dream journals and flying lessons

I love to make dream journals. They are a wonderful way to recycle old books into journals that can be reused in a new way and may be cherished for many more years to come. I call these "dream journals" because I personally use them to keep my creative ideas and quick sketches in them.

 Kelly Rae Roberts' ecourse started yesterday and one of Kelly's first suggestions was that we have a journal or something similar to write down notes, ideas, dreams and goals ... I was so happy that I already had a dream journal ready for this course! I used a book that my youngest daughter and I used to read called  "I Love My Little Storybook" ... it is beautifully illustrated and written by Anita Jeram. I didn't use my daughter's book as she still has it on her book shelf but I did find a copy of it at the second hand store and knew that I would use it one day for a dream journal for myself.

I have one dream journal listed in my etsy shop right now and a few dozen just about ready to add ... maybe by the end of this week ... if this ecourse doesn't take up too much of my creative time! They are really easy to make yourself if you have the right supplies.

Here's how I make my dream journals ...

1. gather your supplies: a hard cover book, blank paper (I use a heavier weight card stock), hole punch for book binding (mine is by CarlaCraft), single hole punch tool and hammer, spiral binding (also by CarlaCraft), self healing mat, wire cutters and pliers, paper cutter

2. Cut the spine off the book with the paper cutter so that you are left with the two covers and loose book pages. Trim the book pages with the paper cutter so that they are all the same size.

3. Measure the size of your book pages and cut the blank paper to the same size.

4. Hole punch all of the book pages and the blank pages with the hole punch on the left side.

5. Using an extra paper with holes as a template, mark where you need to hand punch the front and back book covers. Punch holes in the covers with the hand punch and small craft hammer on a self healing mat.

6. Put the book together by alternating a few book pages with a few blank papers. If you want to leave all of the book pages in the journal ... so that you can still "read" the story ... you may have to limit how many blank pages you can add. You will be somewhat limited by the binding as to how many pages you have in the final book ... play around with it a bit until you get the balance that you want. Sandwich all of the papers inside the covers and add the spiral binding by starting at the top and twisting the binding through the holes.

Once the spiral binding is in place cut the extra binding with the wire cutters and fold both ends over with a pair of pliers so that the binding stays in place.

 

Now I'm ready to start my "flying lessons" ... time to go and do some dreaming ...