So, here are a couple journals I made. It started off as wanting to make my own Necronomicon or leather bound book of something spooky.
Once you get everything you need, it might take an hour to make one, it all depends on how you want to go.
The spiked spine journals took me about 30 minutes while the monster face journal took a couple hours.

Step 1: Necessary Embellishments

Pretty much everything here you can buy online from Tandy's Leather Factory.
www.tandyleatherfactory.com

Leather punch, spikes, rubber cement, scissors, journal (small), and the leather. The Personna razor I got off eBay, not sure where else to get them, but they are amazing for a lot of projects! And they are sharp, so please be careful!

Step 2: Trust Yourself!

I set the journal on the leather and traced the 3 sides. The straight lines are from being traced, the wavy lines are where I will be cutting the leather first. The angle lines with the scribbles will be cut out later (flush with the spine on top and bottom).
I put the dots in so I can see the placement of where to punch the holes for the spikes (I think they were called "Dragon Claw" spikes?).
I put the spikes in with the screws through the leather. Add rubber cement to the spine and press the line of spikes firmly to the book.
Next cover the back of the book in the cement and pull tight and press against the book.
Trim the leather off the spine. Once the back is dried well, then just pull the excess leather around to the inside of the back cover. Trim the corners. Glue the rear page to the back cover to hide the leather.
Pretty much do the same for the front, but before you glue the first page, add your concho or other embellishments, then glue the page.

Step 3: Show Off the Goods!

If your picky like me, then you noticed the pic of the spine was a bit crooked. It was a first attempt where I just eyeballed the holes instead of marking them first. Little stuff...
This book took about 30 minutes (probably longer to read about, sorry).
For the other projects, just look me up and check around. I try to keep it all simple as can be!
Good luck!