I know this is a bit late for Earth Day which was last April 22, but its better late than never. Anyway, I do not know what came into me earlier today but I was longing to have a journal again, something that has my personal touch and not just something that you can buy in a bookstore. I wanted to bind my own journal the way I did before, make the cover and everything to make it completely mine. So, my husband and I made a detour to National Bookstore to look for handmade/recycled paper and anything that would somehow look good in a handmade journal but to no avail. They do not carry recycled paper and I just don’t like writing on a pristine white generic paper, I wanted the recycled/handmade ones. I was about to give it all up when I saw this little journal with a cover made of abaca fiber and banana leaf and recycled kraft paper with plastic beads and a short quote in white paper on the cover. I don’t really like the overall look but for Php 40 its good enough for me, its just needs about an hour of my time. I looked for twines to give it a more rustic appearance but could not find any in the bookstore.

So we went home with my price and started on my project after a few moments. I tore off the paper with a quote on the front page because its not me and I am left with a big ugly tear in my abaca fiber cover, so I did what I can. Since I don’t have any recycled paper in stock, I printed out my favorite Dr. Seuss saying and added clouds and sequins in a thread for rain, snails, flowers and cute little umbrellas for the front cover. For the back cover, I used an abaca twine which was used to tie up the plastic wrapper of the journal and made it into a sun. My wandering eyes did not miss the coconut twine used to tie the spicy coconut dipping sauce (sawsawan) top wrapper and now it is beginning its second life as a beaded tie to lock my journal. The wooden beads are from my daughter’s bead collection…

So, I am finally done with my project and although its not exactly the way I want it to be, but given the limited resources I am satisfied with it. Now, the hard part begins, I actually need to write in it. But what do I write?
Note: Click image to enlarge