I made this journal for my brother to commemorate his graduation from college with a Masters in Humanities.  Now that he has received his gift, I can share.

Faux Leather Journal

I made the faux leather using Close to my Heart Kraft paper, CTMH inks and my Cinch book binding machine.  The journal pages are from http://www.printablepaper.net.  He offers all kinds of free templates and pages to download.  It is a great site.  I printed the journal pages double sided and punched with the Cinch.

To make the faux leather, I wet two 12×12 pieces of Kraft paper with a spray bottle of water.  I crumpled and un-crumpled the wet paper until I liked the texture.  I then ironed the papers smooth.  I took three colors of CTMH ink – Cocoa, Brown Bag and Desert Sand and wiped them over the textured paper.  Brown Bag is no longer available, but Saddle would be an equivalent color.  I started with the darkest (Cocoa), then medium (Brown Bag) then the lightest (Desert Sand) and layered them on until I liked the look.  I then wet the papers again to let the ink spread a bit.  I ironed the papers again, putting them between parchment paper to iron so ink didn’t get on the board or iron.  Once it was dry, I coated the papers with Microglaze (a wax product you can purchase in craft stores online) to give it more of a leather feel and to seal the ink.  I then punched the faux leather paper and glued it to chipboard covers.   I put some Colonial White papers on the inside covers and used the Desert Sand ink to give it some highlights like old paper.  I bound the journal pages and the covers together using a spiral binding.  I glued wooden beads on the tips of spiral to keep them from slipping out of the end holes instead of just bending the ends.  If you don’t have a Cinch or similar book binding tool, then you can punch holes and thread cords or rings through the covers and pages.

I really like the way this turned out and my brother loved it.  Here are some additional photos:

Back inside cover

Journal pages

I printed the journal pages double sided by putting the second side back through the printer ensuring the word Journal would be in the right place.  For my printer, I placed print side up, top into the printer first and it worked great.  Just try it on a sample until it is correct before printing the whole batch, then make a note of what worked.

Faux leather close up

I really like this.  The journal is 8″ by 8″ so I had some scraps left from the 12 by 12 papers.  My husband liked the look, so I made him a smaller 3″ by 5″ index card note book with some of the scrap for him to write down website addresses and info.

If you would like to purchase Close to my Heart products please go to my online store at http://cydneyfowlercreations.ctmh.com or by clicking this link.  Here is the CTMH supply list:

Kraft Cardstock Item# Z1375 $9.50 for 24 sheets

Cocoa Stamp Pad Item# Z2114 $5.25

Saddle Stamp Pad Item# Z2171 $5.25

Desert Sand Stamp Pad Item# Z2118 $5.25