Fabric-covered Prayer Journal

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I try to pray, my mind wanders.  One of the best tools that I have found to help stay focused is to use a prayer journal.  Of course, it's always fun to have a cute one!

I have been helping with a high school girls' conference called Go with God for many years.  Every year, we give each participant a prayer journal.  For the past three years, we have given the girls a fabric-covered journal like this with colors that match our T-shirt.  They have been a really popular addition to the packet. 

You will need:

Composition journal-- 9 3/4 by 7 1/2 inches
Fabric
Thin quilt batting
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Assorted ribbon
Cardstock

First, cut your fabric into an 18 by 12 1/2 inch rectangle.  Cut batting into a 15 1/4 by 9 3/4 inch rectangle.  This is a forgiving project, so you don't have to be super-exact!  You can get 6 journals out of one yard of fabric.

Place a line of hot glue down the front edge of the journal and glue the batting to the edge.
Repeat for the back side.  Don't worry if your batting doesn't line up exactly with the edge--you can stretch it out slightly or cut it.
Place material over the top and line it up so you have the fabric centered on the journal.
Open the front cover and place a line of glue along the edge starting from about inch from the top to one inch from the bottom. 
Fold your material over and press down. Be careful not to burn your fingers!
Do the same on the back edge.  Do not pull the material too much or your journal will not close well.
I am so sorry for the focus in this picture--I was trying to hold open the journal and take a picture with one hand!  Glue the top and bottom edges on the back side in a similar manner.  You can pull the material more for this step.  Leave the material at the corners sticking up as shown.
Grab the tip of the corner and fold down.  Glue, securing corners of fabric.  Repeat for bottom corner.
Cut a diagonal line in the fabric near the spine. 
Turn to the front of the journal.  Pull fabric around paper, and glue along top edge of cover, starting about one inch from spine and going to one inch from the edge of the journal.
It will look something like this.  I have found that you can pull the cover a bit from the paper to create a gap to get your fabric into. 
Place a small dot of glue at the spine behind the paper and secure. 
Cut excess fabric.  Repeat these steps for the bottom edge of the journal.  Then glue front corners.  On any corners of fabric that are sticking up, place a small dot of glue and secure.
Glue a piece of ribbon on the back cover to use as a bookmark.
Then decorate as desired with ribbon.  You can print something out on cardstock or just cut plain cardstock to glue inside the front and back covers to finish the look. You will want two pieces size 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches. 

Hope you enjoy this fun, fast and easy project!











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