Discarded Book Journals: A Tutorial

This week I will be participating in this local outdoor event with a very creative friend of mine.

 

We will be marketing in the Artist and Crafters Market.  I've created unique journals to sell in our booth.  I create journals from discarded books, which I display in one of my consignment corners.  Each journal is unique and has a story of its own. I LOVE, LOVE books, and I'm a sucker for patterns.  I have been lucky to find a batch of Reader's Digest books at a college bookstore at a very minimal price.  I love the Reader's Digest books because the book covers are very decorative, super cute, and have great patterns. 

 

 

A few samples from my most recent book store scavenger hunt.  Look at all the patterns and colors.

 

 

To begin the transformation process, I use an Xacto knife to remove the bound pages from the book.

 

 

 

I am left with the front and back covers of the book.

 

 

 

Sometimes I save the gutted pages for other projects.  However, this time, I will place the pages in the recycling bin.  Still good though, right?

 

 

 

This is what I'm left with. What an assortment!

 

 

 

Using a heavy duty paper cutter, I remove the front and back covers from the spine.

 

 

 

It is easy to do.  No real muscle work required in this step.  The muscle work is coming soon.

 

 

 

I band the front and back covers together.  It's easier to keep up with the pieces this way.

 

 

 

I save the spines that were not damaged in the cutting process.  I will eventually transform them into bookmarks.  That will be another tutorial later.

 

 

 

I take the measurements of the book over.

 

 

 

I always round down to the nearest quarter of an inch.  I don't do well with cutting paper into eighths.

 

 

 

It doesn't take long to whip through the stack of books I have.  I'm loving the covers more and more. How about you?

 

 

 

 

Now it's paper cutting time. I prefer using colored paper, however from time to time I will use plain white.  It is definitely not my first choice.

 

 

 

I cut 80 sheets of paper for each journal at 5" x 7 1/2".  Luckily, I can get two pages from one sheet of paper with little waste.  Again ,I band this step to keep the materials for each journal together.

 

 

 

I add a pocket to the front of each journal for tags and small paper items.  To do this I take a 12"x12" piece of  double sided scrapbook paper and cut it down to 10"x10".  I then score it horizontally at 7 1/2", turn the paper and score vertically at 5".  Fold the 

7 1/2" score line up creating a pocket and fold the 5" score line in half creating a page. EASY~

 

 

 

I, then use my Cinch to begin the book binding process.  Punching the holes into each book is the most time consuming and labor intensive.  I really have to flex my muscles doing this step. 

 

 

After punching all the books, I band them again.  All the banding is not necessary if you are only doing one book, but I have almost a dozen today.

 

 

 

This is a view of the front pocket. 

 

 

 

The finished books on a trial run display on the dining room table.

 

 

I created 11 journals in a few hours.  I will be making a few more to fill the display rack.  I will be adding the journals I don't sell to my etsy shop after the show.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial~

Thanks for stopping by!