Upcycled Journal

At the end of an art class my students often walk out and drop some really amazing drawings in the recycling bin. I like to gather the work and upcycle it into a very cool little sketch book or journal and "gift" it back to them. It doesn't take long to make and the kids love seeing their discarded artwork turned into something functional.

all you need is the discarded artwork, 2 pieces of 9"X7" cardboard or mat board, 2 pieces of 8"X6" blank paper, several sheets of 8 1/2" X 14" paper to use for pages ( I like to use 8 sheets that creates 16 pages) an awl, hammer pencil, glue stick, scissor, needle, thin ribbon and duct tape.

Place the card board in the center of the artwork and draw the outline.Then carefully fold the edges using the pencil marks as a guide. cut the corner notches out using the fold lines as a guide. Glue the cardboard back in the center of the paper and carefully glue and fold up the edges.

Glue the extra piece of 8"X6" blank paper inside the cover to conceal any rough edges. Place the front and back covers about 1/4" apart and wrap a nice color of duct tape around as binding.

fold the larger sheets of paper in half and clip them in place inside the covers. using the hammer and awl make 4 holes down the binding of the book. thread the needle with a 12" piece of the thin ribbon. starting from the outside insert the needle into on of the holes (don't pull it all the way through ) come out the next hole and unthread the needle and tie the ribbon into a bow. Then finish with he next two holes.