Crafting Beautiful Journals & Albums: How to Personalize, Embellish & Make Diaries & Scrapbooks (Paperback)

~ Anna Morgan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Who can resist the appeal of a brand new notebook or journal? The clean blank pages are waiting to be filled, perhaps with secret thoughts, perhaps with favorite family recipes or pasted up with photos, ticket stubs and cherished mementos. And what could be more appealing than to embellish these blank books with attractive covers of fabric and other decorations?

Crafting Beautiful Journals and Albums shows readers how to beautify their ready-made blank books and plain photograph albums with a range of different materials, from tree bark and dried leaves to copper sheets and handmade papers. Once they've mastered these techniques, they'll move on to creating their own books from scratch using genuine bookbinding techniques.

* Shows readers how to transform any plain journal into something special
* More than 20 projects are presented with full color, step-by-step illustrations

About the Author

Anna Morgan specializes in designing and producing books, boxes and portfolios for working artists, international corporations and museums. She has taught art in high school and has taken part in a number of exhibitions, workshops and residencies. She lives in Devon, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books; illustrated edition edition (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581801351
• ISBN-13: 978-1581801354
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #529,890 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lavish Visuals, April 28, 2002

By	Ruth Edlund "dark goddess of replevin" (King County, Washington:) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Anna Morgan has the eye of a czarina when it comes to creating visual richness. The book is full of marvelous ideas great and small, many of which are quite inexpensive. For example, she suggests saving colored foil candy wrappers to smooth out and use as raw material to decorate the covers of books. Now why didn't I think of that the last time I crumpled and discarded a candy wrapper?

Morgan presents three categories of ideas: ones to use in decorating the covers of books, ones to use in embellishing the interior pages of books, and ones to use in making unusual books themselves.It has very clear instructions for all the projects, and has many detailed photographs and drawings. Very useful are variations on each idea, so you can see examples of how she takes her concept and reapplies it to make it look totally different.

If this book has a fault, it is that papermaking and bookbinding, both of which are described in the book, might each be the subject of detailed treatises much longer than this volume. No matter, this book is an inspiration.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Many Projects, So Little Time, July 8, 2007

By	Virginia Allain "(retired librarian)" (Poinciana, FL) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I'm so inspired by this book, that I can hardly wait to get home from vacation so I can pull out my craft supplies. One project is a vacation journal with a cover sprinkled with sand and sea shells. It's beautiful.
She shows a variety of designs and techniques like weaving torn paper, using embossing liquid, and making your own special papers (one uses corn silks). I like the examples using lace to frame an old photo, and ways to dress up ordinary books (a standard visitor's book and a ring binder). These are great for personal use or make very special gifts.