My Own Design of A Castle-Themed Journal

Castle-themed Journal

This is the first time I’ve designed my own papers to make a journal. It’s an idea I’ve played around with before, but then I see what other crafters create and I’d lose my nerve.

After looking over journals I’ve made before, I realised, even though I love the look of elaborate, heavily embellished journals I see others make, my personal preference for journals I use is for something simpler.

With that in mind, I set out to design my papers. As I have a good selection of castle photos, I decided that would be a good place to start, and the ones I chose are:

Farleigh Hungerford Castle in Somerset

Farleigh Hungerford Castle in Somerset

Bodiam Castle in East Sussex

Bodiam Castle in East Sussex

Chepstow Castle in Wales

Chepstow Castle in Wales

Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire

Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire

Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle

Rochester Castle in Kent

Rochester Castle in Kent

Bath Cathedral… I know its not a castle but it looks good!

Bath Cathedral… I know its not a castle but it looks good!

Arundel Castle in West Sussex

Arundel Castle in West Sussex

The photo editing tool I use is Pixlr.

After choosing a simple background, I added the castle photo and turned up the transparency. On the lined pages, I kept some plain and added flourishes and embellishments on others. I wanted to have as much writing space as possible.

I also added pockets and tuck-spots for notecards.

 

Most of the paper I used is heavyweight, 200g paper with a few sheets of normal copy paper.

Whereas I usually use a single cereal box for the cover, this time I glued two cereal boxes together for extra sturdiness.

I copied bits of each castle’s history onto the heavier weight paper and used that to decorate the inside of the cover.

Inside front cover of Castle Journal
Inside back cover of Castle Journal

I found some neat little castle-themed charms on ebay. There are a couple on the inside and, also, on the outside, hanging against the spine, attached with thread and fibres. I also used some jewel-like beads from an old bracelet I no longer use, and also a little key.

The closure is fabric but looks like leather. I attached it and the little D-ring to the cover with a brad (basically a split-pin) and glued it on the inside.

Charms attached to thread and fibres on the outside of Castle Journal
Charms on the outside of Castle Journal
Fleur-de-lys charm on the inside of the first signature

Fleur-de-lys charm on the inside of the first signature

Sword charm on the inside of the second signature

Sword charm on the inside of the second signature

For the first time, I finished off the cover with metal edges on the corners.

As always, there’s a stamped image of my favourite Anna Griffin stamp on the back.

Stamp on back cover of Castle Journal

I admit to a couple of harried moments when I was sewing the signatures onto the cover and was ready to just ditch the whole thing. But I’m glad I persevered as, I have to say, I’m really pleased with the end result.

If you’d like to see what the full journal looks like, here’s a quick flip-through…