Daily Pages: Build Big, Trim Small--A Smarter Way to Collage
Creating large collage backgrounds first gives you more freedom to experiment—then trim them down for the perfect page
Behind the Page
The story of today’s page: I spent this morning working on more Book of Me videos, so I had cleaned up my desk nicely and put everything away to look good on camera.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my Daily Pages notebook. I had no idea where I put it, and since everything was cleaned up, it’s not like I had any piles to look through. So I grabbed my Your Story Matters journal and decided to just go with my backup notebook.
I opened up the YSM journal and saw an awesome collage page I made during last month’s masterclass and said — hey, I want to do that again today. So, I went over and grabbed an old issue of New York Magazine (my go to collage fodder right now) and ripped out a bunch of pages.
I love making larger collages that I can cut down for backgrounds, so I grabbed a sheet of 9x12 sulfite paper as my background for today’s collage. In the video below you can see the whole thing before I trimmed it down for today’s page.
While I was in the middle of creating today’s page, I glanced up and realized that my Daily Pages notebook was literally sitting up right in front of me, and I missed it every time I looked at my desk. I’m glad I was able to put this in my regular Daily Pages notebook, I’ll be happy to flip back on it in a few weeks time.
Technique of the Day
My go-to for collage words/titles are usually big stickers, but today, I saw these words in one of the stories “They were going to be late—” and I just knew they were the focal point of today’s collage. So, I stuck them over to the side until I put the full page together.
I cut the words pretty tight because I wanted the least amount of white space covering up that cool background.
In the full video below (paid subscribers) we talk a lot more about different collage techniques, how I like to set things up and move them around on the page, and a bunch of other really useful tips for collaging with magazine pages.
How It’s Made
Supply List
Magazine — New York Magazine
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Tips & Creative Wisdom
Start Big, Then Trim It Down
Building your collage on a larger sheet of paper gives you room to experiment without worrying about size constraints. Once your background is finished, you can trim it down to fit your notebook, allowing you to pick the best section for your page.
Pro Tip: Keep leftover trimmings for future projects—those scraps make great layers in your art journals or mini collages on your next Daily Page.
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