I’ve never counted how many journals I’ve made so far, but I’m pretty sure there are at least 100! This “right triangle” (if I recall my geometry correctly) pocket style is my absolute favorite to use. From experience, I know that this style is the most secure and holds quite a bit. Sure I have seen tutorials about gluing your pockets to your pages, but sewing them makes more sense to me. Here’s an example of a hand-sewn pocket that is secure and can hold lots of photos and journaling cards. This particular journal is Crater Lake National Park and is from the National Park series. The directions apply for journals that are printed on US letter-sized paper and then folded…like all of the Memorable Journals sold in the shop. First, print up a page that you want your pocket design to be. Preferably on cardstock. Usually, I attach the… read more
Memorable Journals News
Ready for a new way to journal? You have seen a lot of journals out there. The ones with pretty covers but all the same pages inside. A journal should have both a pretty cover and a delightful variety of pages inside! This may sound like it would be complicated to make. Absolutely not! Read on to find out how to make your own quickly. You will have fun making many for yourself and gifts. Never worry about “using up” your journal or cards as you can print up many more. Here is what you will need to create your journals: US letter-sized paper (8.5″ x 11″) Cardstock of the same size above for outside cover and for journal cards Printer and printer ink Stapler and staples (having the right stapler is important…see materials list for details) For even more details, check out this blog post! Scrapbook papers cut down… read more
What do you want your future generations to know about you? I’m very fortunate that I have many keepsakes from previous generations. Photo albums (one from the 19th century!) Scrapbooks. (the old fashioned kind without plastic!) Diaries. Letters. Cabinet cards with no labels. While I treasure all of these family memorabilia, there is something that I wish for. Stories and photos TOGETHER. In my grandmother’s memory-filled album, she has photos, report cards, newspaper clippings, etc. tucked inside. I wish that I can go back in time and have my grandma tell me the stories behind each of these souvenirs! Wouldn’t it be neat if the people of the photos inside the albums could tell me their names, how they are all related, and what they were doing? What family keepsakes do you have and want to be passed down? Don’t get me started about all the photo albums that have… read more
For the past four years, I have been making handmade fabric-covered journals with hand-sewn pages. Then about three months ago, I decided to make my journals to hold inserts with elastic. Why did it take me so long to finally do that?? This way, I can make the inserts without any pressure to have them “perfect” as I am not permanently sewing them into the journal cover. Now I am having so much fun making my inserts!! It’s so much quicker using my stapler rather than my needle and thread. However, this is not my “big” change that I am announcing! While making my inserts, it occurred to me that I could share my designed pages with many others via digital downloads! I’ve spent the past few months getting my website ready and secure and to learn how to set up a digital shop. Ready or not, my shop is… read more
I could spend weeks, even months, just designing accessories for the book/reading themed journals I’ve been working on for who knows how long. Even now I still have so many more ideas for accessories for this fun theme. But I’ve got to stop sometime! Time to separate and compile all this neat stuff on my table for others to enjoy! Spring is here and I am ready to move on to other themes! Gardening, camping, Oregon, and Seattle are coming up. The problem is deciding which one to work on next!! Any requests??