If you’re doing a pocket scrapbooking project, then journaling cards are probably something that you look for in kits or add-ons because they fill out these blocked pages so nicely.
Can you make your own journaling cards? Of course! They’re easy! Any kit can be made to work for pocket scrapbooking and making your own journaling cards is one of the easiest ways to do that.
Let’s walk through making a few 3×4 journaling cards together:
Card 1 – Tiny banner
Step 1 – Create a 3×4 canvas at 300 dpi.
Step 2 – Draw two boxes as shown.
Step 3 – Rasterize the shape layers. With the smaller box layer active, use the lasso tool to select a “notch” shape on the box. Hit delete.
Step 4 – Use the warp tool on both box layers to slightly warp the edges, to give it a less digi-perfect look.
Step 5 – Save as a layered TIF or PSD file.
Card 2 – Centre Journaling Spot
Step 1 – Create a 3×4 canvas at 300 dpi.
Step 2 – Use the rounded corner tool to draw a box as shown (in red). Duplicate the rounded corner box (in white) and shrink it slightly so that the bottom one (red) creates a small frame.
Step 4 – Use the warp tool on both boxes to slightly warp the edges, to give it a less digi-perfect look.
Optional: Add a doodle edge. I used a purchased doodle action by Krystal Hartley and WendyZine. (I used a 5 pt. stroke and set the number of generators to 3 – this will make sense when if you use this particular action, otherwise ignore it!)
Step 5 – Save as a layered TIFF or PSD file.
Card 3 – Paper Journaling Strips
Step 1 – Create a 3×4 canvas at 300 dpi.
Step 2 – Use the rectangle shape tool to draw four or five journaling boxes, as shown.
Step 3 – Use the warp tool on all the boxes to slightly warp the edges, to give it a less digi-perfect look.
Optional: Add a doodle edge. I used the purchased doodle action by Krystal Hartley and WendyZine.
Step 4 – Save as a layered TIFF or PSD file.
To Use Your Journaling Card “Templates”
You can clip papers from any kit onto the journaling card templates, flatten and then copy them onto your pocket scrapbooking page.
Don’t forget that you can flip cards by mirroring them or turning them upside down to make them even more versatile! Shadow layers or don’t – it’s all up to you.
Here are the journaling cards I made, using a couple of kits:
This is such a great way to take any kit you have and make it work for pocket scrapbooking!
PS – If you’d rather purchase journaling card templates, they are available at various stores! Check them out – some come with doodle layers and stitching and other designer add-ons. They’re a handy tool to have in your pocket scrapbooking tool kit.
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Thank you so much for this great tutorial. I’ve already made one card, and I am looking forward to making more!
Great tutorial, thank you!
Ah great timing! I created a couple of sets of journaling cards yesterday for my December memories project. I’m going to have to go look through and play with these ideas. Never thought to warp edges or add doodles!
Is there a warp tool in PSE? or a workaround for us?
Thank you for the tip about warping to make things look less “digi-perfect.” I hadn’t thought about that, but it’s a great idea and I think the way you’ve done that on your example cards looks wonderful.
I just yesterday made something I’ve been wanting to make for a long time – a “master” journal card template file. Basically it’s a 3×4 TIFF with a big stack of basic background papers (white, cream, grid, ledger, kraft, etc) one on top of the other. Then on top of that, on separate layers, are all different templates for individual journal card elements – rounded border, stripe along the side, top and bottom borders, brackets on both sides and top and bottom, arrow, tiny banners, doily shape, etc. I can now make combinations by choosing which elements to combine, which background paper to use, and then clipping papers to the different layers. I haven’t played around with it much yet, but my vision is to be able to take a kit and use the papers in it to make a whole bunch of different coordinating journal cards, so I can have “sets” to grab and use quickly for PL. I spend a lot of time hunting around through my digital journal card stash trying to find a card that, for example, has enough space for the length of journaling I need to do, but also coordinates with the other cards I’m using and the background paper of my PL layout, etc.
So thanks for a very timely tutorial and some great inspiration!
great tutorial post!!! Thank you so much!!
great tutorial! thank you!
This is great! It can get expensive to buy all the journaling cards. I think I already own the doodle action, and I completely forgot about it! I’m going to go find it and put it to use on some journaling cards. Woo-Hoo!
Great ideas Heddy! No reason why we can’t add to our stash by making our own.
Very helpful and cost effective. Though i am going to have to look up rasterize, still leraning. Thanks!
I actually made my first journaling card yesterday! You have given me some great ideas!
One of these days i hope to find time to try some of these cool things!!! Looks fun!