Planner-lovers, cardmakers and scrapbookers alike would love to receive a handy "Journal Card Portfolio" such as this!  Shellye McDaniel here with a fun spin on the traveler's notebook to create this unique gifting project.

To begin with the cover: I started with an 8.5"X11" piece of double-sided patterned paper and Scotch laminator with a laminating sheet.  After lamination, I scored the piece at 5" and 6" and folded along the lines.  Next, I used an 1/8" hole punch to make two holes at the top and bottom of the "spine". The holes were then threaded with a piece of 20mm white elastic cording and tied to create two loops for holding the inserts.  I also punched a hole in the middle of the spine and made a loop of elastic to make the closure band. 

For the two inserts: eight sheets of heavyweight cardstock (I used Neenah cardstock), were cut to 9.75"X8", scored in the middle and folded.  The sheets were then divided into two sections so that four sheets were in each.  

I crafted a cover for each section by covering a sheet of the heavyweight cardstock with patterned paper.  The two sections were divided into January through June and July through December, so I used the "Best Year Ever Stamps" to identify these months.  To color in the stampings, I used Sharpie markers!

Finally for the decorating and organizing of each of the pages! First, I cut apart ALL of the journal cards from the "Best Year Ever Essential Collection Kit" and corner rounded all of the edges (optional). To each of the "right-sided" pages, I added a pocket by using one of the 4X6 journal cards and scoring at 3/4" on the sides and bottom and then attaching with adhesive tape.  The front of the pockets were embellished with various stickers, die-cuts and pocket squares.  

On the left-hand side of the pages I actually used the leftover strip (from the top of each 12X12 paper) to create a vertical pop of color and then topped it with the month's sticker.  Finally, I tucked in all of the cards to the premade pockets and used the elastic closure to neatly hold the pages together!

Thank you for joining me today!