june at noon

It was probably at least a couple of years ago that I first saw this tutorial for making an art journal out of a composition book. I loved how it looked and wanted to do it, but I held off because I knew I wasn’t likely to actually stick with an art journal.

However. Given my recent activity, the hoarding and collecting of sketchbooks—and actually using them, thus far!—I decided to give it a go.

I covered the book with a variety of papers. After I’d finished the front I felt like it wasn’t simple enough, so I partially covered it with a white hinged flap. You can still see the original design inside, but it’s not the first thing you see.

And I added a little creative inspiration inside the flap as well. (The lace bit is loose so it can slide to reveal the writing as needed.)

I left a hint of the original composition book on the back cover, for fun. There are also fabric scraps on there.

All the glueing and gesso-ing to prepare the pages took a long time, but already those crinkly pages are calling to me. This is good.