Cool and Girly Journal Gifts

This past Christmas was the slimmest Christmas we’ve had in several years.  Thinking ahead, I knew I really wanted to give my nieces gifts, but just couldn’t foresee having the money so I bought some light-colored composition books from OfficeMax on clearance for .75 a piece right after school started.  My thought was that I could cover them with scrapbook paper and decorate the covers to fit each of my niece’s styles.  I completed this one first:

**Please excuse the coloring – I had issues with getting them to look good in the dull lighting conditions I took the pictures under.**

I was extremely pleased with the outcome, but as the end of November approached I realized that I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to put into the other two if I was going to get them completed by Christmas Eve.  So, I went with a simpler approach and came up with these for the other two girls:

They were a hit at Christmas, with my sister really loving them since she hadn’t seen me paper scrap in quite some time – I’m usually all about digi-scrapping.  I had a blast making these and I hope I get a chance to make them again for someone else.  As a side note, I also covered the back cover and inside covers of the books with coordinating scrap paper.  If you decide to do something like this, I suggest to get a sandpaper sponge and sandpaper up, down, and across each side of the cover to create a better surface for the glue to grip onto the cover.  You can reuse the sponge many times before it needs replaced.  I used Mod Podge to glue the papers down smoothly and to seal the edges of the paper so they wouldn’t peal from being used often.  It worked beautifully for this project and dried very fast!  Oh, and one more tip:  If you want to add a ribbon down the side to cover the paper edge on the front and back sides, put the ribbon on AFTER gluing down the background paper on the front side of the cover and BEFORE gluing down the background paper on the inside part of the cover.  That way, the edges of the ribbon get covered with the paper and it looks more finished.

I will be posting patterns for the paper sizes I used to cover the books as soon as I get a chance.  That will save you a lot of time!