Travel Cover Tutorial

We are leaving in a few days and all I have done so far on my travel journal is a cover.  But at least I have a tutorial for it!  I chose to work with a vintage book cover for this journal. Book lovers and librarians may want to turn away because I'm pretty sure this will make you cringe! 

 Tutorial:

• Choose a vintage book with an interesting cover.  In this case I found one with a lot of great detail on it and a rectangle I could cut out.   Even if you can't find one with a place to cut out - you can always measure out a rectangle or keep it whole (some of the same steps will apply)When pulling a book apart for this first pull out the pages all in one bunch (and use them for some other crafts or include a few as pages in your journal).  The book cover will be in one piece at this point.  Cut the spine in half down the middle - you might be tempted to cut the spine piece down right near the bookboard but don't! (you will see why in a second)  Can't bear to tear up a vintage book?  Any book will do - try checking out the dollar store for cheap books - look under those paper dust jackets - sometimes you can find something really good!
• Use an exacto knife to carefully cut out the rectangle
• Turn the cover over - take the small piece of spine (you know the part you resisted cutting down!) Fold it over and glue it to the back of the cover (with a strong tape).  This will make the edge smooth (instead of seeing the chipboard and having frayed edges - unless of course you like that look!)
• Cover the backside with a piece of patterned paper
• Cut the rectangle out of the paper.  And there you go! 

And here's another idea for you:  try using a notebook as a cover for your journal.  I took a small lined notebook I had (this one was part of a set I bought at target a year ago) - pulled off the cover (which was a thicker paper cover) and glued it to a piece of chipboard to make it more stable.   The great thing about this idea is you can then use the pages too - because they are already the perfect size! I then mixed it up with patterned papers.

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