Hi there, I'm Valerie Sjodin and today I'm excited to share with you about collaging in your notebook, focusing on a blackout notebook with a limited grayscale palette, and grayscale paint pens.
Here below is one of the pages I'll be demonstrating in the video shown further down. There is also a free printable that shows the pages and tips for collaging.
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SUPPLIES:
- Black dotted paper notebook
- Dotted paper such as grayscale notepad
- Grayscale Acrylograph pens, including black and white
- Metallic pen
-
Washi tape
- Pencil & eraser
- Ruler
- Craft knife or paper cutter
- Scissors
- Double-sided tape
- Glue stick
- Corner punch
- Collage pieces such as words cut from magazines, music, dictionary definitions, Vintage ledger pages or painted/patterned papers
Quotes used in the collaged pages
These quotes provided the inspiration for the pages in my notebook:
~~~~~
“Look at how
a single candle can
both defy and define
the darkness.”
Anne Frank
~~~~~
“Darkness cannot
drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate.
Only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
~~~~~
The Process
5 Tips for collage
Less is usually more.
1. Limiting the color palette makes the collage piece choices easier and it helps unify the composition of the page or artwork.
I have a lot of collage fodder, mostly kept in transparent bins with lids and Plastic Zipper bags. When I look for pieces for a specific journal page or artwork, a large pile can stack up. From that stack, I edit it down to about 5-8 pieces to start with, knowing I can always add more. Having a few foundation pieces to begin with provides a good base to build on.
2. Be selective and choose about 5-8 collage pieces to start a page with. The pile of other possibilities can be set aside in waiting in case one of them asks to be included in your page.
3. Having a theme, word, quote, or a unifying idea to focus gives inspiration and direction on what to choose for collage as well as a concrete thing to write, draw, and cut and paste onto your page or artwork.
4. Using dry media makes it easy to glue collage items to a page. My favorite ways to glue is double faced tape for large pieces and a glue stick for most of the items.
5. Don’t underestimate the power of a line or a dotted line creates movement where the eye is invited to travel through the page.
On these pages my main base pieces are dotted sheets from Archer & Olive's Grayscale notepad. I cut one down for the base that causes the black dotted paper to look like a frame. The other two are used for a 'candle' to doodle on and a flip sheet that has a quote written on the front. I am using a rounded corner punch for the sheets that echo the rounded corners of the notebook pages.
After outlining the 'candle' shape with black lined patterns with the help of the dot grid, filling in shapes with the grayscale Acrylograph paint pens add dimension and depth.
Drawing a mandala is made easier on a grid paper as shown below:
For gluing, since it is dry media, I use double sided tape for the large piece and a glue stick for the rest.
Washi tape is a great addition to collage pieces. Here a wide Washi tape from Spring 2025 subscription box makes a beautiful visual addition with the butterflies and the gold metallic embellishments. Adding a strip to the bottom of the flip sheet and folding it over the edge strengthens the edge and adds visual interest. Using the rounded corner punch on the edges, as shown in the video, is a nice finish.
Using the light gray and white paint pens for the candle glow and dot trails add movement, contrast and a special pop on the black paper. I also extended the swirls from the painted paper onto the rest of the page with a silver metallic pen from the Archer & Olive Autumn 2025 subscription box.
Video Tutorial
This video shows the process for creating the collage and doodled 2-page spread shown.
Find more tutorials and inspiration at my website: https://valeriesjodin.com
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