Art journals are one of my favorite things to make. I’m always looking for fun ways to make my pages different. I recently discovered cut out edges and they have made my pages so unique and gorgeous! Today I’m going to show you how you can easily spice up your art journal with cut out edges. No previous experience necessary. 🙂
What you’ll need for your art journal with cut out edges:
v Art Journal (pre-prepped and ready to go)
v Pencil and acid-free pens
v Scissors
v Paint and Paintbrush (optional)
1. Apply the paint
This step is completely optional. You could skip it and go right to step 2 if you’d prefer. I like to apply paint to my pages sometimes as an added texture / element. I use basic acrylic paint and randomly apply it to my primed page with a paintbrush. If your art journal isn’t primed, you can learn how to prepare here: How to Prepare an Art Journal from Old Books.
2. Draw your design
I am all about zentangle and doodles. I find it very relaxing to do. I recently started drawing these doodles in my art journals and I LOVE them! Below is the first page I have done. I love the way it turned out. I used a sharpie pen to make sure that the ink wouldn’t run.
3. Cut out the edge of your design
Using your scissors, carefully cut around the edge of your drawn design. It creates such a beautiful and unique edge.
4. Design the other side of the cut out design
The front of your page is all complete once you cut it now. Now we want to design the other side. Once you flip your page over, you’ll see the plain edge that was cut out.
Let your imagine go and draw another design within the cut out edge as I have done below. There are so many possibilities with this one! If you didn’t want to draw a design, you could always write inspiring words. Notice on this page that I did not paint the page first. I wanted to draw free-hand with my sharpie before coloring it in.
5. Color in your new design
The last step to decorating your unique and wonderful edges, is to color in your final design. You can use markers, watercolors, paints, etc. Whatever you have on hand would work. I used paints to fill in my design and then used a blue watercolor crayon to complete the background.
Those are the 5 easiest steps to spice up your art journal with cut out edges. I hope you become as addicted to this technique as I am! Let me know in the comments what edges you create. 🙂
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