Crafty: Dream Journals

During our Own the Night Summer Reading Program this year we had two craft activities: Constellation Mosaics and Dream Journals. They were both a major success, but I have to admit that I liked the Dream Journal craft better - mostly because it was so simple and the prep work was minimal!

What you'll need:
Composition Notebooks (I found them for $0.92/each at Target)
Mod Podge (if you don't have mod podge, you can use a mixture of 50% "school" glue and 50% water)
Large paint brush or sponge brush
Old magazines, recycled books, construction paper
Extras like glitter, puff paint, sequins, feathers, etc.

Materials

To create your Dream Journal, first start digging through your magazines, book pages, etc for images for your cover. You can tear these out and have rough edges, cut clean edges with scissors, or if you have craft scissors, cut them out with a patterned edge.

Finding the best materials

Working hard, getting creative

When you are ready to apply your images, first brush the mod podge directly onto your notebook. While the mod podge is still wet, place your image - make sure to adjust it quickly because the mod podge dries fast. Once you have the image where you want it, cover the image with a coat of mod podge.

Using brush and mod podge

Repeat until you're satisfied with your journal!

Helpful Hints:
*When creating a collage, like I did in the first photo, it's best to have your images cover the whole space - use some larger pieces as a base and then cover them with smaller images. This will make the page more visually interesting.

*You can add texture to your journal using the mod podge and paint brush; add extra mod pod to your brush or make swirls with your brush strokes.

*To make your journal "sparkle," add glitter as you're brushing on the mod podge or add flat sequins (using the same method as you would your magazine images or paper cut-outs, though you may need additional mod podge to get it to stick).

Adding glitter liberally

This project doesn't have to be used strictly for Dream Journals; we'll be doing this craft again at our first Scribbles: Creative Writing and Creative Arts club meeting. Those who are interested in writing will make Writing Journals and those who are interested in art will make Art Journals.

Check out these other examples!