DIY French Altered Book Art Journal

Ever wanted to start a DIY French Altered Book Art Journal? Learn the basics on how to prepare the pages, create layers, add unique elements to create texture and add dimension to your work!

Hello friends! I’m back with another DIY project, are you ready to create something beautiful and truly unique? :) Today we are playing a little bit with mixed media and we are making our first DIY French Altered Book Art Journal. You can consider this tutorial as your beginner’s guide to mixed media, altering books and art journaling if you are not familiar with all these. And if you are, I’m hoping you’ll find something inspiring here nonetheless. What I love about this project is all the amazing opportunities you have and all the endless routes that you can take towards shaping your own creations. Your own kind of beautiful!

DIY French Altered Book Art Journal

I’m showing you a few easy techniques to give you a starting point, but there are basically endless possibilities here. You just have to clear your mind and let your creativity lead the way. Don’t be afraid to experiment or make mistakes, these are all part of the creative process. These techniques can be used to make this project, but they can also be integrated in other mixed media, altered books or art journal projects. But what I love most about this project is that you have to put your imagination to work to find nontraditional materials that you can incorporate on your pages. Scrap pieces of paper, price tags, bar codes, music books, old dictionaries, home decor or fashion magazines illustrations or words – they can all be on your quest list when wanting to add interest to your journal.

DIY French Altered Book Art Journal

To create texture and add dimension you can use bubble wrap (and some paint), scrap pieces of fabric (cheese cloth creates the most amazing effects), pressed flowers, buttons, twine, doilies and even crocheted items or lace – they can all be incorporated into your work. I used some recycled mesh net fruit bag to create an interesting textured effect on one corner and some torn tracing paper to create a delicate sheer effect. As you can see, the sky is the limit! And of course I couldn’t help myself … so I just added a little bit of gold! Life would be so much boring without a little bit of gold, don’t you think? :)

DIY French Altered Book Art Journal

To make the journal itself, you will need a book! Something old or something new, something small or something big, it doesn’t really matter … you will transform its pages anyway! :) Just look for something sturdy, with hard covers, something that would be able to safely keep all your art journaling creative projects in one place. Yes, I did say all, and not only one (this one), the mixed media art journaling thing is highly addictive, you WILL be creating quite a few more! :)

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| gesso | gold scissors | watercolors | craft sponge| colored pencils | gold acrylic paint | modeling paste | brushes | paining knife | | masking tape | tracing paper |  metallic pen |

  You already know how much I love all the images from The Graphics Fairy, this time I created a super chic Parisian collage for you, with a stunning vintage rose and other smaller adorable elements that can be adapted to your needs. The free printable and the step by step tutorial is available on The Graphics Fairy, I’m sharing the link at the end of this post. You will see that the printable is available in 3 different sizes to match your book of choice, so you have no excuse – you just HAVE to try this project! :) I also have a special assignment for you there, make sure you check the full DIY tutorial.

Click HERE to learn how to make the DIY French Altered Book Art Journal and download the free printable!

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