A Special Baby Journal

This week I've been hard at work on this little altered journal.  A friend of mine is about to have a baby girl, and so I decided to make her a journal for a baby shower present.  This is the most elaborate/complicated journal I've ever done, and it was quite a process!  I started by wrapping a composition book with burlap.  I'm not sure why I chose to do that, to be honest, but I wanted a fabric starting point (not paper).  I think the burlap is good starting layer to work with, but a couple of things to note: it frays (a lot!) and it's kind of see-through.

After that, I started on the front cover, and layered an old doily with a tatted lace edge, paper, another doily, several layers of trim, and some chipboard until I got to this point:

Then I went to work on the inside covers.  Here's the front inside cover:

I covered the page with my all-time favorite scrapbooking paper.  Then I used another small rectangular doily, added part of a hanky to it, and glued it down on three sides to make a pocket.  Then I added some trims to the edge of the page.

For the back inside cover, I kept things a bit more simple with just paper and trims.

Then I finished up by adding paper and trims to the back cover.

At this point, I think I'm done, though it's hard to know when to say when.  I feel like it may need a few more things here or there.....    Anyway, the shower is tomorrow so I need to be finished with it soon!

Hope you have a great weekend!  I'll be back on Monday with an exciting giveaway!  Also, it's not too late to join the 25 Days of Christmas Stitchalong -- the more the merrier!!