Gift Box Recycled Unbound Journal

My fourth project for Recycled Journal Week was to repurpose this slim 7" X 5.5" gift box, and I really didn't fuss with it too much:



Rather than try to cut down the box I decided to keep it intact and use to to hold individual sheets of leftover paper as journal pages, and since it's a box I didn't have to bind them. The lining inside the box was like quilt batting, so I started working with that and some fabric:



I quilted the fluffy lining between a piece of scrap muslin and a remnant of hand-dyed silk; both cut to fit the top of the box. Once I had it sandwiched together I added a Venise lace flower, metallic thread quilting and some seed beading:



Once I finished the piece I had a nice cover for the top of the box:



Because the box sides were too thick to take stitches easily I hot-glued the quilted cover to the top of the box:



I lined the inside of the box with some interesting scrap papers:



I then gathered up a bunch of pretty scrap paper from the recycle bin to put in the box, and was able to fit all this inside:



The box will keep the paper from wrinkling now, which is a nice bonus. Once I do use up all the pages I can permanently bind them (or even slip them into my pocket journals), refill the box and start again. I've also just run out of paper book marks, which I try to stick in every book I lend or give, so I'll also be making the smaller strips of paper on top into those:



I admit this isn't a traditionally bound book-type journal, but the whole point of making your own is to suit yourself. I like how this one came out, but more importantly I know I'll be using (and refilling) it a lot. Total project time: 5 hours.