Weddingbee Blog

I am a HUGE proponent of travel journals. I have been on a few significant trips in my life: Europe with my Dad and Tweets, Hawaii with an old boytoy, and most recently: my Sistamoon. On each, I kept a travel journal. At the end of every day, I took ten minutes to write down everything that happened that day. Vacations go by SO fast - it’s easy to forget all of the details… I am so happy to have those travel journals to look back on to remember all of the fun moments.

SO, of course this meant I had to prepare a travel journal for the Sistamoon. I promptly referred to my fave craft book… (This is seriously the best book ever!)

Trusty Esther had a travel journal tutorial… SCORE! Creating this journal was a lot of work, but I knew this was a special trip, so I wanted a special kind of journal - all the work was well worth it. Let’s get started!

You’ll need:

• An awl
• Drafting paper (I find this is the easiest paper to work with when folding and measuring book signatures)
• Bookbinding thread
• Bookbinding needles
• Scissors
• Bone folder
• Paper cutter
• Envelopes
• Coverstock for the front covers and the accordion binding
• A phone book or something thick and non important for “awling” on
• Optional: Chipboard for the covers, in case you want something sturdier than coverstock

*I found all of my materials at Blick art stores.

Here is the finished product… This is an accordion bound book, which allows the user to stash all manner of paper ephemera/souvenirs from your trip! For me, I would be visiting eight different ports, so I wanted to create eight different sections to my journal. Each section featured a signature made out of drafting paper for writing, an envelope to hold my Metro tickets/paper remembrances, and a map of any given port. I created a map to glue onto the front cover, and elastic straps to hold the journal shut. This was my first homemade travel journal, so I learned many things I will do differently next time! See below for things YOU should do differently from me - learn from my mistakes, sister!

*Many apologies for the pictures - I had to use my flash because I had no natural light! No judging! All photos mine.

First, I created the paper part of the eight signatures I needed to create.

Then I took my envelopes and prepared them for binding into the signatures. I bought eight envelopes - one for each signature. I measured the envelopes before folding to figure out where I’d need to sew (so they didn’t stick out too far.)

I gathered maps for each of our eight ports and prepped them for inclusion in the signatures. Again - measuring to make sure they didn’t stick out further than the paper in my signatures. I just printed off most of my maps from the internet.

Next, I lined up my signatures and prepared to use my awl to punch holes for binding. I ordered my signatures like this: paper on the outermost layer, then the envelope, with the map on the innermost layer. I had eight signatures, so I had to repeat the awling process eight times. I measured for the three holes I needed to create: 1 hole in the middle, 1 a half-inch from the top, and 1 hole a half-inch from the bottom. Make sure you put something thick like a phone book under the signatures as you awl! That awl will cut you or ruin your countertop if you don’t!!

After that, I prepped the binding cover. I selected a prettypants coverstock and folded the paper into 1″ folds. I had eight signatures, so to include the covers, I needed ten “troughs.” Again, use that bone folder!

Then I was ready to sew my signatures to the binding! I strung bookbinding thread onto my needle and essentially sewed a figure eight. After lining up the signature to the binding, the needle/thread runs from the signature into the binding in the middle hole first (leaving a tail), then back up through the topmost hole, back down the middle hole, up the bottom hole, then box knots to the tail you left from your first stitch. (Google box knot!) Repeat eight times! You may need a beer on hand for this part. I’m just sayin’.

This is what the binding looks like on the outside - perty, huh?

Now, on to the covers! The art store couldn’t cut my chip board for me because it was too thick. He assured me I could successfully cut the board myself with an X-Acto knife. Um yeah. I thought my homemade cutting looked jankity. If I had it to do over again, I’d cover the chipboard in pretty fabric or paper to cover the mistakes. They would have looked more finished that way. :/

I affixed my map I drew to the front cover and punched holes in the back to string the elastic through.

Voila!

Have you ever made your own book for a special occasion? What are your best tips?