Free Tutorial how to make a mixed media junk journal with Graphic 45 Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest travel journal

I love making these recycled travel journals and thought I would write up a tutorial on how I made this one.  I started out with the paper;  Enchanted Forest by Graphic 45.  Then I got an old 2 ring book I found at an estate sale.

inside of binder

I used the pages in the binder to measure and cut the paper for the journal.  Most of the paper was white card stock, some of the pages were from the EF ( enchanted forest) paper.

I cut out the princess from the paper and a backing paper for the cover image.

Covered the cover with black card stock and used golden heavy gel gloss and a stencil to texture the cover.

I then painted the dried texture with 4 colors of Lumiere paint and brushed it with a cloth to mute and blend the colors.  

I glued down the background and used foam dots to raise the princess image up on the cover.  I added Swarovski crystals to the image.

crystals on the side of the photo

Decided to add extra bling on the side of the cover.

Then I went through the pages; distressing the sides and adding handmade pockets and tags.  I cut out some of the images from the Graphic 45 paper to make embellishments.

This is a tip out page that I added for more room to put photos into the journal

And I made a small book to tuck into a pocket to put my private thoughts.

Here is the journal finished and ready to sell in my Etsy store.

Hope this helps you create a journal of your own from a recycled book.  Please leave any comments or questions below.  Thanks for dropping by.