Hybrid Journal - decorative plate & pages

Welcome to the first swap for our hybrid journals! To get started we are going to accomplish two things for our first swap.

The first thing we will be making is a decorative cover plate. This is a flat piece of art that is made separately on a piece of cardstock or chipboard that can later be adhered to the journal. It can be intended as the cover art and attached to the front, or as the first interior page. It is a piece of artwork meant to convey both the theme and the aesthetic of the entire journal. It’s the perfect way to make a piece of art without committing to a journal cover just yet. You’ll make the maximum size of your finished piece about a 1/2 inch smaller both in height and width of your largest journal page, to be certain it will eventually fit on the interior page or on the cover if desired. It can be smaller, just be sure it will fit on your final journal.

The second thing we will accomplish is to gather your journal pages. You don’t need to have them in any specific order, in signatures, or even bound together. Our journals are each going to have a minimum of 20 full sized pages (which will be folded in half inside our journals). Gather these pages together so that you now have the foundation of your journal. These are the pages you’ll be adding to in the next 6 months, there are videos below for inspiration!

Send photos of 1) your decorative plate and of 2) your grouped pages to your partner. Let them know what theme you’ve decided upon and any ideas you have about your journal. Maybe ask questions or ask for their opinion. Encourage each other!

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You don’t need to bind your pages yet, but be thinking of how you would like to do that. You don’t need to decide yet if you’ll do a soft or a hard cover, but be thinking about what you’d prefer. In the coming days we’ll post some links in the forum to give you some ideas and instructions for inspiration.

Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions! We hope you’ll enjoy working on these journals in the coming months! Anna, Jane and Nickalli

Journal pages/Signature videos:

Treasure Books Signature Formula

Gina Makes It perfect signature

Kathleen’s Master signature formula