Art Journal Catalysts

Bookbinding

How to make an envelope journal

How to make an envelope journal

Connections Hey y'all! It's Katie here with my tutorial for the Season of Connections! Have you ever had a penpal? I used to have half a dozen of them when I was a...

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How to make an accordion folded journal

How to make an accordion folded journal

Fairy Tales Surprise! It's Misty! Normally Vanessa kicks off our seasons but she was kind enough to switch with me for Season of Fairy Tales so I could show y'all how to make...

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Easy watercolor tiny book

Easy watercolor tiny book

Hey messy people! Nina here. When you’re taking on a huge project – like a daily challenge or a 30 lists album – it can prove quite necessary to take a shortcut on some things. Like the...

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Creating and filling an accordion album

Creating and filling an accordion album

Hi everyone, Tanyalee here from the Creative Team. I'm going to give you an insight into my process for a journal page. Not just any journal page though, an accordion album using...

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How to make a pop up art journal

How to make a pop up art journal

Fairy Tales Hello lovelies! It's Ashley here with a fresh new tutorial. As you know, fairy tales are full of ups and downs, twists and turns, trials and triumphs, much like...

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How to staple large zines

How to staple large zines

This is one of those ‘a-HA’ moments. I could never figure out how to staple together pieces of paper that were too big for my stapler to reach. I saw this on the net somewhere a few...

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Art Journals from Found Materials

Art Journals from Found Materials

One of the best aspects of art journaling is that there are literally no rules. None at all. This applies even to your journals. Let me back up. I know most of us all started art...

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How to make a paper bag junk journal

How to make a paper bag junk journal

Home Char DeRouin Char is an artist, designer and maker whose work is abstract, intuitive and organic in style, with a no-rules approach. She is influenced by experiences and...

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Lesson 1 – Pamphlet Stitch

Lesson 1 – Pamphlet Stitch

We are going to start with a simple, but versatile stitch that will enable you to quickly start creating your own beautiful, handmade art journals.

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Lesson 2 – Long Stitch

Lesson 2 – Long Stitch

The long stitch is a beautiful yet simple way to bind your signatures into a cover. You will be attaching the paper to the spine of your book. The width of the spine and its strength will determine how many signatures you can add into your book.

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Lesson 4 – French Link Stitch

Lesson 4 – French Link Stitch

This stitch is very decorative one and is at the top of our list for difficulty. Just like the Coptic stitch, it allows your journals to lie very flat. Because the open spine is so pretty to look at, I tend to bind thicker journals with this stitch.

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Season of Starting Intentions

Season of Starting Intentions

Starting Beautiful artist! Welcome to the Season of Starting. No matter what kind of starting you are doing, I'm excited for you. The first week of a season is dedicated to...

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Make a quick accordion art journal

Make a quick accordion art journal

Creativity For this season, I thought long and hard about what type of journal would work best for my journal's theme: A Wrinkle In Time. I wanted something that was very...

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Prepping an Altered Book

Prepping an Altered Book

In the video, I show you how to take pages out of your book by finding the signatures and by ignoring the signatures. I demonstrate how to prepare a page for paint with gesso. I also...

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Resources for making an altered book

Resources for making an altered book

We're giving the prep an entire week in the season. Use this time to prepare the cover and pages, then share your book on Instagram with #getmessybook. For some people, this week will...

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Staggered junk journals

Staggered junk journals

Home Page through the pages of Char's Season of Home journal, and hear its story.  In the video, Char also shares a few other ideas for journals she's made in the past, thoughts on...

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Japanese Ledger Binding

Japanese Ledger Binding

Reflection Learn how to create a beautiful art journal with a quick and easy binding. The Japanese Ledger binding looks impressive but it’s very simple and can be made with an...

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The Bloom Book

The Bloom Book

Bloom#gmseasonofbloomAfter a severe winter full of rain, snow and wind, nature is reborn and shines for us in a stunning beauty. Blooming in spring and...

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The Recovering Perfectionist’s Guide to Making Art

The Recovering Perfectionist’s Guide to Making Art

Download Save this mini workbook to your computer, print it out, and let it accompany you on your artistic journey this season.  Your guide Caylee Grey Hyperbolic journaler and imperfect artist, Caylee Grey is also a wife and mother from South Africa. Caylee is the...

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01 – Making a Gratitude Journal

01 – Making a Gratitude Journal

In this lesson, we will start off by creating a beautiful cover for out gratitude journal. We will then select a wide variety of papers and bind them together using a really simple...

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06 My Story

06 My Story

Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It’s all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand.  Everything is a self-portrait. A diary. Your whole drug history’s in a strand of your hair. Your fingernails. The forensic details. The...

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The Bloom Book Cover

The Bloom Book Cover

Bloom#gmseasonofbloomLet's get messy with color and bloom the cover of the Bloom Book. Using collage elements, lines and color, create a happy, shining...

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The Scaredy Cat’s Guide to Color

The Scaredy Cat’s Guide to Color

Download Save this mini workbook to your computer, print it out, and let it accompany you on your artistic journey this season. Your guide Caylee Grey Hyperbolic journaler and imperfect artist, Caylee Grey is also a wife and mother from South Africa. Caylee is the...

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Rory – Origami Zines

Rory – Origami Zines

Fold and crease your single page zine in new ways, and use the literal unfolding as a visual journey through your own history or personal layers. When I started making zines in the 1990s, riot...

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05 My Worth

05 My Worth

Set yourself up for heart-led creating. Smell the flowers.  Pick a few. Close your eyes in the sun.  Take the murdered flowers to your workspace. Feel the earth at your feet. Notice the details. Breathe in.  Make a cup of tea.  You're ready.  What does my mind...

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SOUL

SOUL

Self#gmseasonofselfDownload the Season of Self: Soul Sidekick Save this file to your computer, print it out, and keep it inside your journal to spark journal ideas.For each lesson...

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BODY

BODY

Self#gmseasonofselfDownload the Season of Self: Body Sidekick Save this file to your computer, print it out, and keep it inside your journal to spark journal ideas.For each lesson...

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04 My Truth

04 My Truth

At the core of who you are is your truth. We often need to remind ourselves of this truth. The world likes to try to get us to forget. Journaling.Meditating.Heartstorming.Creating. All of these are great ways to remind us of our truth. For MIND, meditate on the...

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Dear Self: A Framework for Worthiness

Dear Self: A Framework for Worthiness

Worthiness#gmseasonofworthinessThis season's artwork is created by @valloves2create Dear Messy Artist  You are worthy. Not because you have done anything, but simply because...

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All of Self

All of Self

Self#gmseasonofselfWe as human beings are complex. By focusing on the details of ourselves, we are able to fully appreciate and celebrate them.  Process Step One: Digitise your...

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Welcome to Body of Art

Welcome to Body of Art

Welcome An invitation into being vulnerable with yourselfWelcome I’m beginning this class with no makeup, no elaborate hair, and no pants. Just kidding. It’s a small gesture of vulnerability in the hopes that you’ll meet me with your own gesture of...

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03 Creation

03 Creation

To prepare for the creating in the next three lessons, connect with what each of the three areas mean to you. Create a mood board, curate a kit of supplies that soothe you, and bring you back towards yourself. Grab a slice of cake...Download the mood board templates...

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Envelope Pocket Journal

Envelope Pocket Journal

Finishing#gmseasonoffinishingLet's set ourselves up to finish strong this year. I'll be showing you how to create and easy envelop pocket journal that can be accommodated into your workflow....

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How to make a zine

How to make a zine

Here's a 60 second reference for making your own one-page zine. DownloadDownload the worksheets for this lesson.Want the steps one-by-one without having to pause? Here you go: Start with a...

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The Putting it Away

The Putting it Away

Every puzzle and every journal is as finished as it’s ever going to be at some point and is ready to be put away. We will look at ways to add closure to what we’ve created and decide what to do...

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Day 01 New

Day 01 New

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May:Create a new, dedicated home for your Messy May journey by binding an imperfect,...

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01 – Making the Journal

01 – Making the Journal

In this lesson I will take you through the process of making a simple and scrappy journal using mixed media paper and painted fabric strips as the signatures. The cover is made from...

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How to make a zine

How to make a zine

A zine is a handmade magazine or mini-comic about anything you can imagine: favorite bands, personal stories, subcultures, or collections. They contain diary entries, rants, interviews, and stories. They can be by one person or many, found in stores, traded at comic conventions, exchanged with friends, or given away for free.

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Expanded Spine Art Journal

Expanded Spine Art Journal

The incredible Diana was so inspired by Claudette's journal in the Courageous Adventures in Art Journaling class that she played around, figured things out by pausing a video, and made a similar journal. And then another and another. And then we're...

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Day 01 Starting

Day 01 Starting

Remember: Bring your messy self, take what you need (no such thing as being behind), and remember that more than zero is enough. Here's the prompt for today's Messy May: Start. Either by opening your journal to a new page or by binding a journal just...

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Whimsy + Curiosity Suggested Journal

Whimsy + Curiosity Suggested Journal

Whimsy + Curiosity#gmseasonofwhimsy #gmseasonofcuriosityThis season, the suggested journal is a Handbound Journal. Need some inspiration? Here ya go!If you'd like to dig...

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