Don't you love the $1 bins just inside Target?

Oh, I do!  On many trips to Target, that is as far as I go!  I love those bins.  It's a crafter's treasure chest!  Read on and find out what you can make from the dollar bin.

As I am having a lull on the Round Robin art journal project (not sure how I got ahead!), I have been trying to make some journals for a craft show fundraising project our home school co-op will be participating in later this year. 

I am not a journaler, particularly an art journaler, except for the Round Robin project, but I like to make them for gifts, especially for ladies and teen girls.  I remember as a pre-teen and teenager I kept a diary; I saved pictures from magazines and I doodled.  The "diaries" are different now. They were tiny little things with a lock, which was half the fascination with keeping a diary....the fact that you had something so secret you had to LOCK it!

My mother is a journaler. She writes down everything. She writes in books she has read, in magazines. We have a monthly family dinner and she writes down who was there and things that were said and done.  As I get older, I am beginning to wonder is she doing that as a memento or as a memory booster?  I am getting to the point I can't remember from month to the next who hosted the dinner! 

My rubber stamping mentor (Shawn) showed me a little notebook she got at a craft swap and one she made at a craft camp.  Since I was holding Teacher Planning Day Craft Camps I needed all the ideas I could gather and I knew my little craft camp girls would love these!  So, here are pictures of some.  The two small ones are samples that Shawn gave me.  

Made from a plain little notebook that was 2 for a $1 in Target's bargain shelves, these little journals are so cute.  You can use any embellishment to suit your need.  I am going to make some Red Hat journals and some Visalus Promoter journals (for my fellow promoters to keep up with their customers and parties, shopping lists, etc) and Visalus Challenge journals (for my fellow 90 Day Challengers to keep shopping lists, recipes, weight and stats updates).  See how small they are? Fit nicely into your purse, with your phone.

Now, this one I really love, too.  It is great for any notes and little sketches, address book, personal bookkeeping.  This is made from a miniature composition book. I always loved when school shopping started because I loved getting those black and white composition books. Still love them!

The little tiny composition books can be bought at Target or any dollar store, in some places they are 3 for a dollar, some places you can get lucky and get 5 for a dollar. (please forgive my blurry pictures...I have gremlins in my camera today. Probably the humidity)

And finally, the most popular.  These are the regular size composition books. I just decorate them to fit the personality or need of the journaler. These are very popular gift items.  

This is just a composition book covered with coordinating fabrics and decorated with scrapbook paper, ribbon, lace, and anything else you want to use. Your name goes on the pink ribbon across the bottom of the cover.

You can't see the black tab across the bottom on the right because it has the name of the person who is receiving this book (and she doesn't know it yet). 

A page to put your favorite photo(s) and a little intro about yourself.

Many of the pages are decorated with some sort of stamped image. Not all of the pages, though, so you have room for your own sketches and drawings!

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly"

Want me to make one for you, or your favorite journaler?  Or visit Target's bargain bins and find things you can take home and recycle and make your own!

Thank you, Shawn, for turning me onto Target's bargain bins!

Happy Friday everyone!