If you've got an old art book or magazine sitting in your stash — beautiful images you can't quite bring yourself to throw out but aren't sure how to use — this short tutorial is for you. I found myself in exactly that situation: a large book full of gorgeous, richly colored images that just didn't work as full journal pages. Too beautiful to bin, too awkward to use as-is. So I started cutting them down and turning them into embellishments instead, and the results surprised me.
What we cover
This tutorial shows how to take large book or magazine images that feel unusable in their full form and transform them into layered embellishments for junk journals — tags, pockets, envelope-style pieces, and front-cover decorations. I walk through the finished pieces I made, explain how I put them together, and show how I mix in fabric scraps, cardstock, cereal-box backing, sequins, brads, and paper flowers from whatever's in my current project box.
What you'll learn
Why large images that "don't work" as journal pages can become beautiful embellishment backgrounds — a full-page image of a pillow or a chair feels flat and purposeless in a spread, but slice it into smaller pieces and it suddenly has depth and texture that plain scrapbook paper rarely matches.
How to cut large images down into usable pieces without measuring — I don't measure, and I don't think you need to either. Varied sizes and proportions add interest. Some pieces end up square, some long and narrow; that variety is part of what makes the finished embellishments feel organic rather than formulaic.
How to layer a paper embellishment from scratch, including:
- Starting with a cereal-box or cardstock backing for structure
- Adding fabric beneath the image layer — I used calico and a few other fabric scraps that happened to be on my desk — so edges peek out from behind
- Sewing the image layer down over the fabric
- Finishing with whatever additional elements feel right: brads, paper flowers, lace, stickers, printed sentiments and quotes
How to sew sequins onto paper and cardstock — I first saw this done by Amdy Bloom and wondered why I'd never thought of it. It's simple, it's quick, and it adds a softness to an embellishment that glued sequins just don't have.
How to turn a cut-down image piece into a small envelope — without backing it onto anything elaborate. Fold, stitch or close with a brad, embellish, and it becomes a functional pocket piece that still looks beautiful.
How to use finished embellishments across different journal contexts, including:
- Tags tucked inside a journal
- Pocket pages
- A layered embellishment at the front cover of a journal, used almost like a focal point medallion
How to work from a project box — rather than planning combinations in advance, I go through a box of bits and pieces I've collected and hold things up next to each other until something clicks. No measuring, no planning grid — just "oh yes, that looks good with that."
Tips & gotchas
The most useful thing I can pass on here: don't look at a cut-down image piece in isolation and judge it. A cropped fragment of a painting or a magazine photograph looks boring on its own — flat color, no context. That's exactly the point. You're not using it as an image; you're using it as a background with more soul than patterned paper. Trust the layering process. The piece I'd almost put aside — just a section of muted tones with no obvious subject — became one of my favorites once the fabric, sentiment, and flower were on.
Go through your scraps before you start rather than after. I keep a project box of odds and ends close to my workspace, and I find the embellishments come together much faster when I pull a handful of bits out and physically hold them against each other first. You'll know quickly what belongs together and what doesn't.
You don't need to cut evenly or to any particular size. Some of my pieces are longer, some nearly square. That irregularity is part of what makes them look handmade in the best sense — they feel considered rather than manufactured.
If you want printed sentiments and quotes to use as the text layer on your embellishments, I have a PDF file with those available — the link is in the video description.
Pages you'd have put in the recycling become a stack of potential. The pillow image I nearly discarded gave me nine separate pieces, most of which are now embellishments I genuinely love. And the same approach works just as well for envelopes, tags, and front-cover focal pieces. It's one of those small shifts in how you look at materials that quietly opens up a lot of room.
