1 Hour Dollar Store Reusable Leather Journal Cover

Hello!

I am a lazy crafter.

This is a lazy crafter’s way of making a reusable faux-leather/fabric journal cover using supplies you can get at Dollar Tree, (except maybe the fabric/faux leather).

The method however can be applied all different sizes of notebook, as I don’t precisely measure a darn thing. :)

- Notebook
- Fabric (1x fake leather, 1x cloth or 2x cloth rectangles that when folded in half lengthwise will cover the notebook on all sides.)
- Marker (not pictured)
- Scissors
- Gems/stones/beads
- Tacky glue
- Lacing
- Random Sock for wiping glue. (You can use whatever)

I don't know why the pictures are uploading upside down, but here's what you do.

- Lay your notebook on the fabric to get an idea of where you want your design.

- Lay your faux leather (or front fabric) with the pattern (front) facing down.

- Lay out your stone design (backwards/opposite of what you want it to be on the front if it matters)

- Make marks on the back to show where you want what. Mine didn't matter so I just made them all Red. You can be as detailed as you want to get your pattern perfect for you.

- Make a slit in each space that is to hold a stone

- Line up each slit with each stone and carefully cut around the inside of the slit until the stone almost wants to stay in the hole just from the pressure of the fabric.

- Go slow and remove a little at a time, you can only fix so much with glue.

- Don't worry too much about smooth lines. You can tuck and adjust some of them.You can trim and glue the rest.

- Cover each stone in glue, back and front.

- Glue scraps of fabric to the wrong side of the fabric as a backstop for the stones.

- Glue the back (wrong sides) of the leather and inner fabric together.

- Wipe any excess glue with a handy sock that is just laying around on the floor. Or a cloth if you want.

While you are waiting for the glue to dry, you can start punching the holes for the lacing.

- Along the long sides of the rectangle, use a hole punch to make as many holes as you want according to how many "loops" you want on each side. The closer they are together, the more you will have.

- Make sure you have the same number of holes in each piece of fabric.

This is literally the trickiest part of this project.

- Using your fingers, stretch the fabric around each stone, using the glue to make the tightest fit.

- Come back and repeat this step every few minutes as the glue dries. The fabric will first become more squishy, and will eventually start to stiffen. This is the most important time. Make sure the stones don't want to pop out easily. If they do, you may be able to get them to stay with glue, but if not you will have to get a different stone, create a patch, or start over.

- Add more glue if needed.

- Use your nails or fingers or the tip of that marker or whatever you have, to tuck in the little pointy edges or whatever needs smoothed. The glue will hold it down.

- Starting at one corner, tie a knot in the first hole in both the leather and the inner fabric. Tie it firmly and glue the ends.

- Come up from the bottom of one hole then from the bottom of the next, coming around the side of the fabric. (If you go up in one and downtime next, you will get alternating little dash like lines.

- Tie another knot at the other end and glue it.

- Do the same for the other long side of the rectangle.

- Using the notebook as a guide, fold over the short sides so that the open notebook fits snugly but not too tight. (The fabric will stretch a little, but you don't want it to crush your notebook. But you also don't want the book to fall out when you open it.)

- Tie the corners down to the nearest open hole on all 4 corners.