I have piles and piles of Flow Magazines at home. I used to buy them every time a new issue came out and later on I was gifted a subscription. Last year I decided to end that subscription, because although I love reading and flicking through that magazine, the issues were just gathering dust.
And then I came across a free tutorial of Lulu Laberlue, a.k.a Estelle who makes the loveliest journals from old books and Flow Magazines. I got so exited that I jumped right into it and made my own junk journal out of a repurposed magazine.
Every issue of Flow Magazine has lots of beautiful photography and illustrations. For my first journal I chose one that was filled with botanical illustrations, it even contains a few illustrations of one of my teacher Marenthe Otten (the bright blue and pink one)! But to make it into a journal that would be of use to anyone (I wasn’t planning on keeping it myself) I added some blank pages and spaces for writing, drawing or painting.
On the right page you see part of the illustration by Marenthe Otten. She lives and teaches in The Hague and I took a couple of online classes with her: 60-Minute Art Beat Magic Paris and The Kick Art E-Beat Course to name a few.
The journal is hand bound using a simple pamphlet stitch with green waxed thread.
The journal has 25 pages including the covers and 16 pockets to keep cards or tags. The pockets are machine stitched for durability and visual interest. I love that the threads are sticking out.
The journal also has a few folding pages embellished with smaller illustrations and other collage bits.
I also added some ribbons to the journal.
This is actually the first project that I combine paper with stitches and ribbons. If you know me at all you know I also love making costumes for the carnival in Venice (read here about the last time we were there).
Both the front and back cover have a side pocket to store your own paraphernalia, I just put in some left-over bits from the magazine.
Evidently there are more pages in the journal, but I wanted to show you a variety and the ones I like best.
Currently you can purchase it in my Etsy shop.
