Memories Journal – Abby Henderson

HI everybody,

Today Abby is sharing a great tutorial of a Memories Journal.

Abby says:

“I wanted to create a memory journal for my daughter’s last year of middle school that she and her friends could fill up with photos, stories and memories of their middle school years. I love to alter items and repurpose old items if I can so I chose an old hardbound book cover for the base of the journal.”

What you will need:

Old hardbound book cover
Craft paint (colors will depend on project theme)
Alpha stickers
Old dictionary or book pages
Modge Podge
Flowers & Embellishments

Step 1

I used a mix of white craft paint and water to create a whitewash mixture that I used to cover the outside of the book.

My daughter’s school colors are blue and yellow so I added some hints of yellow craft paint to the cover after the white coat was dry and did the same with some blue paint.

Since this is a school themed project I thought it would be fun to cover the inside with some old dictionary pages. I used some modge podge to adhere them to the inside .

I set this aside to dry and began working on the inside pages for the journal.

Step 2

I had an old school folder so I used it for some of the journaling pages in the book. I cut it in half and then cut again to the desired sizes I needed.

Step 3

I wanted to create some journaling cards for her friends to write notes etc. so I used a variety of stamps to create some sentiments on one side of each card.

Step 4

I wanted to use more of the dictionary pages so I decided to make some flowers for the front cover. I cut out 10 flowers using a punch from the paper.

I then layered them all together and made a hole in the center and inserted a brad.

To create the flower, I crumpled up each layer one at a time with my fingers .

I used some Distress Markers to add the blue and yellow colors to each flower.

For the binding I used Laura Denison’s Stack The Deck method. You can find her full tutorial on YouTube. I used some old office envelopes for the pages on which I added photo mats and journaling spots using a variety of papers and card stock. To complete the journal added some flowers, washi tape and other items that fit within the theme. I even used a rubber band and broken ruler as my closure for the journal. I hope I’ve been able to inspire you to use some school items to create something that will be used to hold memories and photos.