Making Junque Journals

You know all that scrapbook paper you've been hoarding?  How about all those Gelli prints you made that are piling up on your craft table?  Well, there is something you can do with them......make Junque Journals!  I am currently taking Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's online class, "Make Your Own Junque Journal", and I may use up all the scrapbook paper I bought over the last 10 years!  I'm obsessed with making the pages that we will learn to sew into an art journal in the next few weeks. Julie has a method of making pages that involves taping papers together and sizing them to fit the cover.  That's all I'm sayin' about that!  You have to sign up for the class to get all the details.  I am making two different sized journals; 8"x 12"and 8"x 10.  Here are just a few pages that I made:

8x10 Page

This is a Gelli print that I taped together with another print using Washi tape.
I stapled a cute little tag to the top.

8x10 Page
I added some embellishments to this one.  

8x10 Page
I wanted some of the pages to fold out.
This is a Gelli print that I folded over and used a decorative edge punch to embelish the fold-out edge.   .

8x10 Page
I saved (hoarded) some fun, artsy calendars from previous years and decided they were perfect for this project.  

8x12 Page
Signatures ready for sewing together

In case you are wondering what on earth a signature is, according to Webster's online dictionary, it is "one unit of a book comprising a group of printed sheets that are folded and stitched together."

I'm using papers that I already have, so my desk is getting cleaned off! That's why they are called Junque Journals, because you gather all the leftovers and don't think about the order. I am using four pages folded in half for my signatures and I will sew together 5 signatures. Incidentally, you can use many different methods to bind your Junque Journal.  Click HERE to see a video of my preferred book binding method. It's much easier to use rings or a spiral binding machine and not fold the pages, but there will be a gap between the pages.  I prefer the sewn binding because it is very secure and there is no gap when I open the journal and I have a larger space to work.   

I can't say enough about Julie's classes and her teaching style. She is so thorough and detailed in her sharing of information and includes many tips that help with other projects.  For example, she shows an easy way to thread a needle that I never thought of before. Please consider taking one of her many classes.  Click HERE to access her available classes.

Stay tuned for another post in the next few weeks showing the covers and my completed Junque Journals!  Thanks for visiting today and leave your comments below!

Now, go make something!!

Altered Book Art Journal

I have dozens of Gelli Arts prints so it was time to get creative! I wanted to share a little tutorial on how i made an art journal using some of my favorite prints. I believe that it's easier than it looks!

I altered an old hardback book to make an art journal by removing the inner pages and stitching the folded prints using a simple bookbinding stitch. When I choose a book to alter, I want to make sure that it has a stitched binding, not a glued one. Notice in the picture below the gap between the book cover and the binding. This is what I want so that I can remove the pages with ease. I use an craft knife to remove the pages from the cover. I save the pages for other projects. I alter the cover by glueing my Gelli prints on with matte medium, then reinforce the spine by adding duct tape. I fold my prints into signatures and trim to fit. The signatures consist of 4 prints stacked and folded. Depending on how wide the spine is will depend on how many signatures can go into the art journal. Using this method allows the book and the pages to lay flatter. The finished one pictured below has 4 signatures sewn in.

The last picture includes some of the supplies i use and is a journal that i am currently working on. I used my camera stencils for many of the prints that will go inside in addition to the cover. The spine is wider so I think I can fit 5 signatures. Incidentally, 1 signature with 4 sheets of paper folded in half has 16 pages (front and back.) So there is lots of opportunity to create an artistic scrapbook and/or art journal.