Hello! I hope you're doing well. Before we get started today, I have to say that if you're in the east coast, I'm hoping and praying that all of you are safe, and doing well. I've been watching and my heart breaks for all of the loss and destruction the storm has brought.
Today, I wanted to share with you an older project that I did, but I think with the impending holidays it is a good one to think of as it's a quick and easy way to use some of your stash and make a sweet little journal for keeping track of your lists or photos. If you're anything like me, chances are you have tons of vintage hankies in your studios, and we're going to put them to use.
I made these vintage hankie journals a couple of years ago with my Mom and they were a lot of fun to put together. You just need a few basic supplies, which most of you probably already have.
You'll need some vintage hankies, other bits of vintage lace and trim, old millinery, plain cardstock, vintage ephemera, and either a sewing machine or a sturdy adhesive.
As the base of my journal, I like to use these pocket folders found at Paper Source. They come in lots of different colors. I like to use these simply because they are a sturdy cardstock material, and they already have a great little pocket built in.
You'll want to cut your plain cardstock to the size of your folder, and use as many sheets as you want in your journal. You can alternate your pages between cardstock and vintage ephemera if you would like.
Before attaching your pages though, you will want to cut a vintage hankie in half, and sew or glue it onto your paper folder. You can further embellish the outside of your journal with sweet little images and bits of old laces and trims.
For my journals I used the wonderful images of little girls found on vintage patterns. They're just so sweet and nostalgic. Please feel free to use the above images if you would like. Just print them, cut them out and adhere to your journal. You can make a few copies so that you could use the images throughout your journal as well.
Once you are happy with the covers of your journal it's time to move to the inside. Here you will want to sew your cardstock and ephemera to your cover. I just make a stack and sew right down the middle. You can see here how I alternated between pages of a vintage ledger and plain cardstock.
I also added vintage wallpaper to the inside covers of my journal. Embellish the pages as you would like adding more lace, or images.
The pocket in the back is great for holding lists, or photos waiting to be added to your journal. It's also a wonderful place to keep elements you plan to use in your journal as you can see in the photo below.
These journals make great little gifts, and when giving them as gifts I like to put all sorts of elements in the pocket that the recipient might like to use as well as special photos or memorabilia.
Here's a few others I have made as gifts in the past.
I love quick projects, don't you? If you have any questions, please let me know, and if you make any hankie journals, I would love to see!
Happy creating, Cerri
These are so sweet would be cute with paper dolls inside for "quite" play. Thanks for sharing, E
Posted by: E | October 30, 2012 at 06:55 PM
Cerri - these are lovely - I have some vintage hankies with torn places and spots - what a perfect way to repurpose those - (to E - love the idea for paper dolls) - Love your blog, Cerri - and your wonderful tutorials.
Posted by: Donna | October 30, 2012 at 07:27 PM
Re: [Little Pink Studio] E submitted a comment to "Tuesday tutorial: Vintage hankie journals"
E, I love that idea!
Posted by: littlepinkstudio | October 30, 2012 at 09:12 PM
Those are so sweet Cerri! It's so nice of you to constantly give us your time showing us pretty ideas to work on!!!! What a neat idea for old hankies!
I hope you have a beautiful day!!!
Posted by: Tricia K. Johnson | October 31, 2012 at 07:48 AM
Hi Cerri!
These are just darling! Happy Halloween! karen....
Posted by: karen | October 31, 2012 at 08:13 PM
Hello Cerri! You always come up with the cutest ideas. I have tons of hankies and am always needing ideas as to what to do with them. Love the journals! I hope you will have more ideas for hankies in the future?
Posted by: Carol | November 03, 2012 at 06:30 PM