This “Deck of Cards” Journal Is Perfect for People Who Love *Easy* Crafts (I’m Making One ASAP!)
As much as I might want to, I don’t journal every day (or even close to it). I love to brain dump in a notebook after a tough day or when I get back home from a big trip, but on a daily basis it can feel like too big a chore to make myself write something down. The page is so big that I feel silly jotting down just a word or sentence. So when I recently saw this easy-looking craft to make a mini journal out of a deck of cards, it looked like something I could get on board with.
@the.word.addict Here is a very easy, no tools needed way to make yourself a mini weekly art journal. All you need to create it is a deck of cards and some tape. Alternate between 1 and 2 pieces of tape as tryout stack the cards. this creates a tabbed binding or hinged binding. Use the cards as a base to create one art spread per week. Since there are 52 cards and 52 weeks in a year, it is the perfect match! Perhaps, if you are like me, you get intimidated by creating art every day, but you do want to spread your wings a little bit, this might be a good solution. I have a lot of products that I've picked up here and there that I have never used. Practicing on a small card is a great way to experiment and build confidence. #weeklyjournal #artjournaling #artcollage #junkjournaling #papercrafting ♬ suara asli – Music legend
How to Make a Mini Journal Out of a Deck of Cards
I saw this TikTok video by creator @the.word.addict where they showcase how they hacked a standard deck of cards to create a mini art journal. All you need to make it is a deck of cards, masking tape, and glue. Then, how you decorate and fill it is up to you, but you can use things like colored paper, stickers, markers, paint, etc.
Here’s how to make it:
- Take a playing card suite-side up, and attach two pieces of tape (one at the top of the card, and one at the bottom) to the back with room to fold over the tape — but don’t fold them over yet.
- Place another card on top (suite-side up) and fold the pieces of tape over it so the two cards are connected.
- Add one piece of tape to the back of your original card (in the middle of the two original pieces of tape) and place another card on top of your taped-together cards. Fold over the middle piece of tape to attach the third card.
- Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 (alternating between two pieces of tape and one piece of tape) until you’ve used the entire deck of cards.
- At the end, make sure the last card has the back side facing up (instead of the suite side).
- To reinforce your card journal even more, cut out two cardboard rectangles from the box the deck came in and glue one piece to the front and back of the journal to act as the covers.
- Add three long pieces of tape around the cover and back to bind it all together, and cut off any excess tape sticking out.
At the end, it should look like a mini book you can flip through. After building this base, you can choose how to decorate and “journal” in it. The TikTok creator notes that there are 52 cards in a standard deck and 52 weeks in a year, so it would be perfect for a weekly journaling cadence. One TikTok commenter says they’re planning to make one and use it as their “book journal” for 2026, while another says it would be perfect for jotting down favorite quotes, and another says they intend to use it as a mini photo album. Of course, because the cards aren’t blank spaces, you might also want to paste in pieces of paper if you want a blank slate.
Why I Love the Idea of a “Card Journal”
I love that this mini journal makes journaling feel less intense. You can do whatever you want with it, and it doesn’t have to be super deep. If I made this, I would turn it into a small gratitude journal. I would cover each page with different colored construction paper and then write something that made me happy that day, and add some fun stickers to decorate the page. I’d love to look back on all my little wins after a year — the first of which would be binding my very own journal.
