"Commonplace Journal Part 1" - The Cover

Hello Friends,

I hope things are well in your part of the world :) It is Saturday evening here in Australia, 17/7 and It's my weekend off. I am in Victoria and we are having another snap lockdown for 5 days.........I think we are all getting a bit over it....... 

I have started my Commonplace Journal, which I have been working on, in between the memory journal for mum. This journal is going to be where I put anything and everything throughout the rest of this year, or until I fill it ;)

A "Commonplace Journal" - It is a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits.” In other words, a “thinker’s journal.”   I am definitely a thinker!!!

I find I am overwhelmed sometimes by social media, daily life, etc and it is nice to keep "real items" in a special book just "for me" No one else needs to see your journal and you can share what you want"  I am not big on 'writing" but I love collecting things and having them in a journal. I am a sentimental person which shows in my memory keeping and the things that I have kept throughout my life..........they are memories and bits of my story...
I think for me, mine is - "a journal that connects closely to what happens to me every day." 
A few ideas for a Common Place Journal: are quotes, inspiration, planner, music, ideas, faith, recipes, art journaling.....anything that brings joy........
I love "PINTEREST" which is to me, is a big digital notebook full of my pinned ideas and inspiration. 

My Common Place Journal is "the real thing" with my ideas and inspiration.......

I decided to use some packaging, for the cover of this journal. I love the squishy feel of the cardboard.  I have two boxes that my boots came in and I pulled one apart to see if it would be suitable :)

The great part of using a book cover or packaging is that you already have the spine and you don't have to muck around and make one... This was a fair size box and I have cut it down using my craft knife and ruler, to approx 7.5 x 10"

As there was some text on the box, I decided to cover it first with some brown paper wrapping that I had kept. I just used my Blue Glue stick for this job. You could also cover it with Gesso and it would seal it. 

I worked my way around the sides, trimming excess paper. 

I missed a space but that doesn't matter as I have put another layer on top. You could also just do this one layer and collage different papers over it.

I hadn't used much of this tissue paper, so thought I would use some of it. I just did a section at a time, smoothing it out with my hand, going over the outside of the cover. You can also use mod podge for this part but I felt like trying something different. It worked really well. If you don't like the wrinkles then using an old credit card to smooth it over works well.

Once I had it basically down with the drier glue, I then used my Homemade Mod Podge and gave it a coat to finish it off and seal it all over. 

I added a bit more down the spine on the inside. With the way I am going to bind the pages, it will be seen a bit. I didn't put any tape around the edges of this cover as I want it soft and squishy.....

This is the front of the cover and I used wet glue over it to seal and strengthen it also. This gives it more protection but of course, you don't have to seal it. 

To finish off the inside cover, I adhered some pattern paper to tidy it up then I decided I wanted something else there. I used a window envelope and decorated it to use as extra space on the inside cover.

I stuck the flap down onto the cover to use it as a flip out. The tea dyed paper on the outside I can use to journal on and store things inside the envelope.

I have created the inside pages so I hope you will pop back tomorrow to see what I have done........

Thanks for checking out my post :)
Hugz K x