Composition Book Journals

I am super excited to be leading creative activities for our MOPS group this year! For our first meeting, I was asked to come up with a craft project. I put a lot of thought into it and spent a lot of time on Pinterest. ;) I ended up deciding on these composition book journals. It was a very economical craft project and there are some materials left over for some future projects, too. I got a cute scrapbook paper pad on sale at Joann's, then cut each of the 180 pages into pieces the size of the composition book covers. (That took a long time!) I gathered some cute embellishments- ribbon, ric rac, lace, stickers, washi tape, etc. I also stamped some cardstock with some cute rubber stamps and cut them out to give more options. Extra paper trimmings, cardstock, and even paint samples gave everyone a lot of options. I cut some tag shapes out with my paper punch and stamped them with phrases like "starry eyed", "hope", and "wonder" to incorporate this years' theme. We also gave the options of using glue sticks or mod podge to adhere the paper to the book. Both seemed to work fine.

These are my best tips:

• I cut my paper at 9 3/4" by 6 5/8"- double check your notebook size and if in doubt cut it bigger and trim later. It was more effecient to make a template, then use it mark the back of a paper lightly with pencil. Stack 3 or so together and use a paper slicer to cut them all at once. The leftover strips were spread out at the tables to be used as accents.
• If using glue sticks, apply heavily to the paper, especially the edges. Use the side of your fist to smooth it all out.
• If using mod podge, brush a thin layer onto the book and carefully smooth the paper onto it. Do NOT mod podge over the paper.
• Keep checking the corners to see if they are lifting up and reapply glue as needed.
• After it is dry, open up the book and trim any excess that may stick out over the edges and the corners.
• Use hot glue to apply ribbon and ric rac. Other embellishments seem to be fine with glue sticks.
• We added envelopes inside the covers to hold notes, papers, etc. Someone also covered the inside cover with scrapbook paper, which looked great if you have extra paper!
• Make sure you have a wide variety of embellishments that coordinate with the papers.
• Spread the embellishments out and make sure that there is enough room for people to gather around the tables.

These are the samples that I made before the meeting. They will be used as gifts to welcome new moms during the year.

The backs are also covered with coordinating papers.

I think this one is my favorite. It is simple, but so pretty!

I incorporated this years' theme verse on the cover of this one. I couldn't find papers that coordinated with the Starry Eyed theme, so I added it in a few of the journals as best as I could.

After the meeting, I found composition books on clearance SUPER cheap, so I got some more. I had bought another pad of paper for myself because I loved the prints and colors. So, my daughters helped themselves to my craft supplies and made their own journals. Apparently, this makes a really easy kids craft, too!

They are being used as art and writing journals. They made a few others that I didn't snap pics of and are using them at school. They used glue stick and they are still holding up well.

They even found some mini ones and made a coordinating doll journal!

Overall, this was a successful and EASY craft project! It was simple enough that anyone could do it, but had so many creative options for those who want to challenge themselves a bit more.

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