Like many people, I have a collection of Travelers Notebook type fabric covers for my journals, some are purchased and some are homemade. But after seeing so many cutely decorated art journal covers out there, I thought I would try my hand at decorating mine up a bit.

The Before.

As you can see I chopped off the edges here, I’m not sure why I made this one such an awkward size, but there is a fix…

…use up all your scrappy bits!

Just stitch (hand or machine) fabric strips along all the edges to close off the openings and stitch the pockets down. I liked experimenting with different stitches with my embroidery thread.

I added a little lace along the top edge of the pocket, and some accent trim on the side for fun!

Tip: Just keep adding stuff till it looks like a hippy bus…then add more!

More trim, mini doilies, lace, buttons, beads, and dangly bits. I love this makeover! I didn’t start out with a bohemian theme, it just worked out that way.

Small Details.

I did try to stay in the color family of this fabric as not to go too wild. My favorite accent is the beads on the elastic closure, that’s going on all of my covers going forward, but that button has inspired me to try a closure with large buttons on my next project, sooo…

Making Dangly Bits:

And I am finally using up beading supplies that I have had for far too many years. My heart skips a beat when think about how much of my hoarded stash is going to be used in this project!

Where it started.

The two on the left are the newest covers that really got me started on this project. Just something fun to work on in the evenings, (looks like some beads on the elastic are in order!).

To be continued…

Even though these will be sitting on a shelf filled with finished journals doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a facelift, right!

As always,

Thank you for stopping by,

Have a great week,

Much Love,

~Patty

(p.s. please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments or email me)