If you've ever looked at a linen box headed for the recycling bin and thought there's something in there, this tutorial is for you. I took a queen-size bedding box — just a large, ribbed piece of folded cardboard, really — and turned it into a two-kilo deconstructed journal: my largest ever, stuffed with notepads, mini journals, pockets, ephemera booklets, a clipboard, expandable pouches, a tag booklet, and more. Along the way I'll walk you through what "deconstructed" actually means in practice, how I built and reinforced the cover from scratch, and every design decision that took this from a flat box to something that genuinely lives on a shelf as a piece of artwork.
What we cover
This is part flip-through, part construction walkthrough for a large-format deconstructed junk journal built entirely from upcycled and thrifted materials. We go through every element inside the journal, then move through the full cover-making process — reinforcing folds with fabric, building up the inner spines with wrapped cardstock, adding a latch closure, covering all panels, decorating the exterior, and finishing with book corners, ribbons, bling, chains, and a tassel.
What you'll learn
What a deconstructed journal actually is — in the most practical terms: a cover with a spine, no signatures bound in, and a collection of removable journaling companions (notepads, mini journals, booklets, pouches, envelopes) held inside by ribbons or a belly band rather than thread. It's a container for creative work rather than a traditional bound book.
How to build a sturdy journal cover from a recycled cardboard box, including:
- Cutting the original linen box to create the front cover, back cover, two inner spines, and a closing flap from a single piece of cardboard
- Covering all raw edges with washi tape before decorating to hide rough, unfinished cardboard
- Laminating the inner spines with cardstock wrapped in scrapbook paper to turn a flimsy ribbed box into something that won't bend under the weight of the contents
Why fabric — not paper — is the right choice for covering folds and spines — paper tears and creates problems at the stress points; fabric reinforces the fold while staying flexible. I used different fabrics across all the spine and fold areas for exactly this reason.
How to make a latch closure work on an uneven cover, including:
- Why you need both closure panels at the same level before the latch will sit flush
- How to elevate a recessed panel using wrapped cardstock so that a front flap and a front cover line up perfectly
How to add brads and hardware before lining the inside panels — if you glue down your interior paper first, the brad feet will show. Do the brad and closure work first, then cover the inside.
How to use magnets to hold removable notepads in place — magnets glued inside the spine keep the notepads flush even when the journal is opened and closed repeatedly, so nothing flaps loose.
How to decorate an exterior cover in stages, including:
- Taking photos at each step to get a fresh perspective on whether a design element is working (the phone view and the eyes view genuinely look different — use that)
- Adding layered paper flowers, painted wooden elements, rhinestone bling, and fabric-paper pieces
- Attaching metal book corners and die-cut cardstock photo corners for a finished edge
- Decorating the spine with fabric-paper tags, chains from broken necklaces, and a tassel added via brad — even as a final afterthought
How to use ribbons as a closure for a stuffed journal — when the journal is full, loose contents will fall out. Ribbons glued to the cover and tied in a bow solve this without any hardware.
A full flip-through of the journal contents, including:
- Horizontal belly band and ephemera at the front
- Two inner spines with magnet-held notepads
- An ephemera booklet, a plastic pouch, oversized paper button embellishments
- Index card collage journals and mini journals made in short creative sessions
- A cheesecloth and PVA cover mini journal
- A DIY texture paste journal
- A deconstructed envelope used as a folio
- A tri-fold accordion book
- A tag booklet (6×6 format) full of tags
- A stacked envelopes piece
- A mini clipboard covered in scrapbook paper with writing pages
- An expandable envelope pouch
- An oversized matchbook journal
- A bottom envelope also in the deconstructed envelope style, with ribbons glued underneath
Tips & gotchas
Fabric at the folds, always. Wherever this cover bends — the spines, the flap fold, any hinge point — I used fabric to reinforce it. Paper feels like the obvious choice for covering a box, but paper will crack and eventually tear at a fold that gets opened and closed. Fabric holds and flexes. Even scrap fabric works here.
Cover the raw edges with washi tape before anything else. The linen box wasn't a clean, finished piece of cardboard — the edges were rough and the structure was flimsy. Washi tape along every edge gave me a clean base to decorate over and stopped the raw board from showing through later layers.
Wrap your inner spines in cardstock before you glue them down. The ribbed cardboard in the original box bends too easily to hold the weight of a full journal. Taking a piece of cardstock (or cereal box, or any stiff card), wrapping it in scrapbook paper, and gluing it straight onto the spine turns a flexible panel into something that won't budge. You can see the thickness this adds when you look at the journal side-on — it's part of what makes this feel like a proper book rather than a decorated box.
Sort out your hardware before you line the inside. I added the latch closure and its brads before covering the interior panels, which meant the brad feet were hidden under the lining. If I'd done it the other way around, they'd be sitting proud on the surface. Same goes for any other fasteners — get the metal in first.
Match your closure panels before you commit. I had one panel sitting slightly lower than the other because the cover construction built them up unevenly. A latch closure needs both sides at the same height or it won't catch. I fixed this by using wrapped cardstock under the lower panel to bring it level — worth checking before you glue anything permanent.
Take a photo at every design stage. I do this every time now: place your elements, then look at them through your phone camera. I genuinely don't know why, but your eye in person and your eye through a screen read a composition differently. The phone catches things — something that looked balanced in real life suddenly looks off-centre, or a colour that felt wrong turns out to read beautifully. It's saved me from some bad decisions and confirmed some good ones.
Don't step on it. It feels sturdy — and it is, genuinely sturdy — but don't.
A note on the contents
That's actually part of what makes a deconstructed journal such a good home for a making practice — all those small things you finish and then don't quite know what to do with suddenly have somewhere to live together. The ribbons keep it closed; the magnets keep the notepads from shifting; and the whole thing can be taken apart, individual pieces used in other projects, and reassembled differently. There's no final form. That's rather the point.
