Organizational Journal

Today I want to share a great New Years project with you. Like many of you, the new year always gets me thinking of ways to be more organized. My life is insane with teaching full time, two children, and being very involved in the church we pastor. I like to keep a notebook in my purse to write down list or jot something down as I need it. I know we live in a high-tech age (my husband would be lost without his iphone!) but when it comes to things like that, I do better with a piece of paper. My goal was to make something pretty and fun that would keep this lists organized for me rather than just random scraps of paper or notebooks. It also helped me in another New Years goal which is to use the products and tools I've been collecting!

I started by cutting a test cut for dividers to see how big I wanted everything. I used the wonderful tabbed cards on From My Kitchen and cut them at 5" which ended up being just the size I was looking for. I then cut the covers out of my favorite chipboard--cereal boxes!! (Honey Nut Cherrios are some of the sturdiest.) I cut the covers at 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" I then covered them with a layer of black cut the same size, red at 5" x 8" and patterned paper cut at 4 3/4" x 7 3/4". All of the patterned paper and solid colored paper was from a Christmas pad of paper I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. It has the most elegant patterns and several that had no Christmas designs at all which I used. I then cut the medallion from French Manor at 4" in red with the layer in black. The medallion got a little lost on the patterned paper, so I cut a layer of cream at 7 3/4" x 4". This layer was ran through my cuttlebug using the textile folder for texture and layered under the medallion. Before putting all the layers together, I used the Pink Stamper method to add black satin ribboon and a red and black satin bow. Once the cover was assembled, I used my irock to add the clear crystals to the medallion. The back of the cover was covered with patterned paper cut to fit. The inside of the back cover was covered with patterened paper like the front, then the outside was oovered in black with contrasting pieces of red and patterned paper .

The dividers were a lot of fun to do. I cut each one out in white cardstock at 5" using From My Kitchen so they would be sturdy. I then cut them out in cream, black and red to cover the front of each one. The back of each one was covered in patterned paper. The pattern that you see on the contrast piece on the front is what is on the back. The contrast pieces for each one were cut at 5" x 7" for the patterned paper and 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the solid cream piece. I decorated each divider with French Manor with Heritage for the tea set. The clock was cut at 5", the table 3" and the dress form at 4". The tea set I cut at 1 1/2" All of the stamps I used to decorate were from Close to My Heart. The cream colored piece on the one with the table was run through the cuttlebug using the textile folder. For the tabs I labled them using the font from Quarter Note cut at 1/2". I cut regular copy paper for the inside pages at 5" x 8 1/2". Then I bound it using my bind it all with 3/4" wires.

I hope you have enjoyed my project today. It was my first time making a journal type project. This was one of those that started out as one idea, then evolved as I went. But, I'm thrilled how it turned out. So what are you doing to get organized this year? Thanks for stopping by!