A journal for Kim

The past weekend my niece Kim celebrated her birthday. Because she's had some troublesome times over the past years and has handled it like a trooper I wanted to give her something to celebrate her survival instinct.

I also remembered she entered a journal giveaway of mine in the past and of course I know she's seriously creative, so I was left with only one option: I had to make the girl her own journal!

So last week I sat down in my studio and I made this:

It's a very simple one signature journal. The cover is made from a very sturdy textured paper (I know it looks like leather or something in the picture, but it's not). I stitched these tags/tickets by Tim Holtz on the cover with a sewing machine and also zigzagged the outsides of the cover.

I used the Tim Holtz tickets as tabs as well by stitching them to the outside of several of the journal's pages. They are a bit out of line here and there, but we'll just call that the charm of handmade things. Ahem...

Here's a detail of the binding: 

As I said it's a simple signature binding and this means it's just a bunch of pages of pretty paper folded in half and sewn together with needle and thread. To spice it up though I added beads and ribbons to the thread on the outside of the journal.

Here's a detail of the journal standing up, with a view of the back: 

The journal is full of beautiful handmade papers and it has a bit of a grungy handmade feel to it that I really like. Here are some samples of the spreads: 

If all has gone well she will have received the journal by now and I really hope she likes it. What I like about a journal like this is that it's easy to make and yet, because of the paper and some details it also can look really unique. I hope my niece will enjoy playing with it. I added some extra's in a baggy to get her started. Happy birthday Kim!

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy week!