a friend of mine asked me to make two journals for him a while ago. one for himself to use and one for him to give to a friend of his. i have never met her so i asked him for a brief description of her character and of a list of things and colours she likes. and then i forgot about that and just followed my crafty intuition - haha!
this is the one i made for my friend:
my husband often brings me books that were sorted out of the library at vienna university and that are available to take for free. the cover i used for this journal was one of them. i sent my friend pictures of three or four covers i thought he'd like and he chose this one. he asked for plenty of space for journaling and sketching or drawing as well as room for ephemera. i had a bit of a hard time not including anything flowery actually - haha! i only realised that i use flower themes quite a lot when i was asked to keep away from them. i went with leaves, skylines and houses instead... (video flip-through here.)
i always consider it a huge compliment when i'm asked to make custom journals, especially when they say something like: "i want to give my friend a present and thought she'd really like one of your books..."
this is the journal i made for my friend's friend:
i had a lot of fun putting this one together. it is bright and colourful and textual but she still has enough space to write and add her keepsakes and character. i put in a few bits and pieces that can be coloured (or not - i don't really know if she's into colouring). the flowers i added to the fabric tabs on the edges of the pages can be removed if they get in the way or are not wanted for other reasons. the idea to add them that way just popped into my had and i had to try it. i like the way it looks and the whole journal feels very compact and is really enjoyable to flip through. (i have a video of that here.) i chose the cover because it was the only lilac one (her favourite colour apparently) i had in my stash and because i thought she might like the title ("shining like the stars").
this one is going to be a gift from me to a friend i don't see very often. i think she will make something great out of it. i've had it sitting in my shelf for quite a while actually because i haven't seen her in a while and i'm still pondering whether or not i should just mail it to her. that might be a nice surprise, which would be fabulous, but it will make it impossible for me to watch her look at it for the first time...
i love this journal. the colours of all the papers and embellishments i used are just yummy and it all came from my stash. it's really incredible when i think about how often i go an buy or order something because i think i don't have the right thing to fit in the right place. and then when i actually go through all of my quite considerable stash of papers alone, shelf by shelf and drawer by drawer, and pull out everything that has the right colours i end up with quite a pile actually.
i'm rather fond of the ribbon book mark i created. it's handwoven out of some leftover handspun yarn that i plied with pink metallic thread. it's bulkier than i would have wanted it to be but i liked it too much not to add it anyway, and the closure with the charms on it (pictured above) is expandable so there's enough room for even more added bulk. (flip-through video here.)
i just adore a nice stack of handmade journals with lots of intriguing bits peeking out...
lots of love, big hugs and i hope you enjoy whatever you're doing! xxx