JOURNAL SWAP

At the beginning of the year, the very lovely Aleks from Aleks Handmade had the AWESOME idea to do a journal swap! How fun, right? Basically, we would each be paired up (at random) with another lady who signed up and then we would make/embellish/cover a journal in a way that would be all her. The idea of getting a journal customized for me was super excited. HOWEVER...The idea of customizing a journal to perfection for someone else was DAUNTING! 

Anyway, I signed up and got the sweet Laura from Along For The Ride. I began the serious task of blog stalking her, researching her boards on Pinterest and basically being a creeper. LOL! 

THIS is what I came up with:

It was based on this free printable I found on her boards:

found via IROCKSOWHAT

She had at least TWO variation of that saying, and her blog name is similar so I thought to myself "self, it seems like she likes that quote"...so I went with it!

I used a beautiful fabric from one of my favorite fabric "houses", Echino which is now mostly sold out, but you can see more from that collection here. And for the embroidery, I used a fabric pen to free hand the letters in and then went over them with the thread an needle. 

It ties closed, to keep everything neat and tidy:

An inside look:

I also send her a Sharpie in a coordinating color because, really, there's nothing better to journal with! The one I send her was a dual tip...extra thin to write with and the regular one for sketching or what not.

This is what it looks like off:

And in case you wanna know, I bought this generic sketch book at Wal-Mart for under $7...

I was SOOO nervous to send it to her and really hoped she'd like it. She got it yesterday and said that she LOVES it! ( I may or may not have almost made her tear a bit...YES! LOL!) I am so so so happy she liked it...a lot of love went into it and I hope and pray she fills it with wonderful memories.

***I did NOT use a tutorial. I actually TRIED using one and ended up completely messing up my first attempt at the cover. It didn't fit right, or look right :(. So I started again, from scratch, and kinna made up my own way to do it. I didn't make a tutorial along the way, but I had a request for another cover so I could make a tute, if you're interested. (and ps...the first cover I made I will be using...it's not soo bad, just not good enough to give away!)

And know for the best part...WHAT I GOT!

My partner was the beautiful Natassia from Nat's Knapsack. She claims she not an artist, but I think the journals beg to differ! So beautiful!

I got THREE lovely journals, each loving hand painted and recovered by Nat:

The back flap has a slot to store extra papers:

Let me show you them, one by one.

The first (and my fav!) is this yellow and pink one, I am in love with the dainty, artsy little flower!

She even made a bookmark to go with it!

The next one is the blue and green one...I am loving the yellow flowers on it!

And since she's so great, she made me a coordinating bookmark for this one too!

Isn't it sweet?

And last but not least, the one I call the "Love" one...

The inside is decorated as well:

And the bookmark for it:

This is one of my all time favorite verses, so it was really special that she included it.

The best part is that they're a great size!  They're about the size of a wallet, so I can carry them where ever I go without adding extra weight and bulk to my bag! With a baby, I need all the space I can get!

And lastly, the lovely Aleks (the coordinator of the whole shindig) sent us each a GORGEOUS personalized bookmark:

Isn't it so pretty?

And look at what she added just above the flower:

I just love it and will be using it with my bible! 

A huge thank you to Aleks and Nat! You girls are awesome!

I am linking up over at Aleks journal swap linky party here.

Thank you for reading this loooong loooong post! Have a super awesome day!

Linking to these parties! Come on over and join!