Art Journal EveryDay Fridays--My Upcycled Art Journal Part I-- The Cover

Upcycling just makes me happy--and I'm especially thrilled to post the cover of my new/old upcycled art journal.

It all started when I was lucky enough to receive a huge stack of stinky decades-old very weird file drawer dividers. I don't even know how these things would have worked now. I'm sure they don't sell them anymore! Here's what they looked like, and then after I cut them up with a heavy duty guillotine papercutter. What I realized right away was how nice and sturdy the paperboard is. It became very clear that these old things wanted to be upcycled in many ways.

 When I see all the hardware on these things my imagination runs wild--the grommet holes just beg to have ribbons and beads strung through them!
My art journal is coming together nicely with pages that are made from everything from deli paper and scrapbook paper stash to old Vogue pattern paper layered onto a Panera Bread paper sack. I'm just putting the pages together quickly and even sticking in plain index cards, and enevelopes I've made. Everything is from trash and stash and then this will be a cool summer journal where I can talk about my garden, cooking, writing, and inspirations.

In the meantime, it was fun to get the cover done. It is painted and layered with scrap stash that I've embossed with my little texture boutique--so that provides great visual samples of what my embossing folders can do--stamps, stickers, ric rac, paper sack, a charm, string, ribbon and writing.

Happy Art Journal Friday everyone!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Upcycle