Christmas Projects: Vintage journal

Ben and I decided that for Christmas this year we are doing things a bit differently. We are going to spend time together making gifts instead of shopping. Our budget is any craft supplies we already own (trust me we have a lot!) and 25 dollars. The money we would normally spend is getting donated to Advent Conspiracy through our church. Advent Conspiracy distributes the money to places that it is needed around the world; Haiti and to build fresh water wells in third world countries are just a few. This is especially important since the cholera outbreak in Haiti recently.

I will be posting some of our projects here. Some of them might have to wait until after Christmas, seeing as how family members would then know what there getting :)

I'm really excited about the first project. I love paper!! I mean really love all kinds, cotton, handmade, textured, old and new. I also adore journals. So, what better to start off with than a journal.

I have a rather large collection of double sided 12x12 scrapbook paper and that's what I used for the cover.

The book's pages consist of a stack of scrap paper from one of those "1lb scrap paper" bags from Joann's. For some reason the scraps were about the same size. So, it works well for a book.

For the cover decoration I used a photo that I found at an antique shop. I don't know who sells their family photos but I happened upon a hat box full of them. Most of which make for a nice story, whether it be for a card or journal. I also glittered the photo corners because everything is better with glitter!

And lastly I used Japanese stab binding to hold it all together. This technique is a good one to start with. Here is a link for directions.

Happy crafting!
Becca