Saturday, October 1, 2011

National Card Making Day---and no card!

As I emptied out a box of Ritz crackers today, I remembered seeing some journals made using all kinds of cereal, cracker and toy boxes for the covers.  As I recall, they were selling for around $10.  They were cute but since I have the supplies to make them myself I decided to give it a try.

It's been so long since I've used my Bind-it-All that I had to spend some time online watching tutorials so I'd remember how to move the pages through and get the correct number of holes punched.

The Bind-it-All does a good job, but it's not simple (to me) to use.  I'm never 100% sure where those holes are going to wind up! Maybe if they had made it out of clear plastic so I could see the blades, it would make more sense to me!

Anyway, the video gave specific instructions on how to punch an 8" album so I managed to get this one reasonably spaced. 

After struggling to keep the pages together while standing them up in the punch slot and counting over 5 holes for the second punch and 7 holes for the third punch, wrestling the wires through the holes and getting them compressed, I was through!

The cracker box wasn't quite heavy enough for the cover so I adhered a piece of SU cardstock onto the back side.  The interior pages are just copy paper cut to size and I interspersed some colored cardstock dividers.

My oldest granddaughter loves journals and sketch books; my oldest grandson loves to sketch too so it's a nice little stocking stuffer that I can use for either of them. 

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5 comments:

  1. CarrieOctober 1, 2011 at 6:39 PM

    I think I like it! I am on the edge about the cinch (but I don't have a binding at all). Amazing that I can shell out how much for a Imagine but hesitate at a $50 (w coupon) binder...

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  2. DebbyOctober 1, 2011 at 7:16 PM

    I LOVE this idea and I think you did a great job! I have had my BIA for over a year and NEVER used it. I need to make this one. TFS

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  3. VanessaOctober 1, 2011 at 9:15 PM

    What a cute idea! I've never seen this before. Eliminating the step of covering the chipboard with pretty paper makes it my kind of project! And the cost of materials isn't half bad, either. Best of all, I can snack on the contents of the now-empty box while I craft! It's a winner!

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  4. MaryOctober 5, 2011 at 6:44 AM

    I love the idea of making a journal from a product box! Too cute! I think my little girls would love this type of thing, so I'm borrowing your idea! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. MaryOctober 5, 2011 at 6:45 AM

    I love the idea of using a product box for a journal. I'm going to scraplift this! Thanks for sharing the idea!

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