Journal Making

This Week in the Studio: Frustrations with Starting a New Business

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Happy Monday!

Today I am sharing my weekly studio vlog and it was a bit of a challenge. Most of the week went well as I was able to get some studio clean up done and I also set up my new writing binder for a new story I am working on. I have signed up for a Self-Publishing course and I am really excited for it. To prepare I began with getting my current work in progress. I write all new stories by hand first in a notebook. My first edit comes when I type it into my computer. There is something about writing hand to paper that just connects me to the story in a way the keys don’t. It’s a fun way to get to know my characters and their world.

I set up a binder which is a new system for me, that is going to hold all my story information. Characters, worlds, plot, chapters that sort of thing. In addition to the one I am writing there are several others waiting to be edited so they can be self-published. I would love to have a book ready by the end of the year to publish-even it’s just all the editing is done.

When I first saw the class I was really excited and signed up for the waiting list. I have been following the author for a while and I really love her approach to career and this course feels in alignment with my own career goals. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as to how it’s all going.

The other goal I had this week was to print the sticker sheets I have been creating and add them to my shop. Theoretically this was going to be easy. The hard part of conception and creating the art was over right? I was so wrong.

I have been wanting to turn my art into stickers forever and I have tried over the years and basically ended up really, really unhappy with my cutting machines.

I finally thought I had it all worked out and then the machine (my newest one) was giving me issues. I managed to solve those issues only to have my printer give me problems. In the end, I have re-designed my stickers and I have one sheet available for purchase-woohoo!!! I am very hopeful that I will have the rest of the stickers done and ready for purchase by the end of the week.

To celebrate the sticker sheets are shipping for free so yay! You can purchase a sheet here if, like me, you love your coffee too 🙂

I will also share a secret little item that, for now, only you my faithful blog readers will know about. I have a new journal for sale in my shop too! If you have been following along in my Make a Journal Series this is the journal I make and this Friday the last of the videos will go live. I will also promote this journal for sale so if you would like to pick it up before then you can find it here.

So that was what was going on this week in the studio. I have lots of new projects in the works and I am hoping to have some new dollhouse content up if I could just decide on the upstairs flooring. I still think I want full carpeting but I am really not sure. I will keep you posted.

I hope your summer is going well. My oldest two have been enjoying camp for the past few weeks and I have been playing chauffeur. Looking forward to next week when the schedule quiets down for a few before another week of camp.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

 

 

 

 

How to Make a Junk Journal: Part 1 The Cover

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Hi everyone! Welcome to my new series where we are going to learn to make a junk journal from start to finish. If you have have never made a junk journal before this series is going to walk you through step-by-step. I will over lots of examples for different materials you can use as well so you don’t need to run out and buy a lot of materials. I want this to be a fun, easy and expressive way for you to make your own journal without having to break the bank-after all we are just using junk right?

So let’s get started!

Today we are going to begin work on our cover and here are the supplies you will need:

Cereal box or other chipboard packaging. Think the back of a notepad, brownie and cake mix boxes (they are actually my favorite boxes because they are the perfect size! Whatever you have to hand will work.

Brown paper bag, kraft paper or wrapping paper

Glue/Double Sided Tape: PVA glue will work but my favorite is double sided tape but you can also use a permanent glue stick.

Scissors

Paint if you want to paint your cover. Regular old craft paint is perfectly fine but you can decorate your cover is so many ways. Stickers, markers, stamps-use what you have to hand!

That’s it!

Let’s get started:

Step 1.

Cut your cereal box/chipboard.
I cut my to 9″x6″ I like this size because I really like using regular letter size paper and this size cover allows me to use a full sheet of letter paper folded in half. You can cut yours to whatever size you like-the process is the same.

You can also double up your chipboard to make a really sturdy cover if you want.

You also need to cut chipboard for the spine. It will be the same height as your cover and whatever width you want. I cut mine to 2″. I also glued 2 pieces together for the spine.

Next you want to attach the covers to your spine. In the video I am using book binding tape but you can use regular masking tape. I only used this because I have it and I never use it-because I generally use masking tape! It’s much cheaper and works just as well. You may have to use a few more layers of it to get the sturdiness you want for your cover but it’s a great option that’s readily available in most stores.

I lay a piece of the tape down, sticky side up and then place the spine in the middle of the tape and the covers on either side leaving a small space so the covers can open and close. If you want to measure you can leave a space the thickness of your chipboard between the spine and the cover.

Step 2.

Next you will ned your paper shopping bag, kraft paper or wrapping paper.  If you are using double sided tape I like to add it to the 3 edges of the cover. Then you want to lay your book cover on top of your paper. If you are using wrapping paper make sure that the pretty side is facing your work surface. Then you want to fold over the sides of your paper and “wrap” the cover.  You can cut the corner (see below) so you can a nice corner. Just don’t cut too closely.

If you are using a liquid glue the paper may warp and bubble a little just keep that in mind. I would then put glue on the full cover and spine and glue it down to my paper folding and wrapping the edges adhering them down with more glue.

Step 3.

This step is optional but I like my journals to feel like a book and to not have any “wobble” with the cover and spine. To help with this, I take masking tape or in my case book binding tape and I place some on the inside of my cover (the part without paper) and overlap the cover and the spine. I put down a few pieces until I am happy with the sturdiness.

Step 4.

If you are using wrapping paper or want to keep your cover brown like you kraft paper you can skip this step but I love to make colorful journals so I take my favorite color and paint the entire cover including the inside flaps. You can let this dry and then apply additional coats as needed. This is where you can really be creative. You can add fabric, stickers, magazine images-you name it! Have fun!

Once your cover is completely dry you are done!

I hope you found this helpful. If you are more of a visual learner I have a video below where you can watch me follow these steps and make your cover along with me, pausing as you need to.

In next week’s post I am going to share how to make your signatures and decorate them several different ways.

Until next time!

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Making a Hand Embroidered Journal Part II

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Hi everyone! Today I am sharing the second part in making my refillable, hand embroidered journal. I had so much fun making this journal and I cannot wait to share my plans with you. For now I hope you enjoy watching this video.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Making a Hand Embroidered, Refillable Journal

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Happy Monday!

I hope your week is off to a lovely start. I am on my own for a few vacation days and have been having such a nice time. I have gone for ice cream with a friend, gone shopping, gardened and harvested a load of green beans, lots of reading and spent an entire day in my studio. I really cannot ask for anything more.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using this links I earn a small commission but it does not cost you any more.

Today I am sharing with you an exciting project that came to me a few days ago. I wanted to hand embroider a journal cover. I have a pattern I purchased a while ago that I hadn’t used and decided to embroider it on the cover of a refillable notebook. It’s really simple and fun to do and I hope you will join me.

I am sharing the process in 2 different posts. The first post will be making the signature and sketching out or transferring your embroidery design and the second post will be embroidering the design and adding the embellishments and elastic to hold the signature.

I used a combination of book pages, magazine pages, scrapbook paper and ledger paper to make my signature. You can used anything like you of course-have fun! Maybe you want to use watercolor paper or mixed media paper or just copy paper from your printer. It’s your journal so I hope this post inspires you to make a journal that you will love to pick up and use.

I attached the pages together using my favorite 3 hole pamphlet stitch and set it aside.

Next I took some embroidery fabric (affiliate link) and sketched out the design I chose. A light box would make this really simple but mine was out of batteries so I made do.  If you would like to purchase the same pattern you can find it here.

There is so much you could do with your cover-including just using regular fabric and skit the embroidery part. If you don’t like embroidering you can just pick out some fun fabric and use that. You could use canvas fabric and paint your own cover-there really is no limit! If you do choose to embroider I will be sharing a video of that, along with putting the hole thing together later this week.

I do hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to comment below.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

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Video: Making a Reading Journal

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How is your week going? Mine has been really nice. The weather has allowed me to spend some time in the garden each day. I have also been reading more and delving into the world of BookTube again. I have found some great channels and I am planning on launching my own channel next month in addition to my book club posts here. In fact, one of the videos I found here from Liberty’s Library was the inspiration for today’s post.

In Liberty’s video she was journaling the books she read in June and I thought this was such a wonderful idea! I decided to make myself a reading journal.

I had the cover already made and just sitting on my shelf-it had some of the DIY charms we made together and I thought it would make a nice reading journal. I took out some pages from a sketchbook I purchased at the craft store. It was good because the pages are perforated so they came out nicely and left the rest of the journal in tact.

I trimmed the pages and then folded them in half. I attached them using a basic pamphlet stitch to a piece of paper I trimmed to fit inside the spine. Then I added some white duct tape to fill in the gapes and added some scrapbook paper I had in my stash to the inside covers.

I decorated the cover a bit more with a stamped title and some book page. I trimmed it out with some lace and am so happy with how it all turned out. If you aren’t sure how to make a journal I have a video on my channel here that shows you how. If you have any questions about it just let me know and I’ll do my best to help.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: Making a Spring Bucket List Journal

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The weather has been gorgeous!

I have been digging in the dirt, planting seedlings and plotting out the vegetable & flower garden. I am so excited to be back outside and I really can see how much better I feel with the longer days and warmer weather.

I have a fun new project to share with you. Today I am making a spring bucket list journal. I thought it would be fun to have a place to document the things I would like to do this spring along with mementos. A photo of a picnic, a receipt from the garden center or some pressed flowers. I don’t plant to have anything stressful on my list, just a reminder of all the lovely things spring has to offer and a way to document one of my favorite season.

I began by following this tutorial from Treasure Books. It shows how to make pockets for your journals and I just thought it would be fun to make a few and turn them into a journal. You have lots of fun places to tuck tags, notes and more.

Once I had the folds done and before I glued anything down I decorated the pages. I used my Lollipop Box Club Kits to decorate the pages.  Then I took a strip of paper the height of my pages by 3/4″ wide and used that to attach two pages together. Then I stitched 2 groups of pages together using a basic pamphlet stitch and you have have a journal!

It was so much fun and a nice way to make a quick book for a present. I hope you had fun! Let me know if you have any spring bucket list plans.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dielttante