If you've been looking for a way to use those larger book pages sitting in your stash — Edith Holden pages, old calendar sheets, magazine pages, whatever you've been quietly hoarding — this tutorial is the place to start. I'm folding them into page huggers: little pocketed inserts that slide onto the pages of your journal, work as floating tuck spots, or do double duty as proper bookmarks. The folding takes about thirty seconds. The fun part is everything that comes after.
What we cover
This is a craft-with-me tutorial showing how to fold, glue, and collage book pages into page huggers — with variations for top-loading and bottom-loading orientations, tab placement, and embellishing with mixed media including magazine cutouts, doilies, stickers, brads, charms, and repurposed earrings and jump rings. I work through several pieces across the session, so you get to watch the idea evolve from a simple first attempt into more elaborate, layered versions.
What you'll learn
How to fold a single book page into a page hugger pocket, including:
- Deciding which side faces out before you fold — imagery and duck illustrations stay visible; blank sides go in
- Choosing how far to fold (leaving a generous open edge makes it easier to slide onto a journal page)
- Gluing the pocket closed while keeping the opening free
Top-loading vs. bottom-loading orientations — and when to use each
- Top-loading for bookmarks, where the hugger sits at the head of a page and imagery reads right-side up
- Bottom-loading for journals, where the pocket fits under a page and things can peek out or dangle below
How to collage and embellish the surface, including:
- Layering circular and irregular cutouts from magazines and old book pages — rounds and organic shapes hide the folded section better than rectangular patches
- Using a tea-dyed doily as a base layer and inking its edges before gluing
- Working with transparent and semi-opaque stickers directly on printed book pages
- Stenciling over white areas to fill them without covering the page's original character
How to add a tab that integrates cleanly into the design — placing it before the collage layers so it sits underneath other elements rather than on top as an afterthought
How to embellish with hardware and found objects, including:
- Setting eyelets (and using a quieter setting tool for smaller, more fragile eyelets that the large cropper can destroy)
- Attaching handmade brads as focal points
- Looping charms and repurposed earrings onto jump rings and anchoring them to the edge
Inking the inside edges of the pocket — white bits can peek through when the hugger sits on a page, and a pass of ink on the interior edges before gluing takes care of that
How page size determines the finished piece — the larger your starting page, the larger your page hugger, which makes this endlessly scalable and a natural batch project
Tips & gotchas
Keep the opening of your page hugger clean and uncluttered. It sounds obvious, but it's easy to let embellishments drift toward the open edge — and then the whole thing catches and tears when you're trying to slide it onto a page. I leave a clear margin at the opening and resist the urge to decorate right up to it.
When a layered element overlaps the opening, hold your fingers across that gap before applying glue. You'll feel exactly where the glue can't go, and you won't accidentally seal the pocket shut.
Ink the inside edges — not just the outside. I do this before folding and gluing, while everything is still flat. The inside isn't visible in normal use, but white bits have a way of peeking through, and it bothers me every time.
I film with my phone, so on this particular session I couldn't take a reference photo before gluing — and I paid for it. Normally I photograph my layout before committing anything, especially with a complex collage arrangement. It takes three seconds and saves a lot of squinting at where that one piece was supposed to go.
Add your tab early — before you start layering stickers and cutouts, not after. A tab that tucks underneath the collage looks intentional. A tab stuck on top at the end looks like you forgot it.
For a bookmark (top-loading), fold so the imagery faces outward and reads the right way up when the hugger sits at the top of a page. For a journal insert (bottom-loading), fold so things can dangle below the page's edge — charms and little clusters of embellishments look especially good this way.
And finally: the larger your original page, the larger the finished hugger. If you want to make a set of smaller ones, start cutting before you fold — or keep a circle die on hand and cut your own rounds from book pages to use as collage elements.
Once you've made two or three and found your rhythm, making a stack of them for journals, gifts, or your shop is a genuinely relaxing afternoon's work — and each one ends up looking completely different depending on what you reach for first.
