“A New Journal”

Hi my friends,

I hope you are having a lovely week and keeping well. I have had a busy one and looking forward to the weekend and seeing my son.  We all hang out together for the day and have some catch up time. With us all doing shift work, time together these days is very precious to me.

This journal came about as I went to our local second hand trader looking for a cupboard and came home with free books to make journals with. Sometimes, journals I make end up not being what I want, but I use them for other things. This happened with the one I made for my Dyalog inserts from  “THIS POST”

If you don’t know, I love re-using old books and bringing them back to life!!  As you can see this book was cancelled from a library. I don’t destroy precious books, I only use discarded, unloved ones that probably don’t have any real value, but to a person like me that loves making journals. I cut the page block away from the spine carefully and then I adhered a piece of chipboard to it for more strength. 

I pulled some papers out of an arty collection I have and cut them to the size of the covers. I was going to use the fabric down the spine but I changed my mind!!!

As I will be creating in this journal quite a lot I wanted it to be strong so I added blue book tape to the edges. I buy this at Bunnings and it is great tape for making journals and binding pages. I have used it quite a lot and is the only one I use now.

The paper has all the hard work done for me with some cute arty prints. I just sorted out what I wanted on the in and outside and cut them to size. I rarely measure anything with a ruler. Who has time for that!!!!! I then decided to cut put some elements on one of the papers and used the hearts and some sketchy flowers on the front. I couldn’t resist the kitty on the bottom. I added some stitching on the hearts for some texture. I have my sewing machine set up ready to go and I love using it in my papercraft!!

To finish off the front I just added a bit of text to it, that I thought was good for me at the moment. I am an original and no one else is like me. I need to remember that and to just be me. I am trying to find balance in my life where I am not over worked and I have time for my family and some me time. We all need balance in our busy lives, even more so with what is going on in our world at the moment……..

As you can see, this book fits my Dyalog journal inserts very well and it is a lot sturdier for constant use. I can take one out the one I want to work in. or just open it up in the book as it will lay flat.

I was going to punch holes and put eyelets in the spine but, as I had some elastics and I decided they were funky and to use them instead to bind the inserts in.

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek into my arty journal. I hope you may be inspired to make one yourself! I am wanting to do some more craft of some sort over the weekend and share it with you also.

I hope you have a lovely end to your week and lovely weekend.

Hugz Kerri x

“Finally, A New Project”

Hello, My lovely friends and followers

I hope you are all having a lovely start to a new week. I had a pretty mixed up week off, last week. We all had to be tested for Covid-19, because of a work contact, but we are all fine. I am waiting to have Wisdom teeth out and feeling a bit off colour.  Finally sort of feeling up to a bit of a new project.  Anyway…………………I decided to make a Journal Cover.

I have purchased a few of Dyan Reaverly’s Art Journal Dyalog inserts. There are a few different ones and while I wait for them to arrive, I thought I would make a cover for them. If you aren’t sure what they are hop on over to her Channel  “HERE” and have a peek.

 It will be an art/junk/planner/journal. It’s a whatever I want to use it for……………………It is a smaller version of my large one, that is also more portable. It’s good to have options, as sometimes you don’t have the time or energy to create on a large scale………………

 

 

I gathered a few supplies and started the cover. I used a cereal box and cut it down to roughly 9 x 6″ which should fit the inserts, as the box had a large spine.  Then I used Gesso on it for stability and so I could add wet mediums over the top of it. I had some really pretty napkins that I hadn’t used, so they were just right.  I removed both layers of the underlying tissue away from them, to remove the bulk. I then, used a wet paint brush to paint on water to make it easier to pull apart the sections I wanted t use.

I loved the text part of another napkin so I used that over the spine of the box and added the other lovely floral parts of the napkins to cover the front and the back. I used my home made Mod Podge/glue sealer under and over the top of the napkin. 

After it was dry and I trimmed off any excess napkin, I rounded the corners and inked around it with black ink. I decided I wanted a more squishy cover for this one. To give it a whimsy feel and a bit of texture, I machine stitched around the edge .You can see the form of the spine that was already there from the cereal box. This makes it easier to make a journal and not have to worry about separate pieces and making a spine……………….You could also strengthen the journal with extra cardboard if you wanted too.

I didn’t want to much embellishment on the front cover, as the napkin is busy. I cut a piece of cardboard, stamped a title, then machine stitched around it for a bit of interest. I just layered it on a bit of scrap cardboard, painted with a bit of gesso and sprayed with some ink, plus some muslin for texture.

I sprayed the inside of the cover with some ink, but I may cover it with some paper or do a bit of mixed media on it. For the binding, I decided to use elastic and then I can take one of the inserts out when I want to work in it. I decided on three holes and I just threaded the elastic through. You need about 4x the length of the spine for a good fit.

I don’t really measure anything, I just eyeballed about the centre and then one hole each side. I punched them using my Crop-O-dile hole punch then I set some eyelets so the holes in the cardboard wouldn’t break.

I also put some elastic through the middle of the spine to create a closure for it to keep them snug inside. I just threaded a few beads and a metal quote embellishment on to it before threading it through the hole. On the off chance that my inserts don’t fit in it, I can just make it into a junk journal to collage in.

I hope you have enjoyed my little how to on this journal cover I made. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. This was a fun project and I am looking forward to  playing in my new journal soon.

I am working on another project, so stay tuned for another post during the week.

Stay Safe and Well

Hugz

Kerri  x