How To Make Your Own Custom Journal Cards

There are few planning accessories as versatile as journal cards. They’re the perfect way to change your planner setup at a moment’s notice or inject a little extra inspiration into your weekly spreads. Whether you like to arrange all your cards neatly in your planner slots or clip them to your dashboards and dividers to create the perfect layered deco moment, journal cards are the solution to all your aesthetic planning needs.

What Are Journal Cards?

So, what exactly are journal cards? Journal cards (or planner cards) are small pieces of aesthetically pleasing ephemera — usually printed on heavy paper or cardstock, but sometimes on materials like vellum or plastic — that can be moved around your planner and used flexibly as decoration and inspiration.

Where To Find Premade Journal Cards

Because of this ideal combination of versatility, simplicity, and popularity, there are lots of great planning and stationery brands that stock beautiful, original card designs for every planner size and aesthetic. Some of my favorite places to shop for premade journal cards include May Paper Co., Cloth and Paper, and Modern & Analogue.

Why Make Your Own Journal Cards?

One of my favorite ways to customize my planning routine is by designing and printing my own custom journal cards. This allows me to create cards in any dimension, material, or design I like. While designing your own stationery might sound a bit overwhelming, there are a few tools, tips, and techniques that make this project fun and easy, even for crafting beginners.

Finding Free Photos for Your Designs

While there are many gorgeous journal cards that are designed purely with typography, high-quality photography and inspiring imagery can take your designs to the next level. One of my favorite places to find amazing free stock photography for my designs is Kaboompics. Kaboompics offers an impressive (and growing) collection of free stock photography that you can search by category, keyword, and color.

The Kaboompics site also has a lot of thoughtful features that make it easy to use their photography to its best advantage, from a batch download feature to a color code tool that provides custom color palettes for each image. If you like a particular image, Kaboompics makes it easy to view all the images in the same collection. The imagery featured in Kaboompics photos is beautiful and tends toward elevated lifestyle imagery and chic neutrals. It’s a fantastic site, and I can’t believe the amount of functionality and quality they offer at no cost.

How To Create Custom Card Designs

Okay, so you’ve found some gorgeous imagery and maybe a few color palettes you want to work with. Where should you create your journal card designs? For me, the answer is easy — Canva! If you haven’t heard of it, Canva is a browser-based design platform that allows you to design anything from social media posts to videos (and in our case, journaling cards!). There are both free and paid versions of Canva. I’ve used the paid version for years because the price is low ($14.99 a month), and the value is excellent. However, the free version of Canva offers all the tools you’ll need to get started designing your own journal cards.

You can design cards in any preset dimensions imaginable in Canva, or choose custom dimensions for cards that fit your unique needs. Upload your images from Kaboompics and use Canva’s robust collection of typography and design elements to create any design your heart desires. If you need some inspiration to get started, Canva offers thousands of design templates that you can customize, resize, and adjust to fit your needs.

Printing Your Designs: Option A — Home Printing

Once you have your designs ready to print, you have a couple of options for moving your designs off your laptop screen onto real paper and into your journal. The first option is the quickest and easiest if you have a home printer. Canva offers the option to download your designs as print-ready PDF files and even allows you to print designs with full-color bleeds and crop marks. These features allow you to print color or graphic elements slightly past the edges of your design so you can trim them with a paper trimmer for full edge-to-edge coverage. If you want to use this feature, you can trim your paper with an inexpensive paper cutter or you can DIY it with a ruler and a craft knife. Either way, your cards will look fantastic.

Printing Your Designs: Option B — Professional Printing

If you want a higher level of print quality and you’re okay with using standard image sizes, you can also print your journal card designs as photo prints through Artifact Uprising. I’ve been using Artifact Uprising for years to print everything from personal photos to moodboard pics to custom journal cards. While there are lots of photo printing services available online, Artifact Uprising has always stood out to me for the quality of their paper and printing. Their Everyday Print sets allow you to print images or designs in a range of standard sizes and quantities. You also can choose between matte, satin, and double-thick paper finishes, as well as bordered or borderless prints.

I love using my Artifact Uprising prints in my planners, journals, and albums. The paper is thick and substantial — more cardstock than paper — and the matte finish is subtle and understated. The Artifact Uprising website makes it easy to upload, edit, and order prints through their online portal, and they even have a free iPhone app that allows you to prepare and order prints from your phone. While this is a more expensive option than home printing, for the quality of the final product, it’s an excellent choice.

How To Use Your New Journal Cards

Once you’ve designed and printed your custom cards, you’re free to use them in any way you can imagine. Pin them to your bulletin board. Tape them to your mirror. Clip them to your daily planner dashboard and switch them out when you need fresh inspiration. Use your own designs to fill all your planner pockets and card slots. You can create custom cards with personalized journal prompts, to-do lists, affirmations, and more. The options are endless! Now you have the power to create designs that fit your exact needs and aesthetic.

Free Journal Card Printables

If you want to try creating your own journal cards but don’t feel comfortable jumping into the custom design process just yet, you can use these free printable card designs featuring elevated neutral color palettes and imageryto inspire your planner spreads (these are designed to print as 4x6 inch cards). Whether you choose to print them at home or order custom prints, your new planner cards will bring a fresh dose of minimalist style to your planning routine.

What do you think? Are you inspired to try making your own journal cards? What kind of designs do you want to create? Let me know what you think in the comments!