Making My 2021 December Journal

Hello lovelies!

I’m just going to jump right into the good stuff and share with you my process of creating my 2021 December Daily journal. I decided to go with a “hinged” sort of A6 journal. I hope having the spine binding in this way allows for the little book to expand and grow like I expect it will. My little December books tend to become really chunky, so I’m hoping this style of journal accommodates that perfectly.

I’ve broken down the process into three parts: part one is all about creating my patchwork covers and spine out of fabric snippets, part two is creating my signatures, and part three is binding the book.

I purposely didn’t glue down the spine to the covers because I like to size my spine with the signatures that I want to include in my journal. I ended up making two signatures with about 16-17 spreads in each for a total of 32-34 spreads. I did spreads instead of pages because my goal is to create one two-page spread each day of December for a total of 31 spreads. That is the goal. Whether or not I end up accomplishing that is a completely different story, I just wanted to have enough pages in my journal for it. I find it’s always best to have leftover pages than too little pages for the entire month.

For my signatures themselves, I just used a mixture of papers that match the color scheme I chose for this journal. I’m definitely leaning towards that cool, crystal, wintery sort of color scheme, with just hints of pink and red added here and there. I did notice that I used what I like to call “neutral” papers more than patterned ones in this journal. Since I’m thinking of going more art journal-y with this book, I find a more neutral base is easier to work with when doing mixed media.

Once I had both of my signatures made, I was ready to bind the entire journal. I attached my fabric spine to my covers and lined the inside with some pattern paper. Then I used some mint green seam binding to bind my journal. I’ve really been liking the look of binding my journals with seam binding instead of wax thread. It’s a bit tricky, but so worth it for how it ends up looking.

I’m pretty pleased with how this journal turned out even though it’s not quite how I envisioned it. I can’t wait to actually start documenting my December in it though! It’s going to look so great once it’s filled and chunky!

Let me know if you create a similar journal. I would love to see what you make, either by sharing it over on the community forum or tagging me on Instagram!

xx Tiffany