Have you heard of "smashbooking"? The idea is you just "smash" whatever you like into a "Smashbook", which you can buy at a craft store/online, ect. The official product/brand name is actually "Smashbook" but it's sort of turned into an adjective. "Smashbooking" is like scrapbooking, without all the fancy shmancy stuff. It's an art journal/scrapbook/diary/ect. I stumbled across the idea a few days ago (ok, it was yesterday) and it looked fun. I wanted to start my own book, but being the cheap crafty person I am, I decided to make my own.
Here's what you'll need to follow my method:
A spiral bound notebook
- Paper (more on that later)
- Scissors
- A single hole punch
- Your creativity
Remove the metal binding piece from the notebook.
Use one of the notebook's original pages as a template to cut out a bunch of fun pages in the right size. I used old sheet music, scrapbook paper, coloring sheets and some envelopes. I just remembered that I was going to use old book pages too. Use whatever you want to make your smashbook unique and fun for you! Have fun with it! That's the whole point. For reals. Just have fun.
By the way, his project is a great way to use up some of that pretty paper you've been
hoarding saving. I had a bunch of paper left in the notebook, so I only cut out paper for accent type pages. If your notebook was all used up, you could replace all the pages with "pretty" ones. :)
Now it's time to get out the hole puncher. Put one of the original notebook pages on top of the pages you want to punch and use the holes as a guide. This way your pages will line up right. Keep in mind, if you have two pages you want to face each other, punch them accordingly. It's kind of like sewing. Put the right sides together and then punch them at the same time. The holes will end up on opposite sides. I don't know if that makes sense, but you're smart. You'll figure it out. ;)
Reassemble your notebook! I spaced my "pretty" pages with the plain ones that came in the notebook, but I tried to keep it as random and unplanned as possible. One of my quirks is that I have a hard time doing anything randomly, like laying out a quilt or a scrapbook page. It may look random when it's done, but you can bet I made sure that two of the same colors weren't together, ect. I almost use a formula when doing something "randomly." Ha!
After I put everything back together, I went through and added a few little embellishments to some of the pages to act as journal prompts, ect. Again, I tried to not think about where I was putting things too much.
Here's a shot of the finished notebook. It's ready to be "smashed!" I'm looking forward to filling it with all the little things that I have a hard time throwing away. Tickets, cards, pretty magazine clippings, ect. Hopefully it'll be a good way to get back into journaling as well.
And can I just say, I love making things? It was so therapeutic to cut and glue and make hole punch confetti this afternoon/evening. I needed to do something like that after being crazy busy this weekend. I think "smashbooking" will be a great way to unwind after work.
Do you "smashbook?"
Niki
P.S. For more smashbook information/inspiration, try searching Google or Pinterest!
