DIY Leather Burned Traveler’s Notebook

Do  you love Traveler’s Notebooks? I do! And so today I wanted to show y’all how you can create your own custom journal cover using leather from Silver Creek Leather and Walnut Hollow’s Leather Branding Tool!

Supplies:

• Leather Sheet from Silver Creek Leather
• Leather Branding Tool
• Leather Stencil
• Leather Paints (I used Deco Art)
• #2 Paint Brush
• Elastic Cord
• Needle
• Awl

Step 1:

The 8×11″ sheet of leather is already perfectly sized for a Traveler’s Notebook, so we just need to decorate it, and the leather branding tool is perfect for that. I love being able to burn designs into the beautiful soft leather.

You can use the Leather Stencil to quickly and easily burn letters into your leather. The mini flow point on the branding tool fits perfectly into the metal stencil.

Step two:

Continue burning designs until you’re happy with it. I covered my piece of leather in cactus doodles.

Step three:

Take a small #2 paint brush and apply DecoArt’s Patent Leather paint around the burned designs. A small paintbrush is handy for getting the detailed areas.

I mixed turquoise and white 1:1 for a lighter blue paint.

Step four:

Next, take your awl and punch 4 holes into the leather at the top and bottom edges. I punched mine at .5 and 1″ from the edges.

Sew your elastic thread through the holes, tying it on the inside.

Step five:

Punch 1 more hole, this time in the middle of your leather piece. Thread a 11″ piece of elastic through the hole and knot the ends together on the inside. You’ll have a large loop of leather on the outside, and you’ll use this to hold your notebook closed.

And that’s it! Add a couple of Traveler’s Notebook Inserts to the inside of this leather journal and you have a beautiful new notebook cover! Being able to create your own leather designs with the Leather Branding tool means that you can more your own unique TN covers!

You can purchase a Leather Branding Tool here, It comes with 3 different tips you can use!

Bio: Katie is an artist currently living in the Pacific Northwest. She is a lover of everything crafty and is the girl behind the blog Studio Katie, where she posts DIY’s, art journals, scrapbooks, and all sorts of creative things.