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I love mixed media art journaling. Nothing de-stresses me more than creating art based on my experiences or feelings for the day.
Mixed media art journals have awesome, thick paper that is meant to withstand all of the the glues, paints, and elements that we can possibly adhere to them, which is fantastic.
What the manufacturers don’t seem to think of, however, is how thick the binding of the journals need to be to accommodate the finished pages. If your pages are anything like mine, your journal will be bulging at the seams before it is even 1/4 full!
What I did was cut the binding from the journal, and cut a piece of cardboard about 2” wide, and the length of the journal. I used book-binding tape, which is a very strong fabric-type tape, (I will post an Amazon affiliate link below for the one I used) and taped the cardboard to the front and back covers. That gave me nearly three times the expandable space in the journal! (I used a really good double stick tape to re-attach the insides of the cover with the ribbon behind it)
I had some leftover fabric from reupholstering my sun room chairs, and I love how cheerful the pattern is, so I used it as the new cover for my journal. I laid scrap ribbon across the covers before adhering the fabric, so that I would be able to tie my journal. I LOVE the way that a tied journal looks so private and special.
I took pictures of each step, and hope that it inspires you to expand your journal! Comment and show me the pictures of your project! -Terri
This is the book binding tape that I used: https://amzn.to/2ogQhYz
