There's something about old French ledgers, all soft color and quiet history, that's enchanted journal-makers for years. In this class we'll create our own, starting from somewhere wonderfully humble: an ordinary accounting ledger from your local stationery shop. With tea-dye, color mists, stencils, collage, and a tissue-paper cover that looks like worn leather, we'll coax everyday paper into something layered, atmospheric, and beautiful. By the end you'll have a ledger that looks as though it has a story to tell — and the techniques to make many more.
THE LEDGER CLASSAntique French ledgers, made by your own hand, for a fraction of the cost.
WHAT YOU'LL MAKE:
The Main Ledger. Built from an off-the-shelf accounting ledger and transformed with tea-dye, color mists, stencils, and collage. We'll deconstruct it, work into the pages with mixed media techniques to give them real depth and character, build a cover that looks like worn leather using tissue paper and spray inks, and bind it all together into something that feels as though it has years of handling behind it.
The Bonus Ledger. A simpler take on the project, with a different colored cover, so you can practice everything with fresh eyes and end up with two ledgers instead of one.
The Collage Folio. Your own portable stash of papers, bits, and collage fodder, so you can keep creating wherever you happen to be. The perfect way to carry the spirit of this class out into the world with you.
I've long been enchanted by those gorgeous antique French ledgers, the kind that sell for hundreds online and look like they've been quietly waiting in someone's attic for a century. This class is what happens when you decide you don't need to buy one. You can make it. From a $10 accounting ledger and a handful of supplies you probably already own.
PERFECT FOR…
Lovers of vintage paper, mixed media artists, junk journalers, and anyone who's gazed at a French ledger on Etsy and wondered if they could possibly make one. Beginner-friendly, with plenty of layered techniques to keep seasoned makers playing too.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
Transform an ordinary stationery-shop ledger into something atmospheric and antique
Layer tea-dye, color mists, stencils, and collage to build depth on every page
Work mixed media techniques into your signature pages so they feel like art in their own right
Build a tissue-paper-and-spray-ink cover that looks like worn leather
Bind your signatures in securely, so your ledger lasts
Add finishing touches that make a handmade book feel truly complete
Pack a collage folio you can take anywhere
Why an online class?
Why an online class?
Online courses are so much fun because you can learn at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home. May we suggest a tasty beverage and pajamas? Perhaps on your favorite chair? Or even in your studio at our craft table? You can take online classes anywhere you want!
You have lifetime access to the video course and can come back to watch it and rewatch it anytime you want.
You can ask as many questions as you want on the course page and I will always do my best to answer your questions as best as I can.
Join a fun community of makers and creators and share your work and learn from others!
Hi I’m Mahe Zehra a.k.a MZ Welcome to my Whimsical World!Hi, I’m Mahe. I was self-schooled. The greatest thing my parents ever taught me was how to learn on my own.
I’ve been teaching myself hard things since I was ten years old. I grew up in Lahore, in a household where nothing was considered disposable. Biscuit tins became sewing kits. Old saris became quilts. I am the daughter of two long lineages of women who saved, mended and repurposed beautifully — not out of necessity, but because waste genuinely offended them.
Twenty-five years on, that’s the foundation of everything I make or do. MZ Creates is where I teach the soulful art of making meaning from what you already have — old envelopes, tea-stained paper, ticket stubs, the pretty bits of an ordinary life. I’m a Certified Zentangle Teacher and the author of over twenty books on paper craft, journaling and mixed media. I teach the way I was taught — by being trusted to figure it out. I won’t lecture you. I’ll sit beside you and show you that you can do this. Because you can. [ Read my full story ]