How to make a Leather Travelers Notebook Cover

travelers notebook

Feb 1

Hey everybody! Today I have a DIY Travelers Notebook cover for you! I have made a couple of these now and I absolutely love them. my Travelers notebook is a place for me to plan, make lists, and process my emotions, as well as get to know myself better through creative expression! I don’t know what I would do If I didn’t have my second brain with me all the time!

Here in the video below you can see my process!

Design

Function

I wanted this to be a larger travelers notebook roughly a little larger than A5 sized (5.83 × 8.27in) so it could fit an A5ish bullet journal and 4 travelers notebook inserts (made with folded 8.5x11 sheets) without having any overhang off of the edge.

Dimensions

The dimensions I settled on for the leather was 8 7/8in tall x 13 7/8in wide.

These dimensions may not be ideal for you depending on the size of inserts you use and how many you want to add. So feel free to adapt the sizing as you see fit to fit your own personal needs!

Crafting

Cutting the Leather

To cut this leather I used a sharp hooked craft knife on a self healing cutting mat, using a large ruler to guide my cuts. This worked great and the vintage leather I used cut like buttah’!

A hooked blade on my craft knife, all the better to cut leather with my dear!

Using a quilting ruler to help me cut leather with a craft knife

When I had the general shape cut out I rounded the corners tracing a glue-stick cap (cause that was close haha) and I again cut with my craft knife.

Then I rolled the spine of the leather so that It would stay in the position I wanted it to be in. I wanted my journal to close fully and have a squarish spine.

Punching Holes/Adding Elastics

Once in the correct general shape, I decided to punch the holes for the elastics. This is a personal decision depending on the design you prefer. Since I like not having any overhand in my TNs I decided to punch 3 holes on the top and bottom, in sequence. I will then lace the elastic so there are 4 loops on the inside of my notebook. This arrangement will allow 2 loops to secure my bullet journal, with one loop left over one each side to loop 2 signatures onto. I also punched the center spine hole for the closure elastic.

To punch these holes I used a leather hole punch and it worked great. I punched the holes about 1/4in away from the edge off the leather and 1/4in away from each-other. I could have spread the elastics a little further away from eath-other, but this way I am able to still use this TN with less inserts without the journal looking sparse.

Hole Punched and ready to be laced with elastics!

To see how I laced the elastic watch the process in the video. It is so much easier to understand when you see the process! but put as simply as I can: I laced from the top outer holes from the outside in, I bring the elastics to the bottom, lace them out through the furthest holes from the center on the respective sizes, then I loop them in thorough the center hole on the bottom, then lace the 2 elastics up through the top center hole, tie-ing them on the outside of the top of the journal.

I ended up using a leather strap closure instead of the elastic as an experiment! How fun!

Finishing

You are at this point roughly done with the notebook. the last questions you have to ask yourself are

1) Do I want to burnish the edges of the leather?

2) Do I want to condition the leather?

Burnishing

I opted to bevel or miter the edges of the leather with a roughly 45 degree angle using my craft knife, just so the leather was a bit softer on the edges.

Then I burnished the edges of the leather with water and a cooking spoon that had the correct curvature in it while I was sitting on the couch in the evening time. :)

Conditioning

I also decided to condition my leather because I was using a dry vintage leather to begin with. This may not be necessary for your leather choice, but I thought it wise for mine. If you don’t choose to condition your leather, you will likely see more wear and tear on your cover as time goes on and you use it, This is a part of the travelers notebook appeal for a lot of people, but it doesn’t really matter to me that much.

When making this decision, Keep in mind what the appearance of wear and tear represents to you. Some people thing of wear and tear as battle scars that show the progression of their life and it reminds them of where they have been and the adventures they have had. Some people may think that a beat up leather notebook looks neglected and like it is not cared for. This presents an amazing prompt for some shadow work If you are interested in exploring that part of yourself as well.

If you do decide to condition your travelers notebook and you dont have any leather conditioner or shoe polish, please checkout my DIY leather conditioner recipe here!

Finished Travelers Notebook with leather strap before Conditioning and Burnishing

Thoughts

A travelers notebook can be a great way to journal, list and plan all in one place so I hope this can help to inspire those of you who have not tried this planning system to adopt it! It really is a DIY planning system and it is so adaptable for any persons personal needs.

Maybe you can even make a travelers notebook to fit your own needs from an unused scrap of leather laying around!

All in all, do what you like and what will bring you joy. A Travelers Notebook should be bringing organization an simplicity to your life, not worry and strife. Trust yourself!

And so it is!

With love,

Featured

I am a creative, jack of all trades, homesteading in the Inland Northwest. When I began practicing magic about 12 years ago I never imagined I would learn as much as I have. So I thought it may be helpful to share what I’ve learned with you magical folks! I also sell Washington made Beeswax Candles and Shadow Work Journals/Grimoires in the shop here too! I hope you stick around to explore, teach, and learn about magic with me!