Jane Austen July / One Book July Journal

Jane Austen Digi-Kit from Nik The Booksmith available on Etsy.

How to Read Jane Austen

 

EVERYTHING ELSE MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:

#janeaustenjuly is hosted by: Books & Things:    • Jane Austen July ...   Spinster's Library:    • Jane Austen July ...   Bookish Things:    • Jane Austen July ...   Nik The Booksmith's Jane Austen Digi-Kit (Printable): Video:    • A Journal for Jan...   Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBooksmit... There are 2 kits; one with the Persuasion cover &accessories, and one with a reading / journal kit. BRAIN-BASED LEARNING-- Many books! But start with: "Brain-Based Learning: Teaching the Way Students Really Learn 3rd Edition" by Eric Jensen His website: https://www.jensenlearning.com/ for seminars, (Bonus! CEU's for teachers) "Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head, Second Edition" by Carla Hannaford PRIDE & PREJUDICE: BBC 1995 is available on Amazon Prime for streaming Pride & Prejudice movie with Keira Knightly, ditto For funsies: Rachel Maksy "I Edited Myself Into Pride & Prejudice (2005)"    • I Edited Myself I...   This made me FINALLY watch the movie! On Audible: "The Jane Austen Collection: An Audible Original Drama" (Bonus! Emma Thompson!) Clark Kegley on how he uses puzzles:    • 4 habits that (ac...   JANE AUSTEN REGENCY BOOKS: "Jane Austen for Kids: Her Life, Writings, and World, with 21 Activities" by Nancy I. Sanders "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist -- The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England" by Daniel Pool "Jane Austen's England" by Roy Adkins & Lesley Adkins "Elegant Etiquette in the Nineteenth Century" by Mallory James "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England from 1811-1901" by Kristine Hughes "Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World" by Claire Harman

Custom Journal for THE John Morgan

I wanted to write a blog post for my latest journal, since I didn't do a video flip-thru of it before I sent it to its recipient, John Morgan. I wrote a more extensive post in honour of John Morgan on my Labyrinth Gal blog. This post is more about the journal. I'll show some photos, and then I will have links to supplies, tools, and information on how to make the journal.

Here's the journal:

It's a Booksmith journal, of course! It has a 3 1/2 inch curved spine.

 John is the author of GrasshopperNotes.com, 

hence The Grasshopper in all its festive glory.

I made the frame using a creative commons 

image I got in MS Publisher. 

I used gold paint to accent, and a gold-ribbon tie closure:

The inside opens to reveal that it is also a Traveler's Notebook:

Green elastics.  I included 3 inserts, but there

is LOTS of room and elastics to add more.

I glued an envelope down on the inside front 

cover with a note inside. Ferny wax seal on the 

envelope in keeping with the green theme. 

The letter inside says:

"Listener Food" is defined on a page down 

below. A "Remote" is a radio term for being

out of the studio on location. Often remote. Ha!

A pocket made with a green file folder for cards, ephemera &c.:

Vintagey label from Nik The Booksmith.

Here's the first insert:

I designed the inserts in MS Publisher and included a lot of family photos, which I won't share here. I also included some of his birthday-related blogposts. Here are a few pages:

Photo of him and his dad, secured with Tim Holtz paper clip.

John & his mother in a photo booth:

Looks like a Tim Holtz photo strip. That's another 

one of his tiny paper clips holding it to the page.

Photo of Steve Martin that John took at one of his shows:

So I signed it a la Steve Martin.

Last page:

Magnolia May was really John's idea! So I 

had to have "her" sign his book.

The idea for this is that friends and family can sign The Birthday Book, taken out of the Traveler's Notebook, so I included a pen loop and  (NON-fountain) pen:

Pilot G-2 rollerball pen.

Back cover of the Birthday insert:

John is wearing one of his granddaughter's 

hats, taken at her birthday party.

Second insert: I have notebooks & journals filled with notes I took over the years for John Morgan Seminars. I've often read them to him, but he's never seen them. So I included a few pages in an insert for him:

I copied the entries onto parchment paper:

The third insert is Radio-themed from his days in radio:

Inside has a pocket made with a photo of him when he was a DJ at KCMO (Kansas City). He rode a bull for some radio stunt:

Inside the pocket is one of his blog posts, Friendship,

 printed onto parchment.

Here are a few pages with quotes and stories:

John had Gary Owens (from Laugh-In) record some 

"drop-ins" for his show.

Center of insert:

Newspaper article from DJ days at KCMO.

Back of insert:

He was "Chuck Taylor" in Wilkes-Barre for 2 years and 

told a lot of corny jokes. E.g. "Today's secret word is 

PEANUT BUTTER. Spread it around." Hahahaha

Back cover of Radio insert:

I included one of his Grasshopper Notes journals:

If you want to make a journal like this:

1. Take the Adventures in Booksmithing course by Nik The Booksmith.

2. Take the Hollow Back Book Binding course.

3. Then make a Traveler's Notebook spine with elastics.

Sound like a lot of work?  Exactly. However, if you want to make high quality, fool-proof journals and books, it's still the best course to take. She has taken the guesswork out of making a Booksmith tome, and you won't have to try to deconstruct or reinvent how to do it. Clear instructions, all the best materials, supplies and tools to use.  She does a lot of free tutorials on her YouTube channel, too. OK, that's my testimonial.  ;-)  

For Booksmith-specific materials & supplies, you'll need to take the course. E.g. cover material, spine construction, etc. etc. For the rest, here are (non-affiliate) links to supplies and materials:

Parchment paper

HP laser 32 lb. paper  Decent for photos and great for rollerball or fountain pens!

Dip pen nib

Dip pen ink

Elastic (1 mm):  The elastic in this journal is from Tuesday Morning from years ago. Your local craft store should have basic white and/or black. White is good because they you can dye it whatever colour you need. I just lucked out with the already-green for this journal!

Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive

Double-sided tape (used in making the back Ephemera pocket)

Fern wax seal  I can't find the exact one I have, but this one is close.

Coloured hot glue sticks (The ones I used are currently unavailable)

Tim Holtz mini paper clips

If I've left anything out that you want to know about, leave a comment below & I'll answer.

Lastly, 2 videos on how to make non-wax "wax" seals. The first with hot glue:

Here's a video tutorial from Nik with a different method:

OK, I think that's all!  

P.S. Here's a link to John Morgan's YouTube channel. 

Fake Wax Seals

Wax seals give a great, finished, old-timey look to add to letters, journals, etc.  Here is the first method I did with polymer clay:

This is how to do it with hot glue:



Nik The Booksmith very kindly answered my plea of Polymer clay conundrums!

New Fern Traveler's Notebook

Video flip-thru of a TN I made using the latest Fern Specimen Museum Slides digi-kit from Nik The Booksmith:

2019 Gratitude Journal

Flip-thru of Gratitude Journal:

Original Booksmith Pride & Prejudice journal:

Fernie's World: A New Journal & Series

This is a new Booksmith journal I created around the theme of ferns, and includes the first story of Fernie's World, a new series. It is also a Traveler's Notebook and comes with:

*4 inserts/notebooks: one lined, one drawing paper, one "eco-printed" green dyed paper, and a Junk Journal insert with a combination of lined, ink-stained, fern-imprinted, ledger and music paper. Paper is all 32 lb. paper and is fountain pen/rollerball friendly.

*The first chapter of Fernie's World is included as a booklet 

*An ephemera packet: cards, fabric, lace, washi tape, music paper

*Gold fountain pen, ink cartridges & ink blotter page

To construct the journal, I combined The Adventures in Booksmithing course along with The Hollow Back Binding course. To learn how to make your own Booksmith tomes and a whole lot more, here's a link to her FABULOUS online classes: Nik The Booksmith's Booksmithing courses.  Here's a link to her Nik The Booksmith YouTube channel for more tutorials and inspiration.

To learn how to make your own Traveler's Notebooks, here's a link to my Ledger & Lace Teachable classroom for a free course.

Here's a video flip-thru of the journal: 



Here's the story:

Here's Nik The Booksmith's Fern journal of AWESOMENESS:

FERNIE'S WORLD

Chapter 1

Fanny was unintentional in her pursuit of ferns. It was her nature--and curiosity of Nature, that led her into the woods with her father, a botanist, and her older brother, William. Her father was more intent on the measuring and preserving of botanical specimens with their proper Latin names, and William was more interested in the artistic rendering of the landscape. Initially it was to stay out of the way so that Papa wouldn't leave her behind with Nurse and her younger siblings. She was not to touch any of the plants with which he was working, and she was not to stand in William's view. 

On a hot, sunny day by Queen's Brook, as Papa collected and William sketched, Fanny grew weary from the heat. "Fanny," said Papa, "Fill the water flask for us, please," as he handed her his field flask. She followed the path down to the creek and filled it. At six years old, she was happy that she could be helpful in such serious, scientific endeavors, if only to bring water. She took a long drink, refilled the flask, and brought it back. "Here, Papa." 

Papa took a drink and handed it to William. She was delighted that they could forgo the social propriety of cups, and be "heathen Barbarians" as her mother called them when they were out in the Wilds of Nature. As Papa wiped his brow, he said, "What did you notice at the creek?" 

She knew he was asking a botanical question, but she was more impressed with the frogs that had jumped into the water with several "Plops!" at her approach.  "I saw several Amphibia of the Animalia kingdom," she answered. 

Papa laughed. He looked down affectionately at his daughter with her damp forehead and flushed cheeks.  "Perhaps you will find something of botanical interest in the shade by the brook," he suggested. 

As she settled on a large boulder with a mossy patch, she noticed that flowers weren't growing in this part of the landscape. In fact, it was cooler and darker and somehow greener. She brushed her hand through the lush moss and gently rested her cheek against it. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the earthy fragrance about her. No flowers here with their wafting, sweet scents. 

She opened her eyes and stared intently across the creek, waiting patiently for the frogs to reappear. As she did, she took notice of the ferns; how beautiful and abundant they were!  She felt a slight breeze and watched as it rustled through the ferns to make them sway and dance.  How delightful!  

"Papa!" She called out, forgetting to be quiet for the frogs. "What is the botanical name for ferns?"

Papa smiled and called back, "Pteridophyta!"  

She sat up and ran back to her father with gleaming eyes.  "I suppose," he said, smiling and reaching into his field satchel, "You will be in want of a proper sketchbook."   

And so it began. 

New Pride & Prejudice Journals

3 New Jane Austen-inspired Digi-Kits & a Freebie

First up, I have the Pride & Prejudice Peacock journal kit based on the Booksmith Classics challenge I did of Pride & Prejudice from Nik the Booksmith.  

Next up, a journal kit made up of C.E. Brock illustrations from Pride & Prejudice: 

This kit also includes:

And finally, I've created a kit of "Wax" Seals that you can print out and fussy cut: 

To learn how to make your own Booksmith journals, check out Nik's Teachable courses.

And here's your freebie!

 Oh that Mr. Darcy!

And here's a video walk-thru with Magnolia May:

Classics Challenge for Nik the Booksmith: Pride & Prejudice

This is my Booksmith tome for the Nik the Booksmith Classics Challenge:

To learn how to make your own Booksmith journals, check out Nik's Teachable courses.

To see all the other journals for the challenge (and be blown away by their talent)! click HERE for the playlist.