This has been a work in progress for quite some time now. The first thing I did was rip a bunch of random pages out. Then took a corner rounding punchto each page. I selected pages to paint leaving 1-3 unpainted pages between. My next step was to punch holes for the stitching. The 
stitching was done mostly while sitting and waiting for my kiddos during their activities.
I learned a new background technique on ABC_alteredbookclub and have completely fallen in love with it. It uses acrylic paint and baking soda. I believe it is a Claudine Hellmuth technique originally. I have asked my friend who presented the tutorial permission to link to it…I know she is busy so I will update ASAP.
UPDATE: Tutorial link
I used this technique for the covers of my Art Journal.
Next I plan to start filling the painted backgrounds with…well I haven’t completely decided… It likely will be what strikes me at the time. I know I won’t be doing the pages in order…just randomly picking what suits my mood or subject best at the time.
This whole project was inpired by Ingrid Dijnkers awesome Art Journals.