Some years ago I came across the paper bag journals and I started to make my own. Now I have made several of them and not one of them look alike. I have also started to have courses at Medborgarskolan in Trollhättan (Sweden) so I can teach others how to make them.
The first thing I do is that I collect at least six paper bags that look nice. It´s not much of the bag that will be shown when the book is done but you can be able to see some of it so I like to choose nice bags with nice colors. If I choose small paper bags I´ll get a small book and with big paper bags I´ll get a big book.
There are different ways to put the paper bags together but usually I take two bags and put them together with a paper hinge. When all the pages are together I make the covers from a hard cardstock but before I glue them on I decorate the covers with nice papers. Hinges holds the covers on place and when that’s done, I glue a backside on, made out of wall papers. When this is all done, then it´s only the decorating left to do.
It´s all up to you what you want to do with the journal/book. Here´s some of the things you can use it as:
- A photo album
- A travel journal
- A birthday book
- A love album with quotes and ideas
- A recipe book
- A washitape collection book
I´ll share some of the paper bag journals that I and my course participants have made.
Enjoy!
