I was finishing up the course I was working through by Roben-Marie Smith, and at the end she included a little bonus video about making mini journals from cutting book covers in half. It was a super quick video, but it was one of those moments where a spark got lit, and I immediately went out and bought a stack of 50 cent hardcover kids books from the thrift store. It’s been a bit of a process transforming them, so I just do one task per day when I am able. First I removed all the interior pages. Then I cut the book covers into halves or thirds. After that I painted the covers in a bunch of bright rainbow shades, because I love books on a shelf arranged by their spine color. Then I selected color-coordinated scrapbook papers to glue into the interiors. I decided the rainbow covers were a bit much all over, so I toned the front and back panel down with a light gesso wash, which I stamped into with some corrugated cardboard remnants, while leaving the spines in their original color. After that, I selected some of my painted papers to use for the covers. (The watercolor ones are done on gessoed scrap paper. I find gessoing the paper makes for some really nice pooling with the watercolor, and I really enjoy that effect.) Today I punched holes into the center of the spines and added an elastic closure. Now all that’s left is to select my papers for the signatures and sew them into the mini books. I am really looking forward to seeing how they all come together in the end. I really love the idea of collaging in a mini journal because it’s so satisfying to sit down and make a page spread come together quickly. And they are super portable for doing some collaging or art journaling on the go, plus, they are super cute! I will likely end up making another batch of these at some point. I really love them! I will definitely be sharing the finished journals in a future post.

Whenever I get absorbed in an art idea like this, I need to pay attention, because I feel like God is drawing me to it for some reason. Often in a project, all the little rabbit trails I’ve been off on along the way, come together into an intricate and beautiful final project. I believe God is always weaving together the threads of our lives, never letting a single detail go to waste.

Thanks for stopping by!