A fter my failed attempt at customizing my first journal card notebook, it was time to go back to basics. I determined that my calligraphy isn’t yet at a point where I’m ready to immortalize it on a journal that I will be using for a total of 9 years.

Still, I love words and quotes and poems, I love handwritten things, and I’m pretty obsessed with the look of white ink on kraft paper. It was time to try again at customizing these moleskin notebooks.

I decided that I’m too green a calligrapher right now to get fancy on these covers – and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made for the various covers to have a somewhat uniform look. The only reason that these are separate notebooks in the first place is because I was unable to find a notebook with 365 pages. It made sense to have some cohesion among all of the notebooks since I’m really looking at them as one unit.

I pulled out the white ink again, stuck with a simple uppercase font, and tried again.

Much better.

I’m a collector of quotes and poems, so I was able to flip through my trusty quote book and find 6 long passages to fill up each cover. I tried to find messages that tied in with living days fully, appreciating moments, and the passage of time.

There were a few poems that just HAD to go on covers.

This poem by e.e. cummings gets me every time. The line breaks are messed up, but I figured that, of all people, the man with no capitalization in his name would approve.

And this prayer/poem seemed fitting for the November and December journal with the Thanksgiving holiday.

Susan B. Anthony deserved a cover, as did Father Gregory Boyle who’s written one of the most moving books I’ve read in a long time (that’s an affiliate link – it really is an incredible book and one I will go back to many times throughout my life).

Unlike my first attempt with these journals, I LOVE how these turned out.

They each have a bit of their own personality while also looking like a collection.

I’m looking forward to filling these up over the coming years!