Step 6: Find a sheet of heavy weight paper the size you'd like your journal to be.

Step 7: Peel the protective wax paper backing off of the faux leather sheet you've already created. You will notice the shiny adhesive under this wax paper backing. Turn this shiny adhesive over on top of your heavy weight paper. You've created a sandwich, of sorts, with the faux painted paper on top, the adhesive in the middle and your heavy weight paper on the bottom. Cover the faux texture paper with the wax paper you just removed and iron onto the heavy cardstock. You are to iron with the wax paper on top, the faux paper (face up) in the middle and the heavy cardstock on the bottom. A little steam usually helps it to adhere a little faster.

Step 8: Now, take your faux paper sandwich and slice off the excess paper to match the exact size of your heavyweight cardstock. This is best done by viewing your papers from the side where the heavy cardstock has been placed. If you cut from this side, it will prevent you from cutting off more than necessary. After trimming your excess paper, cut the faux paper sandwich in half.

Step 9: Choose the papers you'd like to make up the inside of your journal and trim them to fit the covers.

Step 10: Place those sheets inside of your covers.

Step 1: Take a piece of Kraft paper and crumble it then open it, repetitively, until the firmness of the sizing has softened. This will involve crushing then opening of the paper....maybe 7 or 8 times. Try not to tear the paper. The end result is a sheet of wrinkled paper that's almost as flexible as tissue paper.

Cut a sheet of 'Heat N Bond' no sew/ fusing paper and iron onto one side of your wrinkled Kraft paper. My Kraft paper happens to have print on one side which will help you decipher the front and back sides of the paper as I'm directing you. I've fused the Heat N Bond to the backside of my Kraft paper. For you, it will not matter which side you iron the adhesive on. The purpose of the Heat N Bond is to freeze the wrinkles in place so that you may paint on your paper without changing those wrinkles.

Using a dark colored acrylic paint, cover the whole piece of paper. You may rub it on or brush it on but do not add water to your paint beforehand. This technique is considered to be 'dry-brushing'. Dry -brushing is when you do not wet your painting tool before or during the painting process. When applying paint, you may allow some of the paper's natural color to show or you may completely fill in the whole sheet so that none of the original color remains.

Once your dark acrylic color is completely dry, you may add your primary color. In this case, your primary color is the focal color of your journal. The color that will stand out the most when viewing your journal. Apply your primary color using a brush, soft towel or paper towel. Do not load your applicator:(brush/soft towel/paper towel) with paint. Instead, load only a small amount of paint and gently rub that color atop the dark color you've already applied. The ridges in the wrinkles of the page will grab that paint first. Do not rub that colored paint into the cracks and crevices of your wrinkled page because you want those dark area's to remain. If the acrylic paint isn't opaque enough to really accent the ridges in your sheet, reapply but make sure that color doesn't seep into the cracks. If you make a mistake, once the paint is dry, try it again. It should look like extremely colorful leather that has many deep, dark wrinkles in it.