How To Make a Recycled Envelope Book with Scrapbook Paper Instead of Envelopes.

I remembered seeing an envelope book and thought I could use some more scrapbook paper to make something similar. I chose a tropical theme and will use it for my next vacation.

I grabbed a book from the stack that I'm donating to the library and carefully cut the book free from the cover with a razor blade. I'm keeping the pages since I plan to incorporate them into the finished book later.

I measured the spine to see how big to make the insert. This book is 1.25 inches wide.

Now for the math.

I want the insert to be a little smaller than the spine so that it can lay normally when the pages are filled and the "envelopes" are filled. My spine is 1.25" wide so a 1" wide insert will fit well.

I want a 1/2" flange so the larger piece of paper is 2" x 8.75 (the length of the page I want the finished book to have minus .25")

I want to have a .25" space between the flanges so the next 2 pieces of paper are 1.5" wide.

The fold lines are indicated with a dashed line. A scoring board is very helpful but not required.

The center flange is glued together inside. I used Tacky glue since that was what I had on hand and a glue stick would be strong enough.

All 3 folded flanges nest inside each other and are glued along the bottom.

I used scrapbook card stock to make the spine flange.

The book spine isn't stable enough to glue the spine flange to, so I cut a piece of cardboard to size and glued it in place.

I glued on new endpapers to cover the existing ones and cover the cardboard covered spine. I used white scrapbook paper and since the book is wider than 12" I have a seam in the center.

Make sure you fold the book closed to ensure you don't have the paper glued too tight.

I plan to decorate the endpapers with art so the white will suit my  needs but a more interesting end paper would be fun.

Glue the center flange in place.

My finished envelope pages will be 5.5 x 9 inches. Scrapbook paper is only 12" so I needed to piece the envelope sleeve.

I cut the sleeve 5.5 x 9.5 and folded each piece .5 inch on opposite ends.

Glue the 2 pieces of paper together with the folds on opposite sides to reduce bulk at the seam.

Put glue on both sides of each individual flange and slide the envelope sleeve on. Press in place. Check the pages by turning them (like you were reading a book) since they need to have a little space for turning and you don't want the pages too tight.

The finished book. I'll be cutting watercolor paper to size so I can use to as a travel journal. The nice thing is the scrapbook pages are acid free so it won't hurt the artwork.

How To Make A Wire Bound Art Journal From An Old Book Tutorial

I like making art journals from old books so here are directions on how to do it. I wanted one with black paper but I usually use acid free drawing paper or watercolor paper. Carefully cut the front and back cover off with a razor blade.































Trim the covers with a paper cutter. You don't want to cut through the thickest part, only cut along it.
















Measure the trimmed book cover. This one is 8.5" x 5 3/8".
















The paper should be smaller than the cover and life is easier if the bound edge of the paper is cut to the closest 1/2". Cutting the paper in half inch increments simplifies putting the holes in since you don't need to do any crazy adjusting. I cut the paper 8" x 5".
















Don't try cutting too many sheets at one time on the paper cutter since you want a nice, crisp line.
















What it looks like stacked up.
















Punch holes using a book binding machine. You can find them online and there is a craft version called Cinch that does a very nice job. The Cinch is strong enough to punch through a book cover but do it slowly since it's a lot for a craft machine to do.
















Now you need to make the holes in the cover. Adjust the binding machine to take into account the book cover being longer. It's a good idea to test the settings with a scrap piece of paper since you don't want to have to toss the cover because it was punched incorrectly.
















You need to punch the back cover so that the end papers are facing up. If you try punching the holes with the back cover facing up it's likely that the front and back cover will not match up. It would be a good idea to test this one as well with scrap paper to ensure a proper fit.
















Count the number of punched holes and trim the wire to the desired length; cutting where shown.
















Put the sheets of paper onto the wire.
















Place the cover on top, facing up.
















Put the back cover on top of the other layers. The end paper needs to be facing up to ensure the closed wire edge is on the inside of the back cover. You'll flip the book to the correct position after the wire is crimped.
















Shift the paper to the center of the wire binding.
















Slowly crimp the binding wire using the binding machine. I like to flip the book after crimping and do it again on the other side. I have a tendency to push harder on one side than the other and this ensures a nice even crimp. Make sure the center of the binding wire remains in the center of the press or it will become lopsided. You might want to practice with a wire scrap.

Flip the book covers to the normal position and if you did everything correctly the crimped edge is next to the inside of the back cover.






















Voila, you are ready to journal.

3 More Recycled Book Art Journals

Bad Hugh has a pretty woman wearing a straw hat with pink flowers.






















Around the World in St Paul is another local book destined for the trash that I upscaled.






















Farm Ballads has a pretty rural scene inset on the cover.