If you've got a box of random scraps sitting in your studio — paper offcuts, torn magazine pages, fabric bits, the occasional tea bag — this video shows you exactly what to do with them. I dig out an old art journal I made from a catalog about five or six years ago, flip through what's already in it, and then work through one of my favourite techniques for breaking out of a creative rut: pulling ten random things out of a scrap box and making something with only those.
What we cover
This is part flip-through, part making session. I show how I originally built the journal itself — covering catalog pages with book pages, music sheets, and paper offcuts using a PVA and water mix — then walk through the scrap-pull challenge and make a small sewn mini journal that goes straight into a pocket in the art journal.
What you'll learn
How to make an art journal from a catalog, using whatever paper you have on hand:
- Covering catalog pages with book pages, music sheets, or any paper scraps
- Overlapping page edges to add sturdiness
- Keeping the middle page continuous to protect the spine
- Mixing PVA glue with water for easy, even application
How I handle pages that crack or warp — the PVA mix will warp pages, and over time some will crack at the spine. I show how I work with this rather than against it, and where reinforcing the overlap underneath matters most.
The scrap-pull creative challenge — pulling around ten random items out of a scrap box without looking and committing to making something with only those items. It's one of the most reliable things I know for getting unstuck.
How to make a quick sewn mini journal from scraps, including:
- Folding and sewing three pages through the middle
- Adding a pocket to the front and back
- Gluing down paper scraps for surface interest without overthinking the finish
Why limiting your materials is actually useful — when you pull a fixed number of items and work only with those, you spend less time searching for the "perfect" element and more time actually making. The constraint forces decisions.
Different ways to work in an art journal over time — this journal isn't filled in a single session. I show how one page might be a single magazine image, another might be stitched lace and chain, another might be a textured paper collage made during a tutorial. Each section gets worked whenever it gets worked.
Why I don't use double-sided tape — there's a page in this journal with a stain that crept through about two years after I used it. I show it so you can see what it looks like: a permanent discolouration that's impossible to fix. It's also prone to losing stickiness entirely.
Tips & gotchas
PVA mixed with water is the right glue for covering catalog pages — it applies easily and soaks in well — but it will warp your pages. That's not a failure, it's just what happens. Going in knowing this means you won't panic when you see it. Thicker, layered paper coverage helps; so does working slowly and letting sections dry flat before moving on.
When covering pages, overlap the edges wherever you can. The overlap is what gives you sturdiness for painting and gluing later. You won't always be able to do it on every section, but anywhere you can, do it.
Keep the center page as one continuous piece rather than two separate pages meeting at the spine. This is the main structural protection for the binding. If a page does crack over time, that middle reinforcement is what keeps the whole thing from splitting apart.
For the scrap-pull sessions: pull around ten items and don't go back to rummage for more. The whole point is the constraint. The moment you start searching for the "perfect" stamp or sticker or bit of trim, you've lost the benefit. Work with what you've pulled.
Setting a timer — ten or fifteen minutes — for these sessions helps too. It keeps the energy focused and stops you spiraling into indecision. The session doesn't need to produce something polished; it needs to produce something.
Avoid double-sided tape anywhere you want the page to stay clean. It can bleed through and stain the paper beneath, sometimes years later. PVA or a wet glue you can control will always be safer.
Once you start the scrap-pull habit, one thing becomes clear quickly: you never actually use up your scraps. You're always making more. That's fine — the point isn't to empty the box. It's to stay in practice.
The art journal itself becomes a record of all those sessions: not a finished object made in one go, but something that accumulates slowly, page by page, pocket by pocket, whenever you sit down for fifteen minutes. What you're left with is a journal that's genuinely yours — textured paper here, stitched lace there, tea bags, chain, a drawing you're still not happy with but left in anyway. That's what makes it worth flipping through.
