DIY Journal How To (Smash Book, Art Journal, Sketchbooks)

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As the summer approaches, I thought it would be fun for us to venture into the world of Smash Books Scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is not something I have particularly “done” much in the past, but when I heard about the Smash Book concept, I thought the kids would love it too.  In essence, a Smash Book is like a diary come sketchbook come holiday journal come ideas place. Somewhere to safe ticket stubs, write down thoughts, doodle and explore. Yes, nothing new (I did this as a teenager), but has some scrapbooking prettiness sprinkled all over it. Of course today’s smash book DIY, also doubles up as a fabulous DIY Journal or DIY art journals / sketchbooks. So make this book. And use it which ever way you want!

How to make a DIY Journal Tutorial. These journals are fun to make and a great as Smash Books, Art Journals, for story writing, sketckbooking or keeping as a diary! Love DIY journals #journals #artjournal #scrapbook #recycled #backtoschool #schoolsupplies #forteens
Note this DIY Art Journal was first published in June 2016 and has been updated and reshared for your convenience

We are making a DIY journal from scratch, giving you a simple journal tutorial. Do some story writing. Do some drawing. Save your memories. Decorate your DIY Journal and smash books and simply have fun!

DIY Journal – Smash Book Materials:

These are the materials that WE used, but in the instructions below, I give you suggestions for alternatives. It really is a matter of what you have handy. Don’t go out and buy lots of stuff!

  • Light plain card or lined paper
  • Assorted patterned card stock (optional)
  • Ribbons or Book Binder Rings (you can get them here – we used 25mm ones US / UK (affiliate links))
  • Cereal box or similar
  • Brown paper/ brown paper bag/ wrapping paper (or similar)
  • Pens (we used Fun Chalk pens that you can get here US/ UK (affiliate links))
  • decorative bits and bobs
  • Glue stick
  • scissors

DIY Journal – Smash Book How To:

And this is how easy it is to make a DIY Journal from scratch… enjoy. So fun. I love that you can simply add pages or remove some, as you wish. Making this a super flexible journal for the summer holidays (or back to school for that matter).

Enjoy! Hope you love your Smash Books! I think I will use mine for ideas over the summer!

Fancy some great ideas for Summer Staycations? Take a look at our “Classic Summer Crafts“:

summer crafts for kids

This video tutorial is also available on YouTube

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