Can you ever have too many journals??...

... I think not if you've been lucky enough to get your hands on the latest Eileen Hull / Sizzix Travel Journal die (ref: #661906).. its such a great die for making a journal - you can see my first one here:

I mentioned in that blog post that when cutting the inside pages I ended up with leftovers - enough to create a couple of books.... I had to do something with those didn't I?! or they would just clutter up the desk.. so I made a 1/2 size journal with them using the same die..

Here's a simple step-by-step of how I made this fabric covered journal...

I die cut one cover out GrungePaper - a good substrate to use because its both strong and flexible (lightweight too), and really easy to die cut! I measured 1/2 way along the length ....

 .... and cut it in half with scissors (you could use a craft knife if you prefer).

This creates two covers half the size of the originals. The binding holes are still visible so I laid the two covers on top of each other so the spines were together...

... and used the holes in one cover to mark where the holes should be in the other cover - this gives the right amount of binding holes in each cover.

I punched the marked holes with a Crop-a-Dile, and also measured and punched the centre binding hole (which was lost when I cut the cover in half at the beginning).

I rounded the corners with the CornerChomper making all corners the same.

Here are the cut covers waiting to be sewn - I ran across the spine a couple of times at the top and bottom, and down the spine (where the covers overlap) between the holes (sewing not shown).

I placed the covers onto my chosen fabric, cutting it flush to the edge.  I also cut and attached a panel of 'bondaweb' to hold the fabric in place {NB if you choose to do this - beware of the heat on Grungepaper!!}.

I sewed the fabric onto the Grungepaper by sewing zig-zag stiches all the way around the edge, and straight stitching randomly across the covers.

The binding holes were set with eyelets and threaded with elastic. On my first journal I tied the elastic with a double (maybe triple) knot because I worried that the knot would be pulled to the inside of the spine if the book became chunky and stretched the elastic ... So I've used a solution Kate Crane used on her version of this journal - which was to secure the binding with a big button - what's not to love about a big button!!

I really enjoyed making this journal - LOVE the fabric: its so 'happy' so this might be my 'happiness' journal - a place to jot down those little things in life that make me smile.

We'll see ....

x