Book Journals - Fun Idea Part 2

I shared a few days ago about how I was making some book journals for my kids and grandchildren. I want to share how I finished making them. 

I put the blank pages and the books in order of how I wanted them set up, and then I took them back to the printer and he said his employees were all exposed to covid so he didn't have workers to help cut the binding holes into the pages and covers, so I ended up spending the entire day there cutting all the pages and covers. 

I realized that some of the cheaper bindings on certain books didn't have thicker cardboard so there was nothing to hold the binding on the covers. I ended up having to tape cardboard on the inside and sometimes outside of the cover before punching holes in the covers. 

With the cardboard on the covers of the books, some wouldn't fit into the hold cutter for the binders, so I had to use a hole punch electronic machine that punched the holes one at a time. My arm was super sore the next days having to punch front and back covers one hole at a time and sometimes had to punch each hole twice. 

I had to go to two different places to buy the spiral binding and the smaller two sizes I needed were $20. I paid the other company $30. The books were probably $15 or so. So in total, I spent under $100 for all 13 books I made which is much cheaper than the $30 each to purchase books. 

Both places I purchased the ring binding from told me they were really difficult to put on. I came home and started putting the bindings on and they were super hard to put on. In fact a few of them were chewed up so much with me trying to get them through that I went back the next day to cut new holes in them.

I learned later than sooner that when you are winding the wires through, the covers are longer than the paper so when you are trying to wind the spiral bindings through, the paper is hanging down causing weight on the ring so I found that by lifting the covers up and letting the papers inside touch the counter and that took the weigh off the paper and made the wire go through so much quicker and did less damage to the covers. 

It did take a long time to get the binding rings through, but it was worth it. I spent some time on Christmas Eve sharing why I picked the book I did for each person and why I made them as the journals. 

It was actually a really neat experience that allowed me to share with my kids what I love about each of them.

When I asked my son-in-law later what his favorite gift he received for Christmas, he said the journal. It made all the work worth it. Everyone, even my grandchildren really seemed to enjoy the journals. They asked if they could take pictures with me and the journals and put them in the front of the journals and also asked me to write something in the front of each, so I spent a few hours writing messages to each of them in their books. 

I made a video of how I made the books so that if anyone wanted to make them, their process may go a bit faster and easier. 

I loved that I was able to find a gift that everyone appreciated. Have a blessed day!