Tips for Covered Journals

I love little covered journals. I use them for all sorts of purposes. I have one journal that I use for recording the books I've read (over forty last year!). This journal was in use for more than two years. I used it to record my expenses each month. As I recall, I chose the wishing well papers because I wished that I didn't have to record my expenses. Ha ha!

As you can tell, it got quite a lot of use. So much, in fact, that all the pages have now been used and I needed a new journal.

These are little journals, measuring just a little over 3 by four inches, perfect for fitting in a purse.

I decided to cover this journal in happy papers from the Simple Stories Summer Fresh collection. Now, as you may have noticed, the journals have rounded edges. I knew I'd need a corner rounder for the papers. But which one? It's a good idea to test the round for each punch before you use it. Grab a piece of scrap paper and punch both ends with the different rounders.

Then lay the scrap onto the corner of the journal. As you can see, the first rounder would have taken too big of a chunk off the corner. The second rounder was a much better fit.

And here's the finished product! A happy little journal to record my monthly expenses.

I chose this paper as a reminder. It makes me think of James 1:17: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Let's face it. No one likes expenses. And I really don't like limited funds and budgets. But I do need to remind myself to count my blessings. After all, my husband has a good job that provides for our family. While so many parents struggle to feed their children and make the rent and keep the heat on, we are blessed to be able to pay for all of those things, while also paying for two college tuitions....all on one salary.

Do we have to be careful with the money? Of course. Family dinners at restaurants? That is a rare event. Home improvements? If it's not a DIY job, then it doesn't happen. Vacations? What are those? But the truth is, we have more than we need. We are blessed beyond measure.

It's all good!