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

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!

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!

Note this DIY Art Journal was first published in June 2016 and has been updated and reshared for your convenience

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!