If you've ever had an idea that felt a little silly at the start — one you weren't quite sure would work until you actually tried it — this video is for that exact feeling. I wanted to cover an entire journal in pom poms, cover to spine, and I had no idea whether it would end up being something wonderful or something I'd quietly dismantle and never speak of again. So I took the whole process to Patreon first: from the first glue stroke to the last of 170 pom poms pressed into place.
What we cover
This is a behind-the-scenes look at how a crafting idea moves from "is this even viable?" to a finished, held-in-your-hands object. Along the way, it covers building two signatures from recycled book pages, painting and fabric-lining a salvaged hardcover, three-hole pamphlet stitch binding, and then — the main event — covering the whole journal in pom poms with a hot glue gun.
What you'll learn
How to develop a craft idea from scratch, working through uncertainty in real time — this video doesn't start with a finished plan. It starts with a premise and figures out the order of operations as problems arise. That process itself is part of what's shown.
Why you have to bind the signatures before gluing down pom poms, and what happens if you forget. I nearly skipped straight to the pom poms and had to catch myself — once those fluffy layers are down, you can't sew through the cover.
How to paint a cover in a matching colour before applying pom poms — I used black first for coverage, then brown over the top, so that any small gaps between pom poms don't catch the eye. If the cover had stayed its original blue, every little gap would show.
How to build two signatures from salvaged and recycled pages, including:
- Using a paper template to trim pages to the correct height first, leaving width until the signatures are seated inside the cover
- Folding large pages in half to get two pages from one sheet
- Using a strong, sturdy page in the centre of each signature for durability
- Counting pages to distribute them evenly across two signatures (24 pages total, 12 per signature here)
How to make a pocket page from within the signature pages — a quick fold-and-trim approach that adds function without much extra effort.
Three-hole pamphlet stitch binding for a two-signature journal, including:
- Making a piercing template to mark consistent hole positions across spine and signatures
- Using an awl to pierce through the cover spine
- Entering at the middle hole, stitching to top and bottom, returning through the middle, and finishing with a double knot — or a bow, if you're feeling it
How to cover a journal with pom poms using a hot glue gun, including:
- Alternating colours in a checkerboard pattern (brown, blue, brown — offsetting each row so blue sits under brown and vice versa)
- Packing pom poms tightly so no cover shows through between them
- Extending pom poms into the groove of the spine for a fully covered look
Why covering both front and back cover (and the spine) matters — if you only cover the front, the difference in thickness makes the journal awkward to write in. Covering all sides keeps it balanced and, honestly, cushiony in a way that actually works.
How to line the inside of a hardcover with fabric, using fabric glue as the adhesive and a flat brush for the paint layers that follow.
Tips & gotchas
Bind your signatures before you touch the pom poms. I know it sounds obvious written out like this, but in the excitement of having the hot glue gun ready and the pom poms laid out, it is very easy to forget that you still need to sew through that cover. I nearly did it.
Paint the cover in a colour that matches or reads with your pom poms, not whatever colour the cover happens to be. I painted black first (good solid coverage), then went over it in brown to match the brown pom poms. The coverage wasn't perfect — you could still see black coming through in places — but it didn't matter, because the pom poms sit close enough together that what shows through is shadow rather than a jarring contrast. If the cover had been left in its original bright blue, every little gap would have popped.
Trim your pages to height first using a template, and leave the width until the signatures are actually inside the cover. Once they're seated, you can see exactly how much needs to come off — and it's much easier to get it right at that point than to pre-trim and find you've misjudged.
Work in parallel wherever the project lets you. While paint is drying, build your signatures. While glue is setting, plan your pom pom arrangement. A project that would take twice as long in a strict linear sequence goes much faster when you use drying time as working time.
Use a strong, sturdy page at the centre of each signature. The centre page is where the binding thread sits and where the most stress concentrates when the journal is opened flat. A thin or brittle page there will eventually give way — a heavier one holds.
One thing I didn't expect: the finished journal is genuinely comfortable to write in. The pom poms on both covers create an even, cushioned surface that actually feels good to rest your hand on. I was worried the thickness would make it awkward. It doesn't.
If you want a sense of scale for planning: this journal — not a large one — needed 170 pom poms of a medium craft size, split roughly evenly between two colours. Larger, chunkier pom poms would need fewer. Worth knowing before you start so you're not hunting for more mid-project.
On the DIY pom pom question: I considered it, thought about yarn and pom pom makers and the fork method, and then remembered that I'd need to make a hundred or more of them before I could even start gluing. For a project like this, buying a bag of craft pom poms is the practical call. Save the handmade ones for when you only need a few.
But it absolutely gave me something to work with. The version I keep thinking about is bright, many-coloured, maybe with chunky oversized pom poms, something with that almost Christmas-ornament energy that I think would be genuinely beautiful. The prototype did its job: it answered the question of whether the idea was worth pursuing, and the answer was yes. That's often enough to start.
