Collage This Journal Review

This journal is full of prompts to give you
a jumping off place when you are ready
to begin art journaling for the first time.

If you have ever thought that you might want to start an art journal, but have a fear of facing a blank page, then Collage This Journal by Elanore Shakespeare might be the perfect place for you to start.

This journal has 52 projects to help you create a visual diary or collage journal.  Some people also call them gluebooks when they are more cut and paste than pencil and paint.

Each page, or spread, has a prompt on it.  All you have to do is find images to fit that prompt and glue them onto the page.

You can use photographs of your own, or hunt images down from other sources like the internet, or magazines.  You can even doodle and draw your own responses if you prefer.

The pages are nice and thick so most inks will not bleed through.  I wouldn't recommend using a lot of wet media, or even too much liquid glue though.  Elmers X-Treme is my favorite glue stick for gluebooking.

Here are a few examples of the prompts you will find inside the book.  (I took these before I started playing with the book.  Too bashful to share my own images right now)

Who would get an invitation to your ultimate dinner party?

For example, you might fill these pages with your favorite actors and actresses, your favorite historical people.  You curent friends and family.  Even the president of the USA.  Who do you want to have a dinner party with?

Collage secret things on these pages and sew them shut.

Have something secret you want to get off your chest?  Dump them on this page.  Sew (or glue) the pages together and you have released your secret without telling a soul.

Create your perfect view.

This one can be drawn, or pasted in.  Or find images of your dream vacation destination.  You can put the on these pages and start your own "get away" fund to pay for a trip there one day.  (then take the book, and take a picture of it there....and you have another visual diary entry for another book!)

This book is great for collage artists, beginning art journalers, and even for scrapbookers  and smashbookers looking for a different way to smash.

Pick one up today for yourself, or as a gift.


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I received a copy of this novel free from Blogging for Books, but all thoughts and opinions on it are my own.

Craft Projects for Minecraft and Pixel Art Fans

Our household is full of boys who are obsessed with all things Minecraft.  I am obsessed with all things craft.  So when I found Craft Projects for Minecraft and Pixel Art Fans I knew I had to have it, and I had to make my boys some things out of it.

This is an unofficial guide, which means it was not released by the same people who created the massive pixelized sandbox game that is Minecraft.

This book of Minecraft craft projects comes from Choly Knight, who is no stranger to crafty project books.  (Check out her page at www.cholyknight.com)

The beginning of this book tells you a little about how our world is full of pixel art and design that we may not even be aware of.

That is followed by 10 pages of pictures of other peoples Minecraft inspired projects.  Everything from food, to party decor, to entire bedrooms.

Then she goes on to tell you a little about the Minecraft game and the popular and fun creatures that inhabit it.

Each of her crafts come with a 5 level difficulty rating, based on minerals from the game. Grass is the easiest level, and the black one whose name I can't remember is the Max difficulty.

The next section goes over the supplies you will need to complete the projects in this book.  I like that she includes helpful tips for people who might not be familiar making crafts with things like perler beads and duct tape.

The projects themselves range from simple pixel art paintings, to perler bead key chains.  She even gives you a project to do with the empty rolls you have left over after completing your duct tape Minecraft projects.  And we all know how much we like recycled projects here at A DIY Day.

Most of the projects are simple enough for Minecraft fans to do themselves.  It might encourage them to get off of the game for a little while and get crafty.  Besides, they would still technically be playing minecraft.  

Projects I Made From This Book

Minecraft Creeper Canvas