Navigation Leather Bound Journal

Welcome to Club Scrap's Navigation blog hop!

The previous stop was with Lilian Yeh Forsyth, and the whole thing began with Karen Wyngaard at Club Scrap.

CS staffer Brenda Nejedlo is the ultimate Goodwill shopper. Every time I compliment her on a sharp outfit, she replies, "Goodwill!" I asked her to pick up a leather jacket on her next trip to the store with the intent to disassemble the jacket and use the leather for some handmade book covers. (That was in July.)

I knew this was the perfect time to finally try my hand at a leather bound journal.

I began by using a sharp craft knife to cut away a large piece of leather from the jacket. I removed the lining and tried to preserve as much of the soft leather as possible. (Brenda did a terrific job finding me an XXL long men's jacket!)

The leather piece will determine the size of the book. Once that's calculated, pierce a column of stitching holes for each signature. I used five two-page signatures and placed the third signature in the center of the leather with the help of my handy 3x14" Grid Ruler.

Fold and pierce the signature pages to match the pierced holes on the cover.

Sew the pages into the book cover with waxed linen thread.

Embellish the outside cover with a row of die cut compass ribbon from the Club Stamp kit.. Adhere with a Glue Pen. (This is such cool ribbon!)

To make a closure for the book, simply trim a narrow strip of leather. I tied two strips together to make it long enough.

Decorate the inside pages of the book with printed cutaparts from the Navigation collection.

I am very pleased with how my first upcycled leather bound book came together. I hope you're inspired to give it a try! Off to Goodwill . . . 

Your next stop on the hop is with Donna Coughlin. Enjoy!

Tricia