Wanderlust week #48: Art journal from recycled cards

We had an amazing Wanderlust lesson this week by Joanna Grant. Joanna showed us numerous ways to make our own art journals. My favourite was when she used recycled greetings cards to make a colourful journal with flip-out pages. What a great way to use up all those old cards! All you need is 4-5 cards, loads of paint along with a few stencils and some decorative duct tape. The duct tape is crucial for holding the cards together as it is incredibly strong.  I happened to have a roll, so I had no excuses but to go ahead and try this technique. I really love what I managed to create!

Here are some photos of the pages and the bound journal. It's all very bright and colourful. It will be my happy journal! (Scroll down to the bottom of the post for a video flip-through!)

4 cards of various sizes painted and stencilled on both sides

One of the pages close-up - I kept the same style throughout

The bound journal - I used some sari ribbon for closure

Some of the pages inside

The flip-out page (my favourite!)

Flip-out page folded

Flip-out page close-up

Another close-up

The journal stands on its side

It's very tactile and I can't stop stroking it!

Here's a short video flip-through to show you the journal in action:

I thoroughly enjoyed this lesson. In fact, I haven't had this much fun since I made my cardboard journal a year ago. There's something inspiring about working on more than one pages at the same time. Joanna shared lots of other ideas with us, including a journal made out of a recycled calendar. I will be very busy in the next few weeks, I expect!