You can make REALLY cheap recycled journals. The marbling effect makes them look artsy and is sure to inspire channel angst or inspire your favorite poet. The cover is made of a cereal box, or any similar box. To make a thicker binding, I have also used a toilet paper or paper towel roll. School glue holds it together and paint finishes it off. The best part is that you don't need to measure anything and the box naturally folds to create pockets for the paper filling. Oh yeah, you also need scrap paper with printing on just one side (easy to obtain from an office or copy center) and some yarn or a rubber band to hold the pages together. Another plus is that these can actually be made so the fill paper is removable so they can be refilled again and again.