I love wrinkled brown paper
The cover if this art journal is made with my favorite technique of wrinkly brown paper glued down. The cardboard letters, a gift from Diane many years ago, are left plain because I think sometimes plain is just enough. It’s not as colourful as my usual style, but I love it.
I think it’s nice to tone down the outside when the inside is bursting with images, colours, patterns and ideas (like all my art journals are).
Here is the title page:
A pretty owl card on the left inside, and then a little journaling on a printed label.
I’ve already mentioned this, but making square art journal pages is fun, fun, fun! It all started with my Smart journal number 1 (view it’s pages here , here and here) and continued with filling a whole new one, Volume 2. I will show pages from this one another day.
I love wrinkled brown paper!
What is your favorite method to make a cover for your art journal from?
Gorgeous journal Hannah, I love the way you have done the cover, one of my fave materials too. I don’t blame you for leaving the letters blank, they are beautiful as they are. May I ask what glue you use to collage with? I have tried so many different ones but so far the only ones that don’t wrinkle are multi-medium and glue sticks, the former is very expensive and the latter can sometimes not be very reliable!! Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Hugs x
Hi Dawn, thanks for your kind comment! For thin papers, like tissue paper I use mat medium, but otherwise the only thing I use is a glue stick. I recommend Uhu! glue stick, it sticks great to any papers, and stays stuck. :-)
Hi Hanna! I have a hard time throwing paper away, so these kinds of projects always inspire me. I make covers for my art journals using scrapbook paper bought at yard sales. I’m working on painting some art journal covers, but some projects take a longer than expected!
Love the cover! Yes, muted can great, especially when you know that the inside is bursting with colour :)
That’s a very cool journal. Sometimes I’ve used paper bag paper inside my journal but never thought of using on the outside. One of my favorite methods of making a journal cover is to use cereal box cardboard. I flatten the box and use gesso with a brayer on the printed side–kinda thick and I try to make only one pass instead of going back and forth. That leaves lots of nice ridges and texture. When its dry I mess around with some watercolor on the surface, let it dry and then buff it. Just buffing lightly will take the paint off the ridges . It’s fun to play with. Thanks for all the inspiring things you post on your blog–you always give me great ideas!
ok now im curious, how did you get the paper in the spines? it is gorgeous. i have so much brown packing paper rolled up. i wish i could twinkle my nose and send it to you! i don’t cover my journals…what type do you buy that you cover? you have me all intrigued now. And the inside – you are right….it is booming with color! I think you are mega creative with this. Lovies, samara
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