When studying history, I have occasionally read about people making their own journals when it was costly to buy one, or when they just weren't available. So, one day in history class, we made these. Then we used them to actually write and draw in for our English class journal entries. Here's how we did it.
1. Fold paper. (We used one piece of brown construction paper and two pieces of off-white construction paper.)
2. Use a ruler to mark the edge of the folded paper every half inch.
3. Using a writing pen as an awl, poke holes all the way through the paper. (If this was difficult we did one page at a time using the pen marks as guides.)
4. Using the pen as an awl again, push yarn through the holes and pull until tightened.
4. Tie the yarn in the middle and wrap the leftover ends around the journal.
5. Write in it! My students loved this. They said it felt like they were "really old-timey people."
We have done all of the following: fraktur (or fractur -- pictures coming soon), a Lewis and Clark animal drawing, and a slave narrative. I have plans to do more.