Ghoulish Journals You Can Make
What was that secret ingredient again?? With these ghoulish journals, you'll never have trouble remembering again. Journal's finished size is: 4 1/2 inches by 3 3/4 inches.
These are both fun and easy to make. Children under ten may need some help with the construction of the book.
Materials Needed:
1 peice cardstock 8 inches by 4 1/2 inches
25 pieces of paper manilla or copy paper cut to 4 1/2inches by 3 1/2 inches
Small hole punch or awl
Heavy Thread or Craft Floss
Blunt Needle
Elmer's School Glue
Butter Knife
Items to decorate the cover-markers, stickers, craft odds and ends...ect.
First, cut cardstock to the size needed. You will need to put two folds in the cardstock as this is the cover to your book.
Make the folds 3 3/4 inches from the edges of the cardstock. Use a butter knife to press the folds until they are finely creased.
Set the cardstock aside. Cut 25 pieces of white or manilla paper to 4 1/2inches by 3 1/2 inches. These will be the pages of your book.
Use the small hole punch to put four holes along the edge of the papers. This will be your spine. (If you don't have a hole punch, don't worry. You can also use an awl to do the same thing. An awl is a very sharp tool that looks like a thick needle with a handle. It is used to make reams-the name of the holes you are making, in books. Have an adult help you when working with sharp objects!)
Take the blunt end needle and thread it using your craft floss. Now you can sew your pages together. Once the pages are sewn, they are called a book block.
Glue the book block to the spine of the book. Make sure you glue the sewn edge and NOT the open edge of the book.
Now that the spine has been glued together, there's only a couple more things to do:
Lay your book down flat. Make a fold in the cardstock 1/2 inch from the spine. Use the butter knife to crease the fold. Put some glue between the pages of the book and this new fold. Press the area down tightly. Now, flip the book and do the same thing on the other side.
Let your book dry with both cover sides folded out away from the pages. When the glue is dry, fold the cover back into place and put some heavy books on it for about an hour. When you take the weight off your new book, it will look just like a book!
Decorate the cover using paper and other craft supplies as you wish. You can also draw a picture for the cover.