Ever since I got my first box of 72 Copic Ciaos over a year ago, I have been wanting, actually needing, to make a journal to record my favourite Copic combos, notes on what did not work etc. So today I got crackin’!
I started with a half sheet of CS in each major colour family. I know Copic further subdivides it but I used pink, red/orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown to represent neutrals and blush for flesh colour combos. I then chose a paper from MME for the outside covers which were created with the chipboard from the back of a pack of paper. I wanted a bit of a border so I used 8 3/4 x 5 3/4” for both front and back. You can’t tell from this photo but the floral areas of the paper are covered in glitter, so pretty IRL! They are a combinations of a very soft rose and a very soft green. I wanted the letters to match so I chose a green paper from the same pack and covered the front of the letters with adhesive from my Xyron sticker maker. I added glue pen on the back, applied the letters to the journal and covered them with glitter. I added the pearls and the ribbon-the outside was finished!
To bind it, I lines up the pages and punched them with my Rubicoil binding machine. Because of difference in the page sizes, I started with the cover, aligning the holes so they would be evenly spaced on each side. Then I punched the pages to match. When I create a book or journal, I always use a coil just a wee bit too long for the length of the book. That way, if I want to remove the coil, I can. It gets shorter every time you do this because you need to crimp the ends to prevent unwinding. When removing the coil, it is easiest to cut off the crimped end, rather than trying to straighten it to get it through the holes, and re-crimp after adding pages.
For the inside pages, I was going to design a lined sheet to glue on to the pages then I had a great idea. The sheets from the Papertrey notepads I just bought fit two across perfectly! It makes much more sense too for short notes like the ones I’ll be leaving.
I left a bit more room on the right side because I was going to add tabs for each page. I am still toying with the idea. I love how Papertrey offers both white with grey lined paper and ivory with brown lines. Nice to have a choice. If I need to put an actual sample in, I will use a brad or an eyelet to make it look nicer.
Enjoy, Rebecca
RECIPE
Ink: chocolate chip (edging the paper)
Paper: pretty in pink, real red, saffron, olive, night of navy, eggplant, chocolate, blush CS-SU!, patterned paper-MME, pages from Papertrey list note pad
Accessories: brad-stash, pearls-Kaisercraft, white silk ribbon-May Arts, green, brown seam tape-MasterStroke, Sizzix Girls are Weird alphabet dies, Art Institute Glitter-sea shell