Cereal Box Art Journals

I have collected cardboard packaging for a couple years, mainly for the warm brown interior than for the funky graphics (although Yogi teas and other tea companies have gorgeous packaging), but have only just now found an outlet for my obsession. Cereal box art journals! Cindy Ericsson at Christian Paper Artists was inspired by a blog post she discovered about a Teesha and Tracy Moore workshop and in just 3 days 17 women signed up for the one-on-one swap Cindy offered to host. Here's what I came up with for my journal(s)- because I couldn't make just one.

You can tell I don't consume beautiful, organic foods, but art can be made from anything and this is one project that literally defines "Trash to Treasure", because I invested in no materials. I literally salvaged things that would have been thrown out. Fifty years from now, this packaging will look quaint and the journal will be a time capsule. I used a cereal box for a base and sewed other packaging on top, using the largest zig zag stitch on my sewing machine and managed to not break a needle in the process- sewing through as many as 3 layers at once!

Interior pages are made up of grocery bags (sturdy and will hold up to paint and glue), pages from an atlas (also sturdy) and pages from a carpet salesman's book (huge pages with measurement conversion tables, graphs and floor plans). I bound the whole mess by pounding holes into my stack of paper through the spine of the cover with a hammer and nail (I do not own a Gator punch or hoity toity Japanese screw punch- ha ha) and sewed it (literally with a carpet needle) with vintage fish line (the weight of waxed linen and the strength of a Spartan).

These are so fun to make and the posssibilities are only limited by the materials- which are abundant. ha! I hope to make a lunch bag journal using an onion soup box for the covers (they are about the right dimension) and everyone I know will eventually get one of these, whether they want one or not! heehee Now go rifle through your pantry, finish up the cereal remnants and make some art!