My handmade artist's journals

I love making my own artist's journals, it is something that I started doing not too long ago and I'm already addicted to it. I just want to spend my day binding books. This post is to show you some of my handmade artist journals with a brief explanation of the materials used to make each one. Later on I will be posting more detailed post on how to make each style by making new ones. But for now enjoy the pictures.

Artist journal #1:

 This was the first journal I ever made. I used the bind-it-all(TM) to bind it and the Cricut(TM) to cut the letter, plus some brads and glitter among other things. The papers inside varies in color and texture. I used different designs of scrapbook paper as well as regular printing paper and stamp a small design at the top of each page. It became my crafting ideas journal; here I write down and sketch my future projects or how I want to try to do something in a different way, etc.

Journal #2

I love this journal, I bound it with the Yourstory(tm) binding machine. For the cover I used card-stock to give support to the designer paper that was really thin. Once again I used the Cricut(tm)  Wall Decor cartridge to cut the chandeliers, then add some stickers and  flowers. The oval behind the blue chandelier is made with watercolor paper that I glitter misted with perfect pearls mists (interference red) and then heat dry it giving it that effect; then coated it with glossy accents.

 On the spine I added a clear embellished sticker to give it a subtle touch. Again the inside papers are a random set of scrap papers in different colors and textures. I love this journal, because it challenge my creativity. I either work with the colored background as it is or change it by painting it or using collage or even gesso. It is not a big book, but it keeps me creating and I'm not feeling those "chills" some of us sometimes feel, when facing a blank white page in front of us. Later on I'll show you some of my works in this book.

Journal #3

My first had sew journals, totally in love with it. I bought a hard leather journal before and I love it because of its rustic, old look. So I decided to give it a try and make my own. Since leather is kind of expensive, I just bought a bag with scraps of leather ($5.99) and hoped to get a piece or two good enough to make a hand bound book. Jackpot, and a good one, I got this really big piece of soft leather, I just had to stretch it a bit so it cover the inside papers completely. It even have enough left to make it flip over and add a leather cord to close it. It took me hours to make this journal but I enjoyed every second. The satisfaction I felt when I was done with it was greater than with my previous journals, since here I didn't make use of any machine only my hands, glue, scissors, thread and needle. All the papers inside are watercolor paper and it is full of it. The gold leopard ornament is just a piece of a ring that broke, and I decided to keep in case I needed for some crafting project. I think it give the journal a great look and touch.With the rest of the leather I'm planning on making some more books, although smaller ones.

Journal #4

My last creation, a Japanese bounded sketch pocket journal. It only measures 3"x6", and was made out of a card box. I used hemp to sew it together and printed scrapbook paper (from a $3 pack) as well as scraps of paper left from other projects. Then I added the Japanese girl sticker to complete it. Later I'll upload a post with instructions on how to make this easy journal. Keep in mind, you don't need to decorate it with Japanese motives if you don't want to, I just used what I had at hand and inspired me. This binding style is really flexible and quick to make.

I decided to make this sketch journal a pocket size because it gives me the flexibility to carry it with me in almost any size handbag, for when inspiration or bore some hit me on the road. It is light weight and does not take much space; plus is pretty too ;).

This are some of my handmade artist's journals, I have some sketching and drawing books that I bought and what I've done is paint the cover of some and transfer some image or just covered them with paint or paper. I will post some projects ideas on how to bind your own journal (different types of bindings) and on how to modify the cover of those you find at the store. Don't worry, it will not be expensive and you'll have lots of fun while making your journals and even more using them.