One thing I love is a good journal. Being a writer, for me, half the fun is picking out a really nice journal. The other thing I love is Target. I try not to, but alas, I do. I love them for their dollar section, really. In need of a new journal, I decided to shop for a new one, but I didn’t have a whole lot of money on hand, and the journals I usually admire cost around $35 or more.
So enter the dollar spot at Target. I found a journal, bought it, altered it, and now I want to show you how I did it.
Dollar Store Altered Journal
by Diana Gonzalez, Arte Y Poemas
Project Materials:
- Journal, $1
- Gesso or white acrylic paint, on hand or $1
- Pigment inks, $1 each and up
- Bubble wrap, on hand
- Magazine clippings, on hand
- Glue stick, on hand
- Mod Podge, on hand or about $5
Total: $1 and up
First, I bought myself a plain journal. I always go for nice thick ones, with lined pages, since I keep my writing separate from my artwork (as far as journals go, anyway).
It’s nice enough this way, I suppose but I really wanted to have a journal that I’d look forward to writing in. In my art journals, I keep minimal art on the covers, as somehow it hinders me. But with writing journals, it’s the opposite. Don’t ask me why.
Anyway, I covered it in gesso. If you don’t have gesso, just use white paint. I watered down my brush a bit, so that the the design on the cover still peaks through a little bit.
After that, I remembered I had this fun mesh netting thingamajig so I used that, with some blue ink over it.
Just as I type this, I realized the name for the mesh thingie is “sequin waste ribbon” or punchinello. If you don’t have any, you can buy some at Gauche Alchemy for cheap. But use what you have! To get a similar look, take bubble wrap and ink it up like a rubber stamp, or use lace. You don’t have to buy anything.
Anyway, once you ink that up, blot it like a lipstick with a white piece of paper.
Now, I’m ready to do some collage work.
Just get a magazine or two that you like or that you read already, and clip out phrases and pics that inspire you or say something to you. Arrange as desired, and secure with glue stick or Mod Podge. There is no wrong way to express yourself!
“Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
{Jack Kerouac}
1 Comment
Mimi Niesen
Happy New Year,Diana! Thanks for so generously sharing your Dollar Store finds. How refreshing that you tout using what you have, too.
In September,while traveling, I kept an art journal. When we got back home I felt a bit blue that all that fun ended. So I looked for blogs on art journaling and found much info/inspiration, and feel lucky I stumbled upon your site. Thank you again!