Junk Journal

I have been going nuts making these journals. This one is for Margaret in NM, because she couldn't participate in the cereal box journal swap with school and all. And April 29 just happens to be her birthday so I had added incentive to get this journal made quickly! Her favorite colors are in the blue/ green family so when I found a cheese and bread stick snack box with those colors, the inspiration struck immediately! The graphics made me think of the pool and beach ("splashy" colors) so I unearthed a photo album I garbage picked from a neighbor when she was tossing her deceased ex-husband's stuff. The pool photos from the 1970s seem perfect! Cheesy!

This bathing diva's suit is the perfect color for this project and don't you love the zany camera angle? I covered up the box's unwanted graphics with fractal foil stars I cut from a mylar sticker sheet.

Inside the journal I included a couple plastic sleeves of embellishments since I don't know what Margaret has left of her art stash (she sent me a box load of it about a year ago when she was cleaning things out). I included metal fly screening, puzzle pieces (in blues and greens), vintage postage stamps, scraps of Chinese newspaper and Chinese fortunes, a silver toned house key, mother of pearl buttons, shell and star shaped sequins, etc, etc. One page in the book (tipped in) is made of clear Easter grass (gift shred) run through a laminator for a glistening water look.

Other pages are made of grocery bags, old ledger pages, and some atlas maps of the oceans -to keep the blue theme going. I also included a piece of loose marbelized paper just because I had it (I had a good time rummaging through little used boxes and folders of stuff in my studio).

Now go get some junk and make someone's day!

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!