DIY Journal Covers

Notebook Cover Design Ideas - doodling on Moleskines

In addition to loving art supplies, I have a huge addiction to notebooks and journals of all kind. You can imagine my excitement at being able to use art supplies ON the journals themselves.

The Moleskine Cahier Journals in Kraft are perfect to draw on, and if you haven’t tried these yet, you can choose from lined, squared, dotted or plain. I’m using the plain cahiers here, but I like the lined ones equally. I always have a small notebook in my purse to jot down ideas or little drawings, and these are the absolute perfect size and thickness.

Notebook Cover Design Ideas - doodling on Moleskine kraft cover

The kraft covers are thick enough to take a lot of different materials, but are still flexible. Here are some notebook cover design ideas:

  • Decoupage with Mod Podge
  • Washi tape
  • Tons of stickers
  • Photo collages with packing tape over
  • Packing tape transfer
  • Gesso and acrylic paint
  • Sharpie and white Gelly pen as seen here

I was inspired by doing all sorts of Zentangle and doodling, and took some of those designs over to the Moleskine covers. Black and white looks awesome, but Sakura also has the Gelly Roll Moonlight pens that look fantastic on kraft covers.

Notebook Cover Design Ideas - doodling on Moleskines

Supplies for Notebook Cover Designing

 Moleskine Cahier Journal (Set of 3), Large, RuledCheck it Out Set of 3 Plain Notebook Moleskine Cahier Journal Kraft XLarge Book 3 packCheck it Out Sakura Gelly Roll Classic 05 (Fine Pt.) 3pk Pen, WhiteCheck it Out Sharpie Permanent Markers, Ultra Fine Point, Black, 12 CountCheck it Out Sakura 10-Piece Gelly Roll Assorted Colors Blister Card Moonlight 10 Bold Point Gel Ink Pen SetCheck it Out

(For some reason, as of the writing of this post, Amazon doesn’t have the middle size plain kraft Moleskines. I have bought them at Target, so if you are near a Target, you can probably find them there. Otherwise, the photo links about are for the lined and the larger size plain notebooks.)

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3 thoughts on “DIY Journal Covers”

  1. Oh, I love these! Where are the journals from? I love that such simple designs can be so effective. Have you seen Lisa Condon’s work, these remind me of her.
    I must admit though, I have never got on with gelly roll pens. I bought some with excitement and I can’t even make the white pretty, mine are scratchy and uneven. You have made me want to give them another chance though, so I shall seek me out some kraft paper or journals and do me some doodles.

    Reply
    • Oops- added the link to Amazon for the journals. They’re just the 3-pack of Moleskines, though. You can get them at Target. SO as far as the gelly roll pens go, I’ve heard before that this brand is the only one that people can get to work well- like without clumping or leaking. They were really smooth and wonderful. I would LOVE to see what you do with them.

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