Page 1 new art journal.

 A new journal and a new page -- new beginnings deserves a quote.

This is  a simple page, I painted  the background with yellow and white acrylic paint. I stamped circles from two long stamps in my stash. Ive had them years and can't remember from where they came. I used "Stampin Up" inks Pumpkin Pie and Bermuda Bay.

Next I drew circles, of various sizes, going diagonally across the page from top to bottom.
Next I used Gelatos, Posca paint pens and Pitt artist pens to colour and decorate the circles in various colours and create a shadow around the circles. Not all the colours gave as even a coating of colour as I wanted and the more I fiddled with it the messier it started to become. The art of colouring is knowing when to stop messing with it and making things worse!

I edged the page with two squiggly lines and printed out the quote cut it into strips and adhered them to the page using Mod Podge. I coloured and edged the strips. The quote is one I found on the internet and I liked the link to beginnings and me started a new journal.

 That completed my 1st page. Its pretty simple but thats fine to get me back into journaling.

Mixed Media Journal Part 2

Having completed the inside pages of my journal I am now going to make the cover using a material I discovered  a few months ago at  a workshop at my local crafting crop. We used this material to make a cover for a note book. I showed this in a previous post.

The material was washable wallpaper lining that looked and felt like soft leather once we had processed it. Its a waterproof paper that doesn't rip and is pretty tough. Decorators use it to cover cracked walls. The brand we used was called "Wall Doctor". It gives a strong but flexible finish which is ideal for this type of journal.

I measured my book and cut a piece of paper that was twice the height of my book because I intend to use a double thickness of paper for the cover to give the cover extra  strength.   I then scrunched the smooth paper up and kept scrunching until the paper was completely soft and crinkled. The photo shows the difference from start to finish. The smooth paper is on the right of the photo.

Once I had it soft I washed the paper in cold water containing a little washing up liquid, then rinsed it throughly. Washing the paper doesn't alter the strength. I let is dry slightly but not completely. The dampness helps the paint/ ink to blend well into the paper.

You can use a variety of medium to colour the paper from inks to acrylic paints, sprayed or painted on.
I used Dyan Reavely's Dylusions paints. I used  red, purple, blue and yellow to decorate my sheet. I simply sponged, rubbed and dabbed  the colours onto the sheet using a normal cut up sponge.  The dots in this picture are from my own fingers that got pretty messy so I decided to use them!

Once I was happy with my design I left it to air dry. If the paper is very wet the colours can blend more and even become paler so be aware that  the dry sheet might not turn out exactly how you expect.

  I then folded the paper in half and stuck both layers with strong ( Gorilla) glue and left it to dry. I burnished the sheet well by using an old loyalty card and bone folder to make sure the halves stuck well. Once dry I trimmed the cover to fit the pages.





  I stamped the cover to add more detail using Stazon inks and various stamps I have in my stash. I used the midi Stazon colours but they tended to look black whatever colour I used. I think it was something to do with the background colours and the material being used.

Given the cover will receive a lot of use being opened and closed frequently I strengthened the edges  further by stitching them with my sewing machine.




Finally I stitched the cover to the book in the same way as I stitched the insertions together. This time I started stitching from the outside inward so that there would be excess thread left on the outside. I did this so that I can use it to thread bead or elements onto the threads in order to decorate the book once I have filled it up.  I won't do this before hand because the pages won't lie flat if there are beads etc are there getting in the way. I also intend to decorate the cover in some way too.

 

It also  created some decorative element to the cover. I simply used  yellow cotton to match the ribbon and zig-g stitches.  I added the yellow ribbon to create a closure for the book. I left plenty of excess ribbon so the book would still close as the pages thicken when elements are added.

I could just as easily have left the insertions loose and sewn the pages and cover together at the same time but I figured the double set of stitches would make the book stronger. In the past I have also have added smaller insertions interspersed between a few pages to add further interest and challenges to my journal project.

Next time I make this journal I might make two sets of insertions inside the cover to make a 24 page book. I don't want too many pages because a thick  journal can become very bulky and difficult to work on after a while.

Now its time to start using the journal!

Out of a disaster comes a new mixed media journal, Part 1.

Absolute disaster in my craft room... I left the skylight open when the weather was bright and sunny...... and forgot about it. Yes, you've guessed,  it started raining and the water leaked through the skylight. Several weeks later I go into my craft rom to find my craft table showing significant evidence of water damage with things like  the paper covering my table, pads of paper and  my half used mixed media journal all still wet and ruined by the water! To say I'm gutted about my art journal is putting it mildly! I'd done a lot of work in it some of which I thought was really good... ah well a lessoned learned -  make sure I close my window!
It's forced me to clear my table and put down new clean paper and coverings if nothing else. That is not an easy task given the mass of "stuff" I have on the table!  That is why my pictures show a nice clean background LOL.

I guess it has given me a new project to do which is to make a new mixed media journal.

Last year I bought a large sheet of watercolour paper intending to make a journal once my current one had been finished so I have started my journal using that. The paper is a  Daler and Rowney A1 size white cartridge paper (220gsm) bought from my local Hobbycraft store.


I cut the width  into thirds and the height into quarters leaving me with pages 16x8 inches in size.  I folded and  burnished the folds well and inserted each page inside each other to create a booklet. One A1 sheet created 12 page book.

The next stage is to fix the pages together by stitching the pages through  centre fold. I measured and marked, with a pencil, even spaces for the holes that the thread would go though.  I used a pokey tool, piercing mat,  some thick thread and a darning needle to fix the pages together.

I measured enough thread, three times the height of the book and create a double thread. I inserted the needle through the centre hole leaving a line of thread to tie later.  you can do this either from from to back or vice versa. I worked from inside out this time. I then pushed the needle through one end hole back inside the book. I then  inserted the needle into the other end hole through to the external of the book and back through the centre hole. I finally tied the thread to the one left dangling at the start to complete the fixing. Finished by cutting the thread.
I could use the outside page as a cover but I am going to add a more sturdier material for this. This will come in part 2. Which will be done tomorrow so keep watching!

Wedding Card

The only crafting I have done these last few weeks is card making and mainly birthday cards. I have made another personalised card but I cannot show it until after their birthday so they don't see the card before hand. I'll post a picture of it at a later date. It is another back groundless card. These are fast becoming my signature cards......

In the mean time I can show you a wedding card I made this week commissioned by my son for his friends.



Its a very simple wedding card. I used pearlised ivory card as the base. The rest was cut from plain white card. The centre design was bought from the Silhouette store - Design ID #19263. I used "Lavanderia" font for the recipients names. I welded the letters and adhered everything to the card.

The corner pieces were cut from (I think) Crosscut dies.

I finished the card by adding a few pearls on the centre of the flowers.


Next moth is my eldest grandson's birthday so I guess that will be my next card.


I need some ideas for another non card making project, or maybe I'll get back into art journaling which is something I haven't done for a long time.