Handmade Journals

What do you do when you decide in mid-October that you will knit some of the Christmas gifts for your nearest and dearest?

Do you decide on a hat, fingerless mitts or a cowl? I assume you have the good sense not to embark on knitting lap blankets…

But knitting blankets involves a lot of time sitting. I could have watched TV, Netflix, or my usual favourite knitting podcasts. But I came across Pam at The Paper Outpost vlog on YouTube. I was inspired. Oh yes, I fell down another crafting rabbit hole… hook, line and sinker…

For some reason, I was inspired to knit lap blankets. At least I’m using Aran weight yarn and 6mm needles, but it is still a lot of time knitting. I blame a knitting magazine that I subscribe to. There I was, happily flicking through the pages, with a nice cup of tea and a peanut butter cookie, and there they were. A picture of the prettiest blankets – two of them. It is the same yarn but different designs by Sirdar, using their pretty Jewelspun Aran, which gives a look of handspun in the finished knitting.

At this point in November, this may or may not have been a sensible decision as my progress is slower than I had hoped for. But as they are Christmas presents, I can’t show them here yet.

One of my favourite 3 part vlogs created by Pam at The Paper Outpost was repurposing old hardback books. Judging by the number of views on this set of videos, I’m not the only person she has inspired.

How to Make Junk Journal out of an old Book! Part 1

How to Make Junk Journal out of an old Book! Part 2

How to Make Junk Journal out of an old Book! Part 3

I haven’t gone into any detail about how I made my journals, as I used the method described in the three vlogs above from The Paper Outpost.

While I was in the Northern Ireland Hospice Charity Shop buying Christmas cards for my mum to send to her family and friends, I couldn’t resist perusing their used books bookshelf… I bought a couple of hardback books that weren’t in particularly good order. One was a Book Club version of The Mill on the Floss, and the other was the final book in the Harry Potter series The Deathly Hallows.

A few supplies were purchased and duly arrived in the post. Tyvek Sheathing tape, which is the one she uses, proved to be way more money than I wanted to spend at a whopping £36, so I opted for trusty Duck Tape from Hobbycraft instead. But I did by Fabri-Tac to back up my PVA glue, Pritt sticks and newly discovered bookbinders glue (there are a myriad number of uses for it including resticking the laminate covering on our kitchen cupboard doors). I am glad that I did, as the PVA glue took a long time to dry but Fabri-Tac is almost too quick-drying.

Neil missed out on his second cup of coffee as I started coffee-staining paper for my book signatures. I wanted the aged book look.

And much as I love knitting blankets, and 2020 seems to have turned into the Year of the Blanket, every so often, I just need to do something completely different.

The first book I worked on was The Mill on the Floss, and I made three signatures to go inside it. I didn’t have 2mm greyboard so I cut out two pieces of card from a shoebox and glued them together for the spine. I’m not completely confident about the strength of this for the long term, but the finished book is rather special. The finished journal used 11 pages in each signature, so it has 132 pages to write on.

I’ve also had fun using leftover pieces of paper to create interesting inserts. This one was made from an Index Card.

Then I started on the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series and love listening to the audiobooks. So it felt strange to be gutting the book.

However, it was worthwhile. The finished notebook is fantastic. It feels like it might have come straight from the Hogwarts Library! For this journal, I made seven signatures with eight pages, which resulted in a journal with 224 pages.

I used a lovely Stamperia “Cosmos” Pad 20.3 x 20.3cm (8 x 8 inches) for the imagery for the covers of the signatures and inside book cover.

Both of these journal projects have been a delight to make. I’m using a few of the paper offcuts to try my favourite pens to minimise any bleeding through the paper, as I’m not sure what effect coffee staining the paper will have. The pages are a mixture of printer paper, lined and squared papers from paper pads.

Now I’m back to knitting blankets… one is finished, one is 90% complete, and one is still to be started…

Have you been inspired to start any new projects?