A Reading Journal - A Jenni Bowlin Stuidos Hybrid Project

So there are two purposes to this blog post.  One - I wanted to talk about books.  Specifically, Charlotte's books.  I won't lie and tell you that I'm in a book club or am remotely "well read."  In fact, I think the last book I read was called the Toddler Whisperer.  BUT...I do read A LOT of books with Charlotte.  In fact, they are often my biggest source of crafting inspiration.  Which leads me to purpose number two - upcycling old journals.


Are you like me and hoard, um, I mean collect a ton of notebooks and journals but never seem to finish them?  Well, that's not true.  I do have a number of completed notebooks filled with lots of nonsense.  They're often hard to read through at times.  Like, did I really care that much about Twin Blonde Boy that it consumed four journals full of girl angst?!?!?  However, this particular journal was the victim of my poor stamping skills. 

So, I thought I would attempt to recover it to make Charlotte her very own reading journal (i.e. a place for me to write down all the books we read together, i.e. an attempt to make me feel better about not reading grown up books that don't include photos of chicken and cake.  But not on the same page.  Cause, that's just weird). 

Using some the new Jenni Bowlin Studio ("JBS") Red and Black Extension Kit 4 (available over at Jenni Bowlin Digital Store), I created a book cover in Photoshop.  I also added some wording to one of the Red Labels included in the JBS kit.  Then, using my large format printer (Cannon Pro9000 Mark II), I printed all of my digital elements onto a 12x12 sheet of white American Crafts cardstock.

Next, I trimmed down all of the difference elements with my paper trimmer and adhered them onto the notebook using my Xyron machines (specifically, the Xyron Creatopia for the book cover and the Xyron 2.5" Create-a-Sticker for the inside label).

After I printed out the cover, I noticed that it was too small to actually cover the entire journal.  (Oops!)  However, since I love the look of red and aqua, I decided to keep it that way.  (Whew!)  Here is what the notebook looked like with everything securely adhered on. 

I punched out small hearts from a piece of JBS patterned paper that I also printed onto white cardstock.  After running them through a small Xyron sticker maker, I adhered the strip of stickers onto the back page with some washi tape.  The idea is that she can add a heart sticker to any of her favorite books.

Super easy and super cute!  I love hybrid projects - where computer design and some good Xyron machines merge to make something awesome.

I promise to update y'all on what books we end up loving this year.  I know that the first one will definitely be Go, Dog. Go by P.D. Eastman. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!