If you've got a cardboard box heading for the recycling bin — even a soft, bendy one that's not in great shape — this tutorial is worth a look. I took a bed sheet packaging box, fabric scraps, avocado-dyed paper, music pages, and a stash of handmade ephemera and turned it all into a large, grungy vintage junk journal with two fat signatures, extending pages, pockets, booklets, and more layers than I'd planned. I had no plan going in, and that turned out to be part of the point.
What we cover
This is a full build from blank cardboard box to finished journal — cover construction, spine reinforcement, fabric covering, signature preparation, three-hole pamphlet stitch binding, and a long embellishing session where I walk through the thinking behind every page. There's also a genuine conversation running through the flip-through about why junk journals exist at all, and what morning pages have to do with it.
What you'll learn
How to turn a low-quality cardboard box into a sturdy journal cover, including:
- Covering all raw edges with masking tape before you do anything else
- Reinforcing a flimsy spine with cardstock, coloured with Sharpie so it stays invisible under whatever goes over it
- Layering watered-down PVA first, then acetone-based glue, to bond fabric to the cover without warping the board or losing your grip on the fabric
How to cover a spine with fabric and finish it cleanly
- Bringing fabric over to the inside edge to hide raw ends
- Using washi tape (two overlapping strips) over the spine groove when your tape isn't quite wide enough
- Applying glue under the washi tape that crosses the groove, so the working part stays put
How to wrap and glue music pages and scrunched paper across a cover for a grungy, layered look, including ripping edges deliberately and inking the corners to push the grunge further
How to make signatures from large, non-standard-size papers, including:
- Working with avocado-dyed pages and large old book pages already prepared in advance
- Hinching two standard pages side by side with washi tape or masking tape to create a large page
- Layering two pages with a little glue, smoothing them flat, and folding in half
- Using zigzag stitch to extend a page with an extra strip of paper
How to prepare signatures with built-in interest before binding, including:
- Adding top-loading pockets sewn around three sides of a page
- Extending pages upward or downward with an extra piece sewn on
- Attaching paper ruffles directly onto a page as part of the signature build
- Adding a fabric or trim tab at the edge of a signature page
Three-hole pamphlet stitch binding for a large-format journal — Natasa binds off-camera here and points to her dedicated tutorial, but the context of applying it to oversized signatures is covered
How to build a layered front cover focal point using photo corners, file folder cardstock matting, hand-stitched gold thread, and small beads to finish the thread ends
Clipping versus gluing ephemera into journal pages — why keeping things removable and moveable makes a journal genuinely more usable, especially if you're making journals for other people to write in
How to think about journaling space when embellishing — the principle of leaving or creating surfaces to write on rather than covering every inch of every page
Tips & gotchas
The two-glue approach on the spine fabric isn't fussy — it's practical. Watered-down PVA gives you a thin, even layer that won't bleed through; the acetone-based glue (something like Fabri-Tac in the US) grabs the fabric fast and holds it flat without the warping you can get with wet glue alone. Use the PVA first, then go over the working edges with the acetone glue.
When you use cardstock to reinforce the spine, colour it with a Sharpie before you glue it down. It may not be visible at all once everything's layered over it — but if a sliver of white catches the light through your covering material, you'll be glad you took ten seconds to darken it.
If your washi tape isn't quite wide enough to cover the spine groove in one strip, use two overlapping pieces. Apply some glue under the section that crosses the groove before pressing it down — washi tape over a groove has a tendency to lift over time, and the glue prevents that.
For large journals, prepare a folder of large-format pages and ephemera in advance. Even if you're going in without a plan for the cover, having that folder ready means you're never stuck when it comes time to fill the signatures. Large old book pages, kids' school notebooks, avocado-dyed sheets — keep a dedicated spot for anything oversized.
Clip embellishments into your journal pages rather than gluing everything down. A journal should be usable — and the person using it (whether that's you or someone who buys it) may want to move things around, write under them, or take them out entirely. Paper clips and hidden paper clip embellishments give you all the visual interest without permanently committing anything to a spot.
When you're hinching two standard pages together to create a large page, washi tape and masking tape both work well — but fabric and zigzag stitch give you a more flexible hinge that holds up better over heavy use.
If you're making a journal this large and this chunky, don't plan a closure until the journal is fully embellished. What looks like a reasonable gap before you've added signatures, pockets, ruffles, and clipped ephemera can become a wide gape once everything's in. It's better to decide on closure — or decide against it — once you can see the real thickness.
The whole logic of grungy vintage layering, visual stimulus, pockets with tags, envelopes with writing paper, journaling spots left deliberately clear — it's all in service of making a page you actually want to open in the morning. Once you've made a journal like this, the natural next move is to fill the signatures with more of the pages you enjoyed making most: more extending pages, more pockets from different materials, more of the avocado-dyed paper if you have it. There's a real pleasure in making a journal that fits the way you actually use one.
