One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to keep a gratitude journal by writing down something I am grateful for about five times a week. When starting this project, I realized I wanted something nice to write in so I decided to make myself a journal.

It was a pretty easy project and didn’t take a whole lot of time. Other birthmothers could make these journals to use to write about their thoughts and feelings as a birthmother or to use as a place to write notes from visits, updates, etc. Adoptive moms could make these as a gift for their child’s birthmom.

I chose to create one journal for myself that has glittery cherries on it and then one with a fun lighthouse fabric for a friend who loves lighthouses. (Because the photos only show up small now, if you click on the underlined words, it will take you to a bigger image.)

Materials Needed:
Composition Book or Notebook
Fabric
White cardboard
Glue stick
Fabric glue
Ribbon
Embellishments, Fabric Paint (optional)

Instructions:

1. Using the front and back of the notebook as a guide, trace the shape onto the cardboard and then cut it out and adhere it to the front and back of the notebook so if your notebook has a funky pattern it won’t show through the fabric.

2. Cut your fabric to fit the notebook leaving an extra inch all the way around. Fold the sides over and secure using fabric glue.

3. Cut a small slit in the middle on the top and bottom of the notebook where the spine is. Now fold the top and bottom over just as you did with the sides and secure with glue. You may need to clip each corner just a bit.

4. Add ribbon on the inside of the journal to use a closure by gluing it on the inside of the front flap and the inside of the back flap.

5. Using the glue stick, glue down the first 2-3 pages of the journal to the inside of the front and back covers to hide the ribbon and edges.

6. Embellish the front of the journal as you wish. I just cut two cherries from red fabric and glued them on using the fabric glue and did the same with the green leaf. I then went around the edges of the cherries and leaf with glittery fabric paint. I used a black Sharpie to draw lines for the cherries. You could get as creative as you like with this step. Add flowers, cut out your initials, or even add a picture and then “frame” it with ribbon or additional fabric.

It’s that simple! In just a short amount of time you will have a custom created, personalized journal!

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Photo Credit: Coley S.

More Crafting with Coley:
Memory Boards
Embellishing Picture Frames
Photo Puzzle
Decoupage Picture Frames
No Sew Blankets
Tote Bags