Mother's Day 2012

Personalized Journal for Mom

Adults who wish to do something really creative and yet create a useful gift for Mom will love the idea of gifting mom a pretty journal to write down her favorite memories.

What you will need:

1. Journal
2. Patterned paper - we used gift wrap
3. Ribbon and scrapbook paper in coordinating colors
4. Glue
5. Ruler
6. Scissors
7. Pencil
8. Nice pen in coordinating color

Directions:

1. Begin by covering the journal with the chosen gift wrapping or other patterned paper. Here's how:

Place journal open on the wrong side of the paper and measure and cut paper 1 inch larger than the book.

At the top and bottom, make a cut of the same size (or slightly more, but never less) of the width of the book, as shown below.

Apply glue on the front and back of the journal and press down to stick the paper on to it. Now apply glue glue and fold the vertical 1 inch extending sides of the paper and crease firmly. Before folding the smaller sides (the one with the width cut out), fold them at the corners, like you would fold when wrapping a gift, and then glue inside.

If you wish, you can further glue the same paper to the insides of the front and back covers of the journal. Or leave it as it is with the 'covered' look.

2. Once the journal is covered, cut a coordinating colored ribbon more than twice the length of the book. This will serve as a bookmark. Use glue dots to glue the ribbon in one or two places on one side of the front cover and leave the other side inside the journal. You can also staple the ribbon to the covering paper (before gluing the paper) and hide the staples with buttons, punched out shapes or other accents.

3. Now, add a small rectangular piece of coordinating scrapbook paper and write whatever you wish to name the journal. You could personalize it with your mom's name like 'Jessica's Journal' or choose a generic name like 'Thoughts', 'Joyful Moments' etc. or turn it into a specialized journal like a travel journal or a garden journal.

The colors you choose for the covering paper and the other coordinating accessories required, will give it your desired theme and you can name it accordingly.