Handmade Birding Journal

Cover of birding journal. Cover collage is made of found images, scrap papers and rubber stamped images from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store.
Cover of birding journal. Cover collage is made of found images, scrap papers and rubber stamped images from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store.

Here is a great handmade gift idea for someone in your life that loves to watch birds. A blank journal like my sample provides places for notes, sketches, photos, memorabilia and more. Here is how to make one.

First download my free template, Square 6×6 Journal. Print it out and use it as a guide.

Cut out two pieces of chipboard for covers. Make a collage of bird related images for the front cover. Cover edges of cover with decorative paper. Cover inside front cover, inside back cover and back cover with decorative paper.

To assemble front cover, cut out a piece of acetate and punch small holes. Punch small holes in front cover collage and attach to cover with brads. Make pockets and attach to both inside covers with double sided tape. Cut out a number of pieces of cardstock for inside pages. Embellish with brayered backgrounds, sponged backgrounds, decorative papers, Project Life cards and rubber stamps. Punch holes in all pages and covers and compile together with binding rings. Open rings and add new pages as needed.

Here are some sample page spreads to give you ideas for the interior pages.

A set of inside pages. On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned papers are from 7gypsies.
A set of inside pages. On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned papers are from 7gypsies.
On the left is a cut-down Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a cut-down Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On the left is a Project Life card and on the right are rubber stamps from 7gypsies. Patterned paper is from 7gypsies.
On these two pages patterned paper is from 7gypsies and rubber stamps are from 7gypsies and Carolyn's Stamp Store. The plain paper insert on the right is a piece of sketching paper - it's good for drawing a sketch and it's removable if you want to use watercolor or other media that is messy.
On these two pages patterned paper is from 7gypsies and rubber stamps are from 7gypsies and Carolyn’s Stamp Store. The plain paper insert on the right is a piece of sketching paper – it’s good for drawing a sketch and it’s removable if you want to use watercolor or other media that is messy.

Stamps: Small word stamps are from Carolyn’s Stamp Store, other stamps are from 7gypsies.

Here are links to other products you can use for this project:

Binding Rings

Long Fasteners (Brads)

5 thoughts on “Handmade Birding Journal

  1. Where do all those fantastic sampts come from? Which countries I mean? I live in Canada. Beautiful country. Worlds most boring sampts. Do you have penpals that send them to you? I’m literally swooning over them!

    1. The journaling word stamps come from my own catalog –
      http://carolynsstampstore.com/catalog/unmounted-stamps-journaling-planner-words-p-1264.html

      The bird and egg stamps, the word “Beautiful”, the pointing hand and the “line” stamps all come from 7gypsies – http://shop.canvascorpbrands.com/pages/7gypsies-collections

      https://issuu.com/canvascorpbrands

      I have a wholesale account with 7gypsies, so if you need me to order anything let me know. I also have a wholesale account with http://www.productperformers.com, they carry some of their stuff. If you want me to order anything for you just let me know what catalog it’s from, the name of the item and an item number for the item and I’ll let you know prices.

  2. Would you like to send mail-art to an exhibition?
    I like your work.
    And if you like the project Black and White, please promote this among other artists.

    witter-mailart.blogspot.com

    1. I used to do a lot of Mail Art in the late 80’s and the 90’s. You can probably see some of the influence in the Art Journal pages I’ve been making lately. I’ve collected a lot of them on this Pinterest board – https://www.pinterest.com/chasenfratz/art-journaling/

      Some of them were influenced by Mail Art and some of them have pieces of old Mail Art worked into the collages. Do you recognize any of it?

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