Project by Regina McMiller from Valley Stream, New York.Regina started making her own greeting cards as a young child. Today, this full-time bookkeeper not only finds spare time to be a cardmaking machine, but has also branched out to include specialty items, like her floral memory journal.
Materials:
cardboard
white paper
spray glue
glue stick
dried flowers
tweezers
printed vellum sheets
fabric
ribbon
decorative paper
card stock
clamps
pencil
drill
1/8" drill bit
needle
Steps:1. The front cover of the journal will be cut to create three pieces: the spine, hinge and flap. Using one piece of cardboard, cut a 1-5/8-inch spine right next to a 1/8-inch hinge. The cardboard left will be the flap. Keep all the pieces together for the next step.
2. Center the front cover on one of the sheets of white paper. Remember to keep the pieces together. Center the other piece of cardboard for the back on the other sheet of white paper. There should be about a 1-inch overhang on all sides of both covers. Use spray glue on the facing-down side of both covers. Keep the three pieces of the front cover together. After a few seconds, remove the hinge (figure A). Be sure not to move the spine and the flap.
3. Next, fold each corner in to a triangle shape (figure B). Keep the paper close to the corner when making the triangle, but not tight. Glue each of the triangles down using the glue stick. Fold in and glue down the rest of the paper.
4. Next, flower time! Be careful with dried flowers. They are very delicate; use tweezers if need be. Use the glue stick to fix them on the front and back covers of the journal (figure C). After that, take your printed vellum sheets and cover the front and back covers. Fold in and glue down the corners and sides just like you did with the white paper.
5. For the spine fabric: Cut fabric into two pieces (about 8" x 2-1/2") to cover just the spine of the front cover and to mimic the same on the back, even though there is no spine on the back cover. Spray glue on the fabric and place it on the covers. Fold in and glue down the corners and sides, just like the white paper and vellum; however, you will only have three sides to fold in (figure D).
6. Using a strip of ribbon and either stick or spray glue, cover the exposed end of the fabric. Make sure the ribbon is long enough to glue down on the back of the cover. The ribbon will create a nice transition between the fabric and vellum.
7. Cut and glue down a piece of decorative paper to cover the inside of the front and back covers. Let dry for about 45 minutes.
8. Place the sheets of card stock between the front and back covers. There should be about 1/3 inch from the edge of the covers to the inside pages on all four sides. Then clamp the whole journal together.
9. With a pencil, mark off the drill holes on the spine of the journal. The holes should be no more than 1 inch from each other and from the top and bottom of the journal, which will give five holes. Use a 1/8-inch drill bit to drill the holes.
10. Keeping the clamps on the journal, sew the ribbon through the holes. Start from the top hole, pull it through, then cross over the spine to the second hole. Continue down to the fifth hole; then wrap the ribbon around the bottom of the spine. Work the ribbon back up the holes, crossing the ribbon over the first stitching. You should have a crisscross pattern on the spine of the journal. Once you reach the top again, cut the end and tie a bow.
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