Make Your Own Journaling Cards

There are so many cute journaling cards out there now. Journaling cards are a quick and easy way to add journaling to a layout, a fun way spruce up a card, or a staple if you're doing Project Life.

There are companies, like October Afternoon, that make die cut journaling cards, like these:

October Afternoon Sidewalks Journaling Cards

 Other companies, like Echo Park, make journaling cards that you can cut out:

Echo Park Yours Truly Journaling Cards

While I am a huge fan of these pre-made journaling cards, I am also a fan of making my own. Making your own journaling cards is a great way to personalize your projects and it's also a great way to use up your stash! I'm going to show you my process for making my own journaling cards here.

I'm starting with a really old piece of paper from Collage Press:

Collage Press Margot Malta Spring Paper

While the A side of this paper is gorgeous, it's the B side I was after here. If you look at the folded down corner on the right, you'll see that the B side is plain old cream-colored lined notebook paper. Any notebook-lined paper, grid/graph paper, ledger paper, etc. will work well as a base for making your own journaling cards. 

I started out by cutting the paper into twelve 3" X 4" rectangles. I decided to make half of the journaling cards now, and chose to make them for specific holidays/seasons to use up some of the holiday-themed product from my stash. Here are the cards I created:

Making your own journaling cards is not rocket science, but I'll list some design tips here anyway:

• Hang an element or two off an edge (a label sticker, a punched shape, washi tape, etc.), then turn the card over and use scissors to trim off the excess. I did this on all but the school card.
• Don't be afraid to add dimension with stick pins, buttons, ribbon, layered elements, etc. I did this on all but the Halloween card.
• Use three like or clustered elements in your design. There are three like elements or a cluster of three elements on each card.
• Frame the journaling space, either left to right or top to bottom, to draw the viewer's eye into whatever you will write on the card.
• Don't be afraid of odd-shaped space, as on the Halloween card. Even though this isn't square or rectangular journaling space, there's still room for a couple of sentences to fit in between the embellishments.

Here's a supply list for the cards. Most of the products I used were older, but I threw a few newer items in the mix as well.

Valentine's Card
Sticker + Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye), Button + "sweet" label (October Afternoon), Baker's Twine (Divine Twine), Heart Punch: The Paper Studio

Spring Card
Stick Pins (Jillibean Soup), Label Sticker + Lace (October Afternoon), Word Sticker (Bella Blvd)

School Card
Patterned Paper + Rub-ons (October Afternoon), Notebook Punch: EK Success

Halloween Card
Tree Sticker + Bat Sticker (Echo Park), October 31 Sticker (Making Memories)

Thanksgiving Card
Rub-ons (Lily Bee), Patterned Paper (October Afternoon), Leaf Punch (EK Success)

Christmas Card
Tape + Stickers (Dear Lizzy/American Crafts)

Happy journaling card making!