Here in the UK we have what is call 'Pound stores' or 99p stores in which they sell everything very cheaply, and as the name says either £1 or 99p. I guess in the states you have your 'Dollar Tree' and I am sure that most places would have the equivalent.
You can often pick up a range of crafting items, not the best quality, but depending on what you are going to use them for can be quite effective. I recently picked up these bags of all sorts and was attracted by the flower that was in the packet, it had a lot of waste and off cuts that would normally be recycled but some bright spark has realized that if they bag them up someone will buy it.
Anyway, it came with lots of different type of paper, flower off cuts, a bag of beads, foam and as you can see strips of paper.
Because of my love of paper and making things I thought it was a good idea to see what I could create with the contents of the bag. Due to my love of making journals, I decided to set myself a challenge and see if I could make a workable journal with only the contents of the bag.
I started out with two pieces of recycled card, which along with paint were the only external additions, and I measured the cardboard to the size that I wanted the journal to be. This was also dependent on the size of the biggest piece of paper within the paper pack.
measuring out the cardboard
After I had got the size that I wanted, I began to cover the cardboard in strips of paper from the pack, which would provide a base for the flower and any other additional decoration on the front.
I put together the pages and made 3 signatures for the journal, decorating each one as I went along.
Signatures being decorated before stitched
With any spare paper left I made tags and a front pocket for the journal, I had placed a series of encouraging statements on the tags
I kept the sewing of the signatures very simple and with some of the shiny paper left made some paper beads to hang from the spine of the journal
paper beads and a simple stitching on the journal
Here is the finished journal, I decorated the flower with a pearlesent paint and attached it to the cover, and finished off with stitching around the edges of the journal.
Completed journal
Here is one of the pages within the journal that I have worked on, with a reminder that you need to take a break and dive into your creativity.
Completed page - take a break
I still have a bit of the paper left and that will go towards the next project, I also didn't get to use the beads, so we will see what we can do with these as well. Try and get on down to your local store and see what paper packs you can find to make a journal from, that are inexpensive and encourage you to stretch your imagination as you use a limited range of resources in a different way.
I will be making a few more of these over the coming months, and towards the end of August next month I will be making another journal from the contents of one of these paper packs and also be hosting a giveaway, so keep an eye out!Join me next week for Tutorial Tuesdays and see where your creativity can take you!!
