If you've got a pile of book pages sitting on your desk — maybe pulled from an old book, or saved because you couldn't bear to throw them away — this video is for you. I walk through three techniques for turning those pages into actual journaling spots: places you can write, doodle, and decorate. And because techniques alone can only tell you so much, I also show around fifty examples across all three methods, so you can see exactly what each one looks like in practice before you pick up anything.
What we cover
Three techniques — painting, layering paper, and sewing or doodling lines — each approached not as a single trick but as a way of working creatively with one material or tool. I work through plenty of examples for each, then bring all three together in a live creating session where I make a small journal cover on camera (unplanned, with all the honest missteps that come with that).
What you'll learn
How to use paint to create a writing surface on a book page, including:
- Covering the text completely with black paint and writing on top with a white pen — my favourite result in this whole video
- Applying a faint wash of paint that leaves text visible underneath but still reads clearly as a writing space
- Using paint as a frame or accent rather than a full cover, then doodling or sewing around it
- Creating small paint swatches that function as individual writing spots — I made several of mine by wiping brushes on the page, which I love as an approach
- Fake asemic writing — lines that look like handwriting but don't actually say anything, useful when you want the look of journaling without legible content (and genuinely useful when you want to get something out without anyone being able to read it)
Why black is the most reliable colour for full text coverage — other colours, especially yellows and lighter paints, may do very little depending on quality. Even a mid-quality paint that covers partially is usable; a wash that leaves text visible still works. Black is the exception where you can expect true opacity, which is why the white pen pairing works so well.
How to use paper scraps and offcuts to create writing spots, including:
- Layering pieces from paper pads — mixing and matching, cutting to fit, combining two pieces side by side
- Using paper strips left over from trimming signatures, wrapping them around the edge of a page so the writing space continues onto the reverse
- Gluing small offcuts and strips in a column to create what reads almost like a little set of drawers or a wardrobe — I keep coming back to this image and I think it deserves its own video
- Working with naturally dyed papers — coffee-dyed, tea-dyed, turmeric, cabbage — as ready-made beautiful surfaces to glue over busy text
How to use a marker to draw lines on a book page — straight or wiggly, hand-drawn lines are one of the fastest and most obvious ways to signal that a space is for writing. The absorbency of book pages also makes them good surfaces for marker work; they tend to blend more cleanly than shinier papers.
How to sew yarn lines onto a book page using a sewing machine, including:
- Threading yarn through a short piece of straw (or a piece of dry pasta) and taping it to the underside of the presser foot to guide the yarn as the machine feeds it through
- Using zigzag stitch to couch the yarn — the machine stitches over it while you move the paper, creating wavy or looping line patterns
- Making line drawings with yarn — tracing a heart outline, for example, or just moving the paper freely for an organic feel
How to sew wiggly writing lines with thread directly onto the page — moving the paper under the presser foot as you sew creates natural, hand-guided curves that look like writing lines. These work best when your machine is clean and the needle is fresh; skip stitches show up more on these freeform passes.
How to finish a piece that isn't coming together — tearing the edges and inking them is one of my most-used rescues. More than once in this video a piece that I was ready to discard came back to life the moment the edges were torn and darkened.
Tips & gotchas
Black paint is in a category of its own for coverage. Other colours — especially yellows and pale shades — may barely register over printed text, looking more like highlighter than paint. If full coverage matters to you, black is the reliable choice. Chalk paint may work similarly but may need a couple of coats; test before committing to a whole page.
A partial wash is still a valid writing surface. You don't need to hide the text completely. A faint coat of paint changes the feel of the page enough that it reads as a writing space, and the text showing through can actually add character. Don't dismiss a piece just because the words are still faintly visible.
Absorbent papers like book pages are your friend with markers. The more absorbent the paper, the less you'll see those uneven transition marks when you're filling in a space with colour. Shinier or coated papers fight back. Book pages generally behave well.
When doing the yarn zigzag technique, start with a few stitches in one place before you begin moving the paper. This anchors the yarn and stops it from pulling loose at the beginning of the line. The straw (or pasta) guide taped under the foot makes feeding the yarn smooth — without it, the yarn tends to wander.
Keep your sewing machine clean and change the needle regularly. I filmed the yarn demonstration with a needle that was overdue for a change and ended up with skip stitches throughout. It still works well enough to demonstrate the technique, but on a piece you care about, a fresh needle makes a real difference.
Don't glue anything down before your paint is fully dry. I did this during the live creating section and ended up with a paint blob under my paper. It's recoverable — I eventually leaned into it — but easier to avoid. When you're working quickly, this is the step most likely to catch you out.
Tearing edges and inking them is a reset, not a last resort. I reached for this more than once during the on-camera session and it genuinely transformed pieces I wasn't happy with. If something feels flat or unfinished, try tearing the edges before you decide it's done.
When I made this video, I had a pile of book pages left over from pulling apart a book for another project — and the honest truth is that I didn't want to throw them away but didn't quite know what to do with them yet. So this became a sorting-out session: three techniques, fifty-odd examples, and a live creating session that went slightly sideways in the most honest possible way.
Paper strips too short for a full page. Offcuts you've been saving. Naturally dyed scraps. They all have a place on a book page, and the result, when it's bound into a journal, is something that genuinely invites you to pick up a pen.
