As a blog, Crafty in the City advocates frugal crafting. And as a crafter, I swear by repurposing pre-loved children's hardbound books into junk journals as a way to thrift this creative hobby.
Why Repurpose Children's Books?
- Aside from the thrifting aspect, children's books give a wealth of colorful pages, matte or glossy.
- If you're fortunate enough to find pop-up books, you can alter them as well and have fun with 3D effects.
- You can give your junk journal a theme (for this blog post it will be journals repurposed from pre-loved Sesame Street books) and look for products (e.g. stickers, washi tapes, excess wrapping paper, etc.) that adhere to your theme.
- You can incorporate generic materials like ribbons, index cards, ephemera, scrapbook paper, cardstock, etc.
- You can DIY die-cuts and other materials (e.g. lamp post, school bus, Cookie Monster's eyes and cookies, Elmo's piano, etc.) to replicate the Sesame Street characters and stuff for which they're known.
- You can use a multitude of techniques to decorate your junk journal, giving you the ultimate, unhinged, no-hold-barred experience.
- Repurposing pre-loved books causes us to cut back on clutter and come up with something "brand new." In the long run, repurposing can be more sustainable, leading to less harm on the environment.
- You can personalize and pass on your junk journals as gifts to children.
(**DISCLAIMER: Affiliate links to products are provided in this blog post. Each time you click on those links and make a purchase, I'll collect a percentage from your purchase as a commission.)
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| A Little Golden Book Sesame Street children's picture book from treasuresbyheylittlebuddyz0.ph |
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| Secondhand Sesame Street book from happychildbookshop.ph |
Materials
- pre-loved Sesame Street books
- paper ephemera (manufactured or accumulated)
- cardstock
- washi tapes
- scraps of ribbons and scrapbook paper
- index cards (ruled or unruled is fine)
- stickers
- color sticky notes
- sheets of notepads
- keychain, pendant, or charm
- pens (ballpoint, felt-tip, calligraphy, gel) for writing and decorating
- printed fabric
- fabric or multi-purpose glue
- (optional) scrapbook scissors, craft punches, manufactured die cuts
Procedure
- Take a look at your materials and decide what types of pages to incorporate on your Sesame Street junk journal. You can create pockets from cardstock and decorate them with stickers and washi tapes. You'll now have convenient places to insert mementos like postcards, notes, letters, and greeting cards.
- You can wrap the back cover with printed fabric, glue wavy ribbons or pom pom frills on the pages' edges, or use two wide strips of polka-dotted ribbons as closure.
- Attach a couple of colorful metal binders onto your journal pages. Take a bookmark (or two) and tie the tassels around the clasp of the metal binders.
- Let loose! Go crazy! Experiment with various techniques for layouts and spreads.
- Have photos developed in black-and-white and arrange them to serve as a stark contrast to the colorful pages.
- Use ruled index cards to copy favorite recipes, quotes, jokes, poetry, etc.
- For ideas and suggestions, four video tutorials have been embedded onto this blog post.
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| Sesame Street book (pre-loved copy) from BRILYO |
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| Sesame Street pre-loved books from o4j9ui4sy o4j9zui4sy |
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| yanbao_shop's colorful metal binders |
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| Pom pom fringe ribbons from ukible.ph |
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| Printed polka-dot ribbons (22 m/roll) by ashleysilk.ph |
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| Wavy lace ribbons (5 mm wide) from ashleysilk.ph |
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| mr.paper's washi tape set (available in four styles) |
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| Sesame Street board book from saturasibooks.ph |
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