DIY Upcycled Coffee Sleeve Journals


One of the things I wanted to do more than anything during my summer vacation was clean out my garage. Not only can I check that one off my list, but I found a box that I completely forgot I had. Inside are 1,200 cardboard coffee cup sleeves, like you pick up at the coffee shop so you don't burn your hand on your cup. So what am I doing with them? I'm decorating them, of course, and making some pretty cool upcycled projects like this journal.


There's nothing special about the sleeves. They're just corrugated cardboard. You just push the folded edges in so you can set your coffee cup down in them and pull them up snug. 


But add some card stock pages and some beautiful die cuts, and you suddenly have a journal you can't wait to fill up!


I started by tracing the sleeve and cutting it well inside the lines. This makes the perfect template so the pages will be slightly smaller than the two covers. And yes, the eyeglasses pencil says Turn your eyes upon Jesus. I've had it since I was a little girl.


I cut 16 pages to go inside the journal.


Then I punched two holes for book rings through both covers and all the pages. I could stop right there, as it's a complete journal now, but where's the fun in that?


To decorate my cover, used my page template to cut out a piece of patterned paper, attached it to the sleeve and lined up my holes.


I chose this big, beautiful sunflower die cut, adhered it and punched out the holes.


The hello die cut is metallic, so the whole cover shines and sparkles!


For the inside pages, I alternated ones with die cuts for some that are just blank on both sides. I don't want to limit my creativity!


I also took a few of the larger die cuts from this set, punched the holes in them and added them to the book ring without adhering them to a page.


Now I can write in it, journal, draw (maybe) and anything else I want.


When it's closed, you can see all the die cuts sticking out where I overlapped them off the page. I love this look, like a junk journal but much prettier.


A few lengths of baker's twine in two colors on the book rings, and it's all done. I can't wait to start some Scripture journaling in it, creating a beautiful keepsake of my thoughts in this second half of the year. I also have more ideas for these coffee sleeves, so stay tuned!

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