What are some of the things that come to mind when you think of spring: birdsong, butter yellow afternoons, trees in bud, pastels, soft scents, bunnies and chicks. How about glossy seeds, tissue skinned bulbs, fairy webbed root systems and that delicate, tender green that almost has a transparent quality as new shoots push forth from loamy soil rich in its own musk. Or, maybe, you can just sum it all up into one word – garden.



Whether you have acres, a plot or just a container or two, nothing symbolizes the season of spring and renewal quite like a garden. And not many more things can be as charming as hand written notes and observations about your very own garden in a quaint journal. A leaf masking taped to a page, a seed packet, and pictures from flower catalogs or magazines or even your own photos with notes on plant progress. Thoughts, ideas and diagrams are personal symbols and pieces of yourself that you can add to your pages to create your interior garden to be cherished even on the coldest of winter nights.



Best of all, you don’t have to spend a fortune on a fancy book or special supplies because in just a very short amount of time, following the step-by-step instructions, you can create your own garden journal, whether it’s for a real garden or just your wish for one; a journal that will uniquely reflect you!



1. Adhere a strip of double sided repositionable tape along the edge of the black binding on the composition book.





2. Line up a piece of scrapbook paper with the bottom edge of the composition book and the edge of the black binding, pressing gently to the repositionable tape.





3. Turn the composition book over and trace the outline of the book with a pencil.

4. Peel the scrapbook paper from the front cover and remove the tape: lay the scrapbook paper face down onto a cutting mat, then, using a sharp craft knife and ruler cut along the penciled lines.

5. Run the proportioned paper through a Xyron machine or use adhesive of choice and attach to the front cover: TIP: It is easiest to attach the paper by lining it up on the long outside edge first.

6. Repeat for the back cover. If you are going to cover the back cover, you will need two pieces of scrapbook paper.

7. My embellishments:
• Die cut the large bird from the Cavallini and Company file folder, then, edge with a black brush tip marker: run through Xyron machine and attach as shown
• Rub on letters to spell ‘garden’ onto a pink trimmed oval label sticker, then, peel backing and attach to cover



For this project, I have also included a design for a journal envelope to keep all your scraps and bits in one place until you can affix them to your journal pages. You can leave this envelope loose and just tuck it inside of the journal or you can attach it to the inside front or back cover, whichever is the most convenient for your purposes.

To find the products mentioned in this article and shown in these layouts, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you.