Personalized Journals

I am so pleased to introduce you to my daughter, M. After creating a beautiful journal for a gift for her girlfriend, she asked me if she could write the directions down as a guest post for this blog. She was so excited about how lovely her journal turned out, she knew that you (or your daughters) would want to try it for yourselves. So, without further rambling from me, I will turn the page over to M.

Hello to all you readers of Everything Home with Carol. With the school year at hand, I want to share with you a fun way to personalize notebooks. The cheap, spiral bound and composition notebooks can be so boring. Whether it's for your children's school use or your own journaling, this is an inexpensive way to make a typical notebook special.
Supplies:

• I used a cheap 25 cent spiral bound notebook. Composition books work as well.
• 8 1/2 x 11 card stock
• Scrapbooking supplies of your choice (fancy papers, rubber stamps, ink, fancy scissors, felt-tip pens, chalks, stickers, punches, ribbons, brads, etc.) If you are doing this with elementary-aged children you can use more basic things such as construction paper, markers, crayons, stencils, or finger paint.
  
• Glue and/or adhesive mounting squares

Assembly:

Here is how I decorated a notebook for a friend. You can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. Since it was a birthday gift, I spent extra time to make it special.

• Step 1: Gather your supplies and map out what you want to do.
• Step 2: Trim the card stock to fit the cover and apply to both the front and back covers. This not only provides extra support, but gives you a base from which to work besides the typical primary color cover. You can use a glue stick, school glue, or even tacky glue to attach the card stock. Just be sure your adhesive is strong enough to take a lot of wear and tear.
• Step 3: Decorate! I rubber stamped the cover with a faint floral design. To accent the cover I used fancy scissors to edge a patterned paper and then added a ribbon. I also used a butterfly punch to do butterflies out of the same patterned paper. I wanted my friend's name to be on the cover. This I accomplished by rubber stamping the letters of her name on velum. I then cut the letters out (again with fancy scissors) and attached them with glue. Finally, the back cover was finished off with a "handmade with love" stamp.

I glued a little to/from note to the inside cover of my friend's notebook. This is important not only if you are giving the notebook as a gift but so the notebook, if lost, can be identified. On a small square of card stock, write pertinent information such as name and phone number. If this is a gift for your child, you could write an encouraging message for the new year. Or maybe choose a Bible verse or quote to inspire your child to press on.

The possibilities of decorating are truly endless. The notebook can be decorated for different school subjects. Another idea: have your child's homeroom number or class name, homeschool co-op group or club name on the front cover. Leave room for signatures. Walla! A very personal and memorable notebook.








Whether you make a notebook for yourself or someone else, I hope this idea adds a little fun and excitement to the new school year. Enjoy decorating and journaling!

M.

M. is the daughter of Carol at Everything Home. She is a 2010 homeschool graduate, baker, writer, and craft enthusiast who is seeking to serve God and find out what is His will for her future.