'll use these 3" strips at 6" or 12" lengths for pockets as pictured throughout the journal.
Pocket Corner Rounding Tip: Be careful to hold your graphic paper in the correct direction when rounding the bottom of your 3" pocket strips. Otherwise you may wind up with your typewriter paper upside down at assembly! Oops!
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| Inside Back Cover with Sewn Edges |
Step 3 - Create Your Covers: Make the front and back covers by folding those in half and putting one of the tie ribbons in the middle where you want your tie to close the book. Do not glue or tape your tie in place as this will cause trouble for your sewing machine. Sew around the open edges of both your front and back covers. I ran a few squiggly lines around the edges capturing the tie edge and sewing it into the cover securely.
Special Cover Note: The front and back covers are the only pages in the
book that you fold in half and double up into a single page. You do this to give the outside of the journal
some heft so it can take a bit of everyday wear and tear. All your other pages are single sheets.
Step 4 - Creating a Rosette & Doily: Using your Cricut and Close to My Heart "Artiste" cartridge, cut two each of the rosette halves shown on page 50, marked as item 23 in the item picture and shown under the CARD feature. I applied my gray 12 x 12 cardstock to the cutting mat and cut my rosettes to 3 1/2." Using the same cartridge and mat, next I cut a 2" single doily, listed on page 58 under the 3D OBJECT feature. Assemble the rosette and outline both items with silver Stickles. If you do not have a Cricut machine or the "Artiste" cartridge, feel free to improvise your own decorative element to use instead.
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| Page 1 & 2 with Page Pockets, File Folder & Envelope |
Step 5 - Create Page Pockets: I alternated page pockets on the outside and inside throughout the journal. You'll notice that I cut a few of my page pockets down to 6 " to mix up the design a bit from page to page. When securing your page pockets use your favorite paper to paper glue
otherwise the first time you insert something hefty into a pocket it
will fall apart if you only use your tape runner. Remember to leave the top of your page pocket open, gluing only the sides and bottom. Since you will bind your pages at their center fold, there's no need to glue down your pockets in the middle.
Step 6 - Stage Your Pages for Binding: After assembling your pages and pockets, then organize your pages in the order you want them to appear. Once that's done, insert your "loose" file folders where you want them to appear. I glued down the thick tri-fold folder to one of my pages leaving me three "loose" file folders to tuck into my journal.
Step 7 - Binding Your Journal: I used the Cinch Binding Machine with 7" of 1 1/2" white binding wire to create this journal. Follow the
directions to punch, stack and cinch your pages together. Remember to stack your back cover last, over the front cover, so when you are done binding you can turn the back page to the rear and hide the seam of your binding wire.
Alternate Binding Method: If you don't have a Cinch Binding Machine, you can easily improvise a binding using a standard hole punch and 3 ea. 2" binding rings. Make a 6" x 9" cardstock hole punch template to use as a guide. To make sure your holes are evenly spaced fold your 9" cardstock in half, then in half again and one more time. This will give you 7 evenly spaced crease lines. Mark and punch your top, bottom and center crease lines. Using your template punch all of your pages and secure them together with your 2" binding rings.
Step 8 - Decorating Your Journal: With your journal all put together, now its time for the really fun part! Feel free to follow my simple design ideas or better yet take this opportunity to use your mini envelopes, stickers, journaling cards, photo mats, brads, and
3D chipboard to finish decorating your journal just the way you want it.
Special Note on 6 x 6 Paper Pad: I used 12 pages or half of a 6 x 6 paper pad to help decorate this journal. I used some pages whole to make photo fold outs (see pages 52 & 58) and/or cut a few pages down to make photo mats and journaling flaps throughout this book (see pages 4, 14, 26, 30, 31, 50, 54, 55, 56 and 59).
Here's what my finished journal looks like:
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| Front Cover |
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| Page 1 with Pocket, Journal Flap & File Folder |
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| Page 2 with Pocket, Envelope & Journal Card |
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| Page 3 & 4 with Journal Flap |
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| Pages 5 & 6 with Pockets & Journal Cards |
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| Pages 7 & 8 with Pocket & Photo Mats |
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| Pages 9 & 10 with Pockets & Sentiment Card |
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| Page 11 & 12 with Pocket & Journal Card |
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| Page 13 & 14 with Pocket, Journal Card & Photo Mat |
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| Page 15 & 16 with Pockets |
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| Page 17 with Loose File Folder |
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| Page 18 with Photo Mats & Journal Cards |
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| Page 19 & 20 with Pockets & Journal Cards |
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| Page 21 & 22 with Photo Mats |
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| Page 23 & 24 with Pocket, Photo Mat & Journal Card |
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| Page 25 & 26 with Pocket & Journal Card & Flap |
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| Page 27 & 28 with Pockets |
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| Page 29 & 30 with Pocket, Photo Mat, Journal Flap & Sentiment Card |
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| Page 31 & 32 with Pockets & Photo Flap |
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| Page 33 & 34 with Pocket & Sentiment Cards |
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| Page 35 & 36 with Photo Mats |
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| Page 37 & 38 with Tri-Fold Folder, Pocket & Sentiment Cards |
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| Page 39 & 40 Plain & Simple |
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| Page 41 & 42 Pocket, Envelope & Journal Cards |
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| Page 43 & 44 Pockets & Journal Card |
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| Page 45 & 46 Pockets & Loose Envelope |
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| Page 47 & 48 Plain & Simple |
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| Page 49 & 50 with Pocket & Journal Flap |
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| Page 51 & 52 with Journal & Photo Fold Outs & Sentiment Card |
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| Page 53 & 54 with Loose File Folder & Photo Flap |
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| Page 55 & 56 with Photo Mats & Journal Flaps |
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| Page 57 & 58 with Pockets & Photo & Journal Fold Outs |
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| Page 59 & 60 with Pocket, Photo Mat & Sentiment Card |
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| Page 61 & 62 with Journal Card & Photo Mats |
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| Page 63 & 64 with Pockets, Photo Mat & Journal Card |
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| Page 65 & 66 with Photo Mats & Journal Card |
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| Page 67 & 68 with Pocket & Journal Card |
Well friends that's all for me today. I hope you found these directions easy to follow and useful in creating your own personal journal. I always appreciate hearing from visitors, so please feel free to leave me a comment. Until next time, make it a happy and creative day! ~ Dawna
