Idiots Guide To Making A Journal
Full credit for this tutorial goes to Fantasy Firebird
You can meet her here:
From Coast to Coast Creations
This is an idiot’s guide to making your own journal. If you make books professionally please accept my abject apologies if I do not do anything correctly. This is just how I have found to be the easiest way for me. You may find that certain stages are better adapted to your own way of doing things. Sizes are able to be altered to suit the size of book that you wish to make. In fact everything can be altered so suit your own needs!!
1.Cut two pieces of thick card the size of your chosen journal (in this example I’m using 6” x 6”). Then cut two pieces the height of your chosen page (in this case 6”) and your chosen width (I am using 1”). You need to make sure that the spine is wide enough to enable you to be able to punch in the holes for attaching your pages, so you don’t want to weaken it by it being too narrow.
2. Making sure that you have one piece with a spine on the left and one on the right for your front and back, glue onto your chosen paper, leaving enough paper around the sides so that you can mitre the corners and fold over and glue. I glue all over the large piece of card and the spine part in order that the paper is well stuck. Leave a small gap between the spine and the cover in order that the page will “fold”. I find that it helps to “gently” run an embossing tool or your finger nail along the gap in order to indent the paper so that it will fold nicely.
3. You now need to cut your inside paper to “line” the inside of the covers. I cut mine 5 ¾” x 6 ¾” ( you are now covering the spine as well!). Glue in place and run your embossing tool along the join between the spine and cover. Gently bend the spine up so that you know the pages will fold open.
4. Decide how many holes you want on the book and mark and cut (I used my silent setter). Make sure that both the back and front line up. I cut one side, lay it on top the other and mark the holes for cutting through the holes.
5. Choose the papers for inside the book, cut them slightly smaller than the outside covers. Place onto covers in order to mark the spine holes. Punch out holes. (I put 10 pages in)
6. Tie together your pages in whichever way you choose. It all depends on the number of holes you’ve punched; the choice as they say is yours. I then opened the book and ran the embossing tool down each page so that it would fold open nicely.
7. This is a very basic book. You can decorate the front as much or as little as you wish. Try using wires to tie the book together, or maybe ribbon, string, raffia or anything else you can think of!! If you decide to punch the corner of your inside pages I suggest that you do them prior to putting the book together, that way if the punch messes up you don’t have to dismantle the book (as I previously have had to!!)
The Second Idiots Guide To Making A Journal
Full credit for this tutorial goes to Fantasy Firebird
You can meet her here:
From Coast to Coast Creations
This is an idiot’s guide to making your own journal. If you make books professionally please accept my abject apologies if I do not do anything correctly. This is just how I have found to be the easiest way for me. You may find that certain stages are better adapted to your own way of doing things. Sizes are able to be altered to suit the size of book that you wish to make. In fact everything can be altered so suit your own needs!!
1. Cut two pieces of thick card the size of your chosen journal (in this example I’m using 5” x 5”). Then cut one piece the height of your chosen page (in this case 5”) and your chosen width (I am using 1”). You need to make sure that the spine is wide enough to enable you to be able to punch in the holes for attaching your pages, so you don’t want to weaken it by it being too narrow.
2. Glue the pieces laid out as shown, having the spine laid in the center, with a small gap between each piece on order that the book will fold up. Miter the corners and fold over and glue. I glue all over the large pieces of card and the spine part in order that the paper is well stuck. I find that it helps to “gently” run an embossing tool or your finger nail along the gap in order to indent the paper so that it will fold nicely.
3. You now need to cut your inside paper to “line” the inside of the covers. I cut mine 10 1/2” x 4 ¾” ( you are now covering the spine as well!). Glue in place and run your embossing tool along the join between the spine and covers. Gently bend the spine up so that you know the pages will fold open.
4. Choose the papers for inside the book, cutting them 10” x 4”. Fold the pages in half and punch two holes along the fold line on each page. I have cut 5 sheets which when folded will make 10 pages.
5. Making sure that the holes line up, mark the spine of the outside cover, make two larger holes because you will need to put more pieces of thread through these holes.
6. Taking one inner page at a time thread the ribbon/thread through the page, attaching it to the book cover. Continue threading through the cover into the pages until they are all attached. Knot the thread holding the pages in and finish how you wish.
7.This is a very basic book. You can decorate the front as much or as little as you wish. Try using wires to tie the book together, or maybe ribbon, string, raffia or anything else you can think of!! If you decide to punch the corner of your inside pages I suggest that you do them prior to putting the book together, that way if the punch messes up you don’t have to dismantle the book (as I previously have had to!!) 
