Weekend Journal

My big project this week was creating my winter project.  My winter project is the first installment of what is going to be my year-long project - a daily journal that will be four volumes grouped by season.  This is volume one, "Winter", which will include January, February and March.

Now that I know what I'm doing, I'm going to make a video tutorial of my next volume, "Spring".  Meanwhile, here are the stages of what I did to create this journal.  2013 is just a few short weeks away, so remember, it's not too early to prepare!

Remember all the papers I created?  Each page has been torn in half.  One stack was folded in half and used for the signatures in this journal.

Cardboard from my stash

Brown packing paper that the people at Amazon LOVE to use in their boxes.  I have quite a stash of this too!

Crumpled and smoothed flat again because I want lots of texture on this cover

Gel Medium applied to the cardboard and pressed onto the paper

Paper torn to size and more gel medium applied to fold the paper to the inside covers

I forgot to take photos of the binding!  I used a scrap of red polka dot fabric and sewed the signatures to the fabric using embroidery floss.

I applied gel medium to both the fabric and the spine of the journal and pressed the signatures in using jars to hold everything in place until it dried.  You can see some of the polka dot fabric between the signatures.  I left lots of space in this journal so that I have plenty of room to add tags and other 3 dimensional items and still have the book close properly.

I added more brown paper to the inside covers to hide the binding fabric

I added a layer of gesso to the outside cover and let it dry.  Afterwards, I mixed black and pearlescent blue craft paint together to get this nice, shimmery, metallic gray color as base color for both the outside and inside covers.

This nice paste paper that I made at Barb's is shimmery and wintery to me - perfect to give a finished look to the inside covers.

Now, on to decorating the cover!  I have no idea or vision in mind so I'm just going to go with the flow!

I think I need to add another layer of pearlescent blue.  I want this cover to be shimmery and sparkly like winter snow.

I'm thinking of bare tree branches against the cold, gray, winter skies, and a little white to brighten things up and suggest snow.

Hmmmm.....what about some snowflakes?  I discover that I don't know how to cut them out.  Google to the rescue!  Not too bad for my first attempts - especially considering their small size. (My journal cover measures 5" x 6")  I add some sparkle paint to the snowflakes (cut from copy paper scraps)

Once the snowflakes dry, I attach them to the cover with gel medium.  Once they dry, I add spatters of white "snow" with craft acrylic.

I then decide to add more branches and write "Winter" using black dimensional paint.  And of course, I decide that the entire cover needs a layer of the winter sparkle paint!

I'm still debating on how to finish the spine.  I'm thinking that I'll add fibers and dangling items at some point.  I'll keep you updated.

MORE STYROFOAM STAMPS!

What can I say?  I can't get enough of making these Styrofoam stamps, and my journaling class is having fun with them as well.  I'm hoping to finally remember to take my camera to the next class so you can see what they're doing!

I test my stamps inside my journal, overlapping images and selecting different colors.  They make great background pages and I'm often able to "find" things in them as an added bonus.

I think these two "stamp test" pages are going to develop into some nice journal pages

And here's a completed journal spread.  As the holidays approach, I'm reminded that it's a sad time for many people.  If you're one of those people, try to remember:  "Just because you feel alone doesn't mean you are."

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE