Custom Journal

I was recently asked to make a custom journal for a client. She wanted to give it to her teenage grand daughter for Christmas. I was so excited to make this for her.

My client gave me an idea of what she was looking for but then gave me the freedom to run with it however I chose. Here’s what she was looking for:

• The base was a sketch book that she had in her stash.
• She wanted to cover to be Christmasy but not red and green.
• The first page was to hold a photo of her and her husband and to have a spot for journaling.
• Each page after that was to have a spot for journaling and a spot for a gift card.
• She provided me with a list of gift cards she planned to include.
• Include a spot at the end to add Christmas memories (journaling, photos, memorabilia etc.)

You can find a flip through of the album in the video below.

I LOVED making this project because it provided me with the opportunity to dig into my stash and use whatever I wanted. It was fun to find things that might work for the different gift cards she was including.

A closer look at pages 1 to 3

This first spread was for her and her husbands photo and a special message to their grand daughter. All of these products are from Stampin’ Up! and most are current. The only thing might be the die cut sprig and pine branch. Those came from my die cut bin.

This next spread is one of my favourites. I think it’s obvious that it’s for a movie theatre gift card. I included a strip of film strip washi tape from my stash, a few die cut stars, a pocket for the gift card and a piece of notebook paper for the journaling spot.

This spread is for the Body Shop gift card. I found this fun floral napkin in my stash and it just reminded me of the Body Shop. I used ModPodge to add it to some card stock and fussy cut it to create a pocket for the journaling spot on the left and added a vellum pocket for the gift card on the right.

Pages 4 to 6

Another obvious one – Starbucks. Love the little coffee cup from the More than Autumn stamp set!

The fifth spread is for Shopper’s Drug Mart. The gift card is meant to slide in between the two circles. For this one I used some pattern paper from the Hobby Haven paper pack.

Another obvious one. For the journaling spot I included a library card and pocket. On the right I added an envelope created using my envelope punch board with a magnet for a closure.

Pages 7 to 10

This next spread is another one of my favourites. It’s generic because I didn’t really have anything in my stash that was fitting for a Lulu Lemon gift card. I had recently purchased a beautiful border stamp from a garage sale and decided to use it up the sides of the two pages and then grabbed random die cut pieces to embellish. I just love how it all came together.

I went with a bright colour combo for the McDonalds spread – inspired by the striped pattern paper.

This spread is for a restaurant that is local to her grand daughter. I had this bag in my stash that I had made years ago and thought it would make a great pocket so I trimmed it a bit to make it work.

And this last one is for cash. I knew I wanted to have a larger pocket and found a lined paper bag that looks like a piece of notebook paper. I punched some holes and added it to the sketch book. The page on the left flips up to reveal a journaling spot.

The last spread is a simple on where I just stamped the title Christmas Memories and added a few stamped holly leaves. I kept it simple so that they could add photos and/or journaling and there’d be lots of space.

I hope that her grand daughter loved this special gift and the messages included. It was a fun to make and I’m so happy that she trusted me with this project.

Until next time,