Collage is one of my favorite ways to decorate my journal covers and pages. Magazines usually have the best images to use. You can even get your collage materials from old books, mail, trash found on the street, food wrappers, you name it. I get the majority of my images from magazines in the free bin from the library. My absolute favorite source is National Geographic. During the pandemic, it has been much harder to find material since the library is closed. I have found that most grocery stores have a rack near the entrance for local publications. These are almost always free for the taking.
Once you start collecting your sources you can clip out the images you think you’ll use. I tend to go through each magazine several times to get as much out of it as I can. Everything then gets sorted. My old method of storage is to use boxes as seen below. I now have just one smaller box for “working” images and found a better way of storing the rest.
I had a old vintage canvas binder I wanted to put to use and thought it would be perfect to hold my collage images. I used plastic sleeves as pockets. Each sleeve devoted to a theme. The binder method works great to keep everything organized and protected.
The tools that I use: Scissors, X-Acto knife, cutting mat, rubber cement, and Pik-up rubber cement eraser. Brush and Mod Podge are used if the collage goes on the outer covers. Yes! Paste is a great stick flat glue that cleans up easily with water. Not pictured is 3M Super 77 Adhesive spray and a clear acrylic spray.
I can’t post about collaging in journals without some examples. So, here are several of my journal covers that have been collaged.
