I am having a bit slower week and I have managed to call my Altered Book Project finally finished!! Last year I did a journal class with Johanna clough for photos of unknown people. I had some leftovers from this class, so I decided to make a smaller version of this journal.
As you can see above, I have had some fun embellishing my book with Tim Holtz Photo Booth photos, (unknown to me) trims, lace, stamps, inks, gesso, tags, tuck spots, tabs, envelopes, journaling, tea/coffee dyed paper and all sort of other papers from my stash.
I hope you may be inspired to make one of your own!
I am back with a spurt of mojo that I found last night….. I started altering a book. I haven’t done one in awhile, just some journals where I remove the pages completely and use the covers. The last one I did was a garden one with photos of all my roses in it. I haven’t quite decided on a theme yet but it might be a Memory book for our pets!!! I found a couple of books in an Op shop before Covid 19, hit us here in Australia and I haven’t had much time to do something with them.
When you chose a book you need to make sure it is in pretty good condition with a good spine and covers. This book measures approx 6×9″. I didn’t want it to be to big as it takes time to alter it….There are 450 pages to reduce to approx. 1/2 or it will be too big and bulky when finished.
The first thing I do is tear out and glue some pages together. I like to use a metal ruler to tear out pages. It is a nice sharp edge and I don’t have to muck around with my craft knife!!
I like to go through the book and do a bit of a plan as to what pages I want to remove, any images that are good to keep and where/if I want to create any pockets. As this book was glued and not sewn I didn’t tear right at the page edge. This is because I needed a bit of it there to stop it from falling out.
I then add white glue or what ever your preferred glue is to one side then I close the book and press down on it too get a good stick! I find that closing the book lets the pages naturally fall straight, and you get less warping.
As you can see, you remove pages, but you make new pages also. This is why you have to do a bit of work altering your book before the play begins!
I just randomly added some side pockets by gluing around the three edges and leaving the opening unstuck on the side of the book.
These were quick to make by just folding down a corner and gluing to the page underneath. These give you extra space for journaling, photos, tags, embellishments etc.
My book has the pages out of it, some glued and some torn out. I have created some side and corner pockets for extra space and it is half the size it originally was!!
There are lots of ideas for using your Altered Books….. Memory books, Art Journals, just to play in. Collage, Glue Book, Technique Book, Personal Journal, About Me, Art, Butterflies, Astronomy, Gardening, Mixed Media, Art Journaling, or anything you can think of, or want to use it for……………..
I did a bit of research on You Tube to refresh my memory on how to create one as its been awhile. I used this video from Karla @ Caged Fish here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhuYxymrbc8 There are lots of great ideas on You Tube and Pinterest. You just need to find what suits your style and the purpose of your book. Now once it’s all dry, I can start decorating the pages and cover for my theme.
Stay Tuned as I am going to start the Embellishment process next and you will want to see how the book gets transformed!!
Hello, my crafty friends, Just popping in today with a quick post for the Altered composition Notebook JJ Challenge.
Prompt 1 – Using fibres to create a bookmark and to Journal about 3 Holiday/Xmas/New Year memories, that mean the most to me.
Linda shows you on her Youtube video “HERE” how to make the tassel and the tag. You just go about it the way you want to. Everything I am using for this journal is out of my craft stash!!! This is the first tassel I have made, so not too bad! The tag was fun to do with a bit of mixed media collage and layers.
This is the page that I added the journaling to. It was just white cardstock and I added a bit of ink and doodling. I journaled about spending precious time with my boys and them being home with me for Xmas day. We chatted about different things we remembered about Xmas with mum and dad as we miss them very much. Nothing is the same…… I also wrote about the time my sister and I spent together a few days before Xmas. We finished our Xmas shopping had some yummy food, laughs and talked non-stop. I also saw my niece and nephews who are very precious also…… I have never been a journaler as I love telling stories with my photos, but I am finding this challenge very good for me and it gets me a bit out of my comfort zone.
This is a fun challenge and I am really learning from Linda, along the way. Hop on over and join in too, I would love to see your creations!
Prompt 2 will be up within the net day or so, stay tuned!!
Are you ready for the next part of making your JJ? For this part, you will need to go through your stash and find any sort of paper you wish to add to your journal. If you didn’t see the post about what you can use in your journal, it is “HERE”
The list is really endless…………………….
Step 1 – For this journal as it a blue Themed I have mainly kept to blue, cream and white where possible. To work out the size of your pages just measure the height of your journal and make the width about 6′ which is a 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper folded in half. I didn’t bother using my trimmer, I just used my magnetic mat and ruler and tore the paper at roughly 9.5″. You can make them all sorts of sizes to give your journal interest.
I have used a variety of paper and ‘junk in signatures to create my different journals.
I like to add packaging like gift bags cut up, vellum, lined paper, ledger and scrapbook papers, brown paper, watercolor paper, and paper bags, pattern papers, vellum, specialty papers, clear cello bags, and ATC holders, coffee dyed paper and doilies, magazine and book pages, brown paper and gift wrap.
Step 2 – You just fold them all in half and collate them to what order pleases you.
I have decided to go with two signatures and they are a bit chunky. Remember you will be adding bits and bobs to your journal so it will expand. It’s up to you how many pages you want and how big.
These are 5 signatures from another journal. You can see how they are separate from each other. This is done so the weight is spread evenly throughout and you don’t damage your spine or pages as they will get lots of use.
Step 3 – Now for the most important part which is the binding.
Now, it is time to bind your pages into your book, ready to use. There are quite a lot of different ways to do this, but the easiest I find is called theEasy Twine Method and requires no sewing or special tools. This is the video I used from YouTube “HERE”
I didn’t use twine this time, but some of the lace that I had left which matches my closure. I just had enough to wrap it around twice as I only used the two signatures. I like using this as you can remove and add pages if you want to 🙂
We are going well with making your journal and only a couple of parts left to go. Stay tuned for how to make and use some embellishments to decorate and finish off your journal.
I have been a bit absent this week as I am on leave and I spent a couple of days with my sister for her birthday. It was a great time shopping, talking, laughing, eating and generally just doing sister stuff!! Back to work tomorrow!
Over the weekend it has been beautiful and I have been out in the garden, to do some much needed tidying up. So happy it’s now Spring here in Australia!!
As you know I like to make the odd journal or three and they have a specific purpose as art, collage, memory keeping, junking, etc 🙂 I am making my boys a journal each and more on that soon.
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) – are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. … Such books are essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: recipes, quotes, letters, poems, proverbs, etc. These are also known as Thinker Journals and I am definitely that.
I thought I would like to make two, to have. One on my desk and one in my bag to use as inspiration strikes. A little journal just to add ‘me’ stuff like inspiration, quotes, arty things I try, etc. I think we all need that one space to collate our thoughts and ideas. I have been doing this for quite a while but not realizing I was. You can use anything you want to as a journal but I, of course, am making my own special one!!
Thinking about the size of the journal that I want and what I want to put in it, I decided on a 5×7 book and I took the pages out to use the cover. I am mainly wanting plain and lined papers in this to write on.
If you know me I like to puddle and this is no exception. I Gessoed the cover, as I want to add these gorgeous owl images that my sister gave me when we did a bit of a napkin swap 🙂 Napkins are so much fun to use and give a great look on any projects.
I am using my Tim Holtz glass media mat and it is non-stick but as I make a mess I always put baking paper under it. I usually need to move it so it makes cleaning up easier.
I was going to leave it white but decided on a sage color underneath for a bit of contrast to the napkins. I just sponged some over it randomly!
To prepare your napkins you need to make sure you take all the layers of the white tissue off the back. To get the tear in it where you want it, I used a wet brush and drew the tear line. It is much easier than tearing it the wrong way.
It’s up to you where you start. You need a good brush to adhere to the mod podge and smooth it under and over the This glues and seals at the same time.
I then randomly put more of the napkin here and there in a collage. I make sure I have some hanging over the edges. I then let it dry. It hardens as it drys and gives a nice aged effect. The wrinkling of the tissue doesn’t bother me.
Here is the cover of my other journal I am making at the same time. It measures approx 7x 9.5. I used the same Napkin technique on this also.
Once dry, I then turn it over and glue the napkin down inside the cover, making sure it is well stuck down. I add pattern paper to the inside, or as I did here a couple more of the images from the napkins. Allow this to dry also before you do anything else to it.
To finish the journal off I cut some lined and plain copy paper to size and then just used some pretty lace to tie it in around the spine and bind it. This way if I want to add or take out pages I can.
Now, his is my finished small 5×7 commonplace journal which I can take in my backpack with and use as I like 🙂
Above is my journal for playing in at home, to journal in 🙂 I just used different lined and plain scrapbook paper in this one from my stash.
I made some tags and lots of places to add journaling in the pages. I hope you like this little look at my Common Place Journals and you might like to try keeping one for yourself 🙂
Find a book – Any book that works for you. Any size that works for you. Any paperweight that works for you. Some gluebookers like composition notebooks, because they’re cheap and easy to get. Some use old printed books. Some make their own journals from folded paper or magazine pages. Whatever book you choose to use is fine, because it’s your gluebook.
STEP 2 –
Find some glue – Any glue that works for you, and doesn’t make your paper ripple, or make you cuss while you’re working. I use Blu-stick glue when I gluebook. It goes on blue and dries clear. Some people like matte medium, or Elmer’s glue, or rubber cement. Don’t use Mod Podge, because your finished pages will stick together, no matter how long you let it dry. Beyond that, any glue is fine.
STEP 3 –
Find some stuff to glue. Most glue monkeys use magazines, junk mail, and whatever paper fallout they collect during the day. The object here is not to go out and buy stuff like stickers or papers, but to use whatever is headed to the recycle bin. Receipts. Envelopes from bills. Flyers stuck on your front door. I mainly use magazine images as I like the paper and they seem to glue nicely.
STEP 4 –
GLUE YOUR HEART OUT………………
Arrange your paper bits on the pages of your book, and glue. Make pretty pictures, or funny ones, or creepy ones. Add words, or make a whole page of words. Use images and no words. Whatever. Glue stuff down so that it says something to you.
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I was first interested in having a play with these 12 months ago and above are a few pages I created. I somehow, I lost my way with them and now I am back…………….. I loved creating these and it is so relaxing………..I like to make a background then a focal point that draws you into the page and then some smaller embellishment.
I think they are like an extension of a Junk Journal as you can recycle ephemera and junk.
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Another way to collage using your paper scraps to make Serendipity paper. These can then be die-cut, stamped, etc to make your own embellishments. I used a small notebook for mine and I am making another small journal from a book also to put my paper in.
To make this paper it is easy………………….
Heavyweight cardstock: this is your background or “base” sheet of paper.
Scraps of paper: the more variety the better. Select a color theme and get out your scraps of textured paper, vellums, velveteens, handmade papers, tissue papers and more.
Paper glue
Paper cutter or scissors & ruler
Pencil
Optional: rubber stamps, inkpads, sponges, embossing powder and a heat tool.
Instructions…………
Serendipity paper is usually used as a background or matting paper.
Tear scrap papers into smaller pieces no bigger than 1/4″ x 1/2″. You’ll want variety in the abstract design of the serendipity paper so make different sizes and shapes.
Begin to glue torn paper randomly to your background or base paper. Keep gluing until the surface is covered. This is a serendipity paper. Allow the glue to dry.
If you want to use your rubber stamps, stamp images onto scrap papers. If you want to emboss stamped images use pigment ink, embossing powder and heat tool.
If you want more color variety you can use a sponge to apply inks directly to the paper. Heat set any ink.
Cut your serendipity paper into squares for letters, small photos, borders, pockets and other designs for your scrapbook, rubber stamping or card projects. The random pieces all seem to fall into place creating a very unique paper to use for mats and frames too. No two pieces of serendipity paper ever turn out the sameI hope you may have found some inspiration to have a go at Glue Booking. It is fun and relaxing. Stay tuned as I am making a Glue Book and a serendipity book from book covers!Happy CraftingKerri x
If you haven’t worked it out yet, I am partial to Butterflies and Birds. This cover I have used the Napkin Decoupage Technique I showed you in my “PREVIOUS POST”
I love how this turned out. It has layers of the old book page, napkin, washi tape, clear stickers and a small panel with Tim Holtz Mixed Media Birdie, Tissue paper on it. You can see I used this technique all over the book cover and did a bit of highlighting with some TH Distress Crayon. I have also added my eyelets on the 3″ spine ready for my page signatures.
This picture above gives you a bit clearer look at the layers and the Focal Point panel on its own, which is adhered with some foam tape and dimensional glaze for extra strength. If you notice that the edges of the covers are not perfect and that is the way I like them. I just have to cover the inside pages, more than likely with scrapbook paper and then make the “junk” part of the journal before I start embellishing and using it 🙂
I have been enjoying my weekend off with a trip to Ballarat yesterday, to see my sister and family, plus a bit more de-stashing of my craft space and some creative time today!
I wanted to create in my Vintage Art Journal and have another page done from Johanna’s class. This is about using your INTUITION in your art.
For this challenge, I chose the photos just because I liked them. The happy face of the lady and the lovely little girl. I just created this layout following my feelings towards the photos and I just went from there. I think this picture reminded me of my mum in a photo of when she was 21 and had her whole life in front of her. She has been gone nearly 2 years and not a day goes by that I don’t think about and miss her and dad.
I have always created using colour as my go-to way of scrapping and other papercrafts. I was drawn to the Spearmint colour of Kaiser paint so I went with that and I just used stuff from my stash.
This page wasn’t planned at all, and I completed it in about 20 mins. I don’t go for perfection and I never measure anything so this was a lot of fun to make. I layered different papers and ephemera, washi tape, paint, ink and tissue paper. I made a small envelope from a book page to sit the smaller photo on and just layered and embellished as I like. The page flowed pretty easily and to finish I used a lace butterfly I coloured with paint and a few die cuts.
You will find Johanna’s class video “HERE” Hop on over and join in her great class, you will love it.
Stay tuned as I will be back tomorrow with a bit more of what I have been up to 🙂
Hope you are having a nice start to the week. I am not up to much just working and resting! I have just made myself a new planner as my other one has been used quite a lot and I decided I wanted a new one! I am not into planning in a big way, I just need to to be able to record my work, appointments, etc and why not have a pretty journal to do this in!
This time I have used a recycled book cover. I just used some pattern paper from my stash for the inside of the covers. I extended the spine when I removed the pages to give me a bit more room and just used some cardboard to reinforce it. I liked the look of it so I didn’t add any cloth tape over it like I usually do. It’s a bit more rustic like me 🙂
I usually put 6 months at a time in my journal, but I have the whole 12 months ready to use. I work with different clients and have two rosters, so keping track of my days is essential. I have used my coffee dyed paper in this with unused Project Life cards left over. I used one for each day to give me a good amount of space to journal on.
I didn’t want to much on the cover, I used some collaged pattern paper and some washi tape. For the binding, I added some nice mushroom coloured trim and then some lovely brown organza ribbon to hold the signatures in. I just added a key embellishment to it. It is now ready for me to add my never-ending work roster and be in control of at least my daily work routine!!!
Maybe I have inspired you to create a lovely journal to keep track of your life also. I would love to hear from you if you do!
As I have been creating the JJ Tutorial for you, I thought it would be a good idea to do a list of items you can use in your Journals. You will get to know what to use and nothing is off limits. If you want to include it then go ahead!!
MY “MAMMOTH” LIST FOR THINGS TO COLLECT FOR ART & JUNK JOURNALS
Whether you are just starting in making junk journals or have been doing it forever, one of the things you will probably do at some point is starting to gather ephemera and collage supplies for your junk journals.
Sometimes this can be tricky – where do you start? Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be hard to find things to use in your art and junk journals – and many of these things can be found for free or super cheap!
Old Interesting Books & Magazines: This is probably one of my favourite go-to supplies for junk journals! I love to look for anthologies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, kids books, books of quotes and poetry and of course magazines! Books in other languages can also be fun to use.
Junk Mail: Another obvious one – you’d be surprised how great junk mail can be! You can use the patterns on old security envelopes for bank and credit card statements, or cover those gigantic glossy postcards with some gesso and use them as a mini-canvas
Sheet Music: You never know where you might find sheet music or what type you might find! I’ve found some great treasures at Thrift Stores and Garage Sales.
Old Sewing Patterns: These tissue-paper-like sewing patterns make for great photo transfer backgrounds and texture in your art journal!
Scrapbook Paper Lots: If you are a memory keeper/paper crafter like I am then you probably have quite a stash of paper.
Postage Stamps: I like to save these from letters I get in the mail and then use as ephemera in journals.
Stickers: You can find stickers cheap at the cheap and thrift stores. Just keep in mind if you are shopping at thrift stores, stickers that are older usually won’t “stick” – be prepared to paste them on with a glue stick or matte gel medium.
Playing Cards: Playing cards are great to use as tags or journal cards in your journals. You can also use them to make your own altered cards for Artist Trading Cards or create an inspiration deck.
Old Games: Often times at thrift stores and estate sales you can find a lot of old beat up games with assorted paper pads, playing pieces, and game cards.
Bingo Cards: These are super cheap even if you buy them new, but it’s fun to stumble across a vintage pack of them at a market too!
Greeting Cards: Finding assorted bags of greeting cards, invitations, thank you notes, valentines, postcards and more is pretty common at most thrift shops and garage sales!
Wrapping Paper: There are so many ways to use wrapping paper in your art journals! Whether you cut out the pictures and glue them in or use them as texture – the possibilities are endless.
Tissue Paper & Napkins: These can be a lot of fun for adding texture and image transfers on your pages. I also like to stamp on plain tissue paper with archival ink and create my own.
Old Journals, Address Books, Planners & Notebooks: You can find all sorts of interesting journals and binders at thrift stores. These are great for transforming into junk journals!
Notebook paper, Notepads, Stationary: I love looking for to-do list types of notepads and pretty stationary paper.
Paper Clips & Binder Clips: You can always use these in some way in your journals. They are great for keeping pages to stay down flat while painting, use as a bookmark, or even use to attach tags, cards, or envelopes in the journal.
Concert and Event Flyers: You can often find these for free in small restaurants, cafes and bars. Not only for junk journals – these are a great way to discover new artists and events happening near you!
Interesting Business Cards: Vintage business cards can be a lot of fun – or you can always create an artful directory with business cards from people you know for a creative address book.
Coffee Cup Cozies: Next time you are at a coffee shop, save one of those cardboard coffee cup cozies – they make for great texture in a journal or collage!
Matchbooks: I would recommend removing old matches safely of course first – but many vintage matchbooks have some pretty nifty designs.
Ticket Stubs: If you go somewhere with tickets, hang on to the stubs! This is a great ephemera to have when you are making travel or memory-keeping types of junk journals. I also like to keep the tickets from 50-50 raffles and basket raffles.
Travel Brochures: You can find these on your travels or just go into a Travel Agency. They are free and great Junk to add to your creations.
Receipts – These are great ephemera, add them to your journal for a way to keep some memories.
Old Keys: Old keys are another great thing to keep an eye out for. I am always finding old keys at estate sales or even in my own garage – and I have no idea what the keys ever went to! Often times these are little keys for combination locks, though once in a while I get lucky and find some old vintage skeleton keys.
Photographs: If you have old photos, scan them into digital format to preserve and print out for artwork! This is a great way to include those old vintage photos of family members and friends without damaging or destroying the originals.
Maps & Atlases: Need some direction? Maps make for great texture and background pages in all sorts of types of creative work!
Fabric Scraps: There are so many great ways to use fabric scraps. Whether you are making a fabric textile collage or using them to create journal covers. – there are lots of great options!
Ribbons, Yarn, Twine and String: You can use ribbons and twine to add some decorative flair to almost any journal, or even tie around the binding of a composition notebook to give it some strength as you start adding in more papers and items. You can also use embroidery thread to hand stitch some neat patterns onto your pages or journal covers.
Mail Order Catalogs: I like these types of catalogues because there are often a lot of neat things you can cut-out and use just as you would for magazines. Some of the catalogues we regularly get from my husband’s business are more like telephone book newsprint paper, and these are great for adding texture or even paper mache projects.
Cereal Boxes: Cereal boxes are great to use for journal covers since they are made of nice cardboard. You can also use the plastic cereal bags to add texture or use for stamping into the paint for making some interesting backgrounds.
Lolly Wrappers: Have a favourite Lolly? Why not save the wrapper and add it into the journal? This can be a lot of fun to do with different types of wrappers for all sorts of texture and theme ideas.
Tea Bags: My son and I are Tea-a-holics so no shortage of Tbags here. I drink different green teas also so they are nice and colourful to add to journals.
Fruit/Vegetable Netting: Oranges, Lemons, and Onions often come in bags that are made of this plastic mesh netting. That netting is perfect for adding texture into your art journal pages with gesso or even using as a stamp.
Packaging From Things You Buy: There’s always inspiration to find in packages from things you buy. Maybe it’s the assembly directions for a piece of furniture you bought or an interesting design on some sort of product package. Maybe those packing peanuts from that package in the mail could be used as stamps!
Tags From Clothes and Fashion Accessories: I love saving the tags from the clothes I buy for myself because they are already the perfect size and shape for my journals. These are perfect for painting over with your own designs or even using as-is.
Labels from Soaps and Bath & Beauty Products: Not only are soap labels cute to decorate with – often times they can add a nice soft scent to your journal! It’s also the perfect excuse to treat yourself to a nice bar of your favourite soap!
Cardboard Boxes: I love cardboard boxes because there are so many ways to use them for journaling and other different crafty projects. I use them a lot to make the bones of my Journals.
Paper Roll Tubes: From Paper Towels to TP rolls, these are great to use for all sorts of things! Glue some foam shapes on them and you have a fun texture roller for your paint. Flatten them and they are the perfect size to use as pockets and envelopes for tags. These can also be used for mark making and stamps!
Great places to find these things are: around your home, markets, second-hand shops, Estate sales, Garage sales and local buy/swap/sell groups, FaceBook, eBay, Etsy, Cheap Shops, ask family and friends!
To Finish off this MAMMOTH LIST– Anything that is flat can be used in your junk/art journal.
As you find things and you start a bit of a collection you will need some sort of storage for it. I use the storage that I already have and I have my Raskog cart set up with my most used supplies. I can have it near me when working and out of the way when I’m not. I love it!!
I hope my “little list” helps you get started collecting bits and pieces for your junk journals. It’s up to you what you want to include and you will have your favourites 🙂
"The Junque Journalist" 