~NMS~ Magical Art Journal

so a 9.75 x 7.5 notebook is ok? It is what she used

Yes ma'am! I just rounded up the numbers to 8x10!

ok thank you

Random idea for the journal---coffee or tea staining the pages!! This will make the pages bigger, thus making the book thicker. It can give character to the pages without you having to take the time to decorate each page, unless this is what you want to do.

Easiest way to stain the pages is to fill your kitchen sink with hot water.(about 3-4 inches) Get some instant coffee or tea bags (you can get either from the dollar store) For tea, if it's the bigger bags, I'd use 4-6 of them. Let them steep for about 10 minutes then remove. For coffee, dissolve 3-4 tablespoons. Hold the covers of your book back and dip the pages in the water. Let them soak for a little while to make sure all the pages get wet. Then hang it out to dry somewhere. This may take a day or so. Something you can try to keep the pages from getting bulky if protecting the covers with plastic (maybe wrap them in a plastic shipping bag) then put something heavy down on the book while the pages dry. This will make the drying process take longer, but you'll get a flatter book. If you don't flatten in, you'll probably get a book with pages similar to this.

Another thing you can add to the water is cinnamon for an extra kick of smell!!! Or vanilla extract!!!

Ok I am currently coffee staining my pages. I've been taking pictures along the way and will put up a quick tut on my blog and link here. FYI--this is more involved than I thought!! I've only ever stained individual pages, so they can just float in the water. With this, I've had to devise a way to hook the book up so I can let it soak a little while!

My blog post