“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

 

 

 

“Some Messy fun!”

Hi Everyone,

It is cold and wet here in Victoria and a great day to #stayathome. I am keeping pretty busy with work and being pretty tired I haven’t done much craft this last week. We have just had one case of COVID-19 detected here so work has ramped up our PPE measure to protect our clients, family and ourselves……………

I am walking the May 50k for MS, but the weather has turned horrible. I will make it up, over the next few days when the weather clears 🙂

I bought a mixed media pad and I am using it, for my art journal pages. I Gessoed over this page first, so it is more stable and would take the wet media. With a couple of Dylusions Inks, I sprayed onto the page and let it run, with the help of some water in a mister.

I then stamped the focal point from part of a large Studio Light stamp, straight on to the paper. I then repeated the process, cut part of it out and coloured it lightly.  I gave the image some depth by using dimensional tape and placing it over the top, of the first stamped image. I finished it off with some washi tape, inked edges of the paper and a quote 🙂

I am trying to get a bit of Art Journaling done in my #stayathome journal, and I managed to finally finish this page. I am not sure what I want to do with it. I think I will fold it and put it on my wall for a bit, then add it to my journal!!

I hope you are staying safe, where ever you are and having some craft time 🙂

Look after you

Hugz K xx

“#stayathome Journal”

Hi Friends

I hope you have all had a lovely Easter Break. A few shifts for me, but not too bad and spending time with my boys. It was my oldest son Cody’s 28th Birthday on the 13/4/20. It was a bit low key with not being able to go out for lunch and shopping in Geelong. I am sure we will make up for it later on!!!   I don’t know where that time has gone!!

During the week I joined a lovely group of girls on FB in an Art Journaling Group. We have all made our selves a Journal to use over this mad time of Isolation and Social distancing. I decided to go a different way with mine and use a binder. Art Journaling (playing) is good for stress and just a creative outlet…………… I am still, an Essential Worker in Disability and we are out there every day. My sons are also Essential workers so I think this is a good thing to have for me to use this creative outlet.

I may use it to collage in, do some mixed media, journal, or scrap. I just want to record this crazy time we are having, so when its all over, we can look back and see how far we have all come and how we overcome these changes!!!! We have to look after our mental health as well as our physical…………

 

I am using one of my 6×8 scrap binders and I have collaged some tissue paper and then the napkin on the bottom. I just need to finish off the inside and cut the mixed media paper for it to use. It measures approx 7.5 and 8.5 which is s good size for me.

On the inside, I glued down some of the tissue paper backings, then I gave it a coat of the Kaiser paint.  I found some of these fairy pictures at a book fair I went to last year. I thought a couple on the inside covers might look ok. I went around the edges and a little on the starkness of the white paper to blend them a little.

For the front cover, I decided to use a heart that I made from some cardboard.  First I painted the cardboard with Gesso, then when dry I used some texture paste through a stencil. I added some wood and metal embellishments, then gessoed over the whole thing. Once dry I sprayed it with some mists.

I used few die cuts on the top left with a quote that says “every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day”  On the bottom right I layered a few bits and put the title of my journal on with the date.

Now all I need to do is add some mixed media paper and it will be ready to use. The great thing about a binder is that you can take a page out and work on it without getting a mess over your journal. I have really enjoyed making this journal to document what is going on in our lives at the moment and the changes going on…………………

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek at my art journal and now to start creating in it.  I hope your week is wonderful and you are #stayingathome as much as possible.

Look after yourselves,

Hugz

Kerri x

“Scrapbook Challenge”

Hi Friends,

I hope you are all well and enjoying your #stayathome time. I am doing a bit of creating and I had a go at a Scrapbook challenge today in a new Aussiex FB group I am in.

The challenge was to find certain things from your stash and use them to create a layout. Just what I needed a bit of inspiration!!  I found some grungy papers, chipboard embellies, die cuts, title and stamp.

I grunged everything up with some ink. I stamped the background with the clock and then the title. I used some pattern paper and roughed the edges up with my scissors and tore it a little. I used a chippy piece, a couple of die cuts and word stickers. I added some twine, plus staples to adhere to things down. A couple of items I had chosen didn’t suit this layout so I changed it up a bit.

This was fun and I am looking forward to getting some more scrapping done tomorrow on my day off!

Have a great nite!

Kerri x

 

Prompt 3 – Create a Journal Card”

Hope you are all having lovely Saturday friends. It is nice and cool here in Victoria and it has been a bit of a weird Summer. In between work this weekend I am working on a couple of journals. Today is the third prompt for Linda’s Junk Journal that I am following along with “HERE”

Prompt 3 – Create a journal card or tag and use the back of it to journal about something that brings you joy in your life…………………………………..

For the card, I cut a tag from watercolour paper. I layered some mist, shimmer paste through a stencil, ink and washi with these pretty die cuts.

A lot of things came to mind that I could journal about, but I chose my wonderful two sons, as they are the joy of my life!! I used a poem I found on Pinterest and just altered a few words to include Cody and Jayden. They are the best decision I have ever made in my life and I am very lucky to have them. I am very proud of the two strong, wonderful men that I have raised mostly on my own.

I hope you are having fun playing along if you are.

Have a great afternoon

Kerri xx

” Prompt 1 – Altered Composition Notebook JJ”

Hello, my crafty friends, Just popping in today with a quick post for the Altered composition Notebook JJ Challenge.

Prompt 1 –  Using fibres to create a bookmark and to Journal about 3 Holiday/Xmas/New Year memories, that mean the most to me.

Linda shows you on her Youtube video   “HERE”  how to make the tassel and the tag. You just go about it the way you want to. Everything I am using for this journal is out of my craft stash!!! This is the first tassel I have made, so not too bad! The tag was fun to do with a bit of mixed media collage and layers.

This is the page that I added the journaling to. It was just white cardstock and I added a bit of ink and doodling.  I journaled about spending precious time with my boys and them being home with me for Xmas day. We chatted about different things we remembered about Xmas with mum and dad as we miss them very much. Nothing is the same…… I also wrote about the time my sister and I spent together a few days before Xmas. We finished our Xmas shopping had some yummy food, laughs and talked non-stop. I also saw my niece and nephews who are very precious also…… I have never been a journaler as I love telling stories with my photos, but I am finding this challenge very good for me and it gets me a bit out of my comfort zone.

This is a fun challenge and I am really learning from Linda, along the way. Hop on over and join in too, I would love to see your creations!

Prompt 2 will be up within the net day or so, stay tuned!!

Kerri x

 

 

“Altered Composition Notebook Junk Journal.”

Hi, there my lovely friends,

I hope you are having a nice start to Feb. I am busy as usual but finding time to walk and do a bit of Craft. I was looking for a bit of “INSPIRATION” for my next JJ project and I came across a lovely channel by Linda Israel who is a wonderful mixed/multi-media artist. I have watched a few of her videos and I found a JJ series she started Jan 2020 called “Altered Composition Notebook Junk Journal” and I had a peek!!! I was hooked straight away to create a JJ and follow her daily prompts.  I have also joined her Friendly Junk Journal People group over on FB.

This is Linda’s first video to create the cover “HERE” Linda used, what we call in Aus a students exercise book, but I decided to make mine using a biscuit box 🙂  I cut it open and used the spine as is and then collaged some music and book pages over the front and back. When dry I sprayed some mist over it and then let that layer dry.

I decided to paint the spine black and I added some washi tape to both sides of the spine and also at the top for a bit added strength.  The front cover I sprayed a watercolour tag with mist, then collaged the Eiffel Tower image I found in a magazine. I used some die cuts as well.

To finish the cover I added a scrap of lace to the tag at the top.

For the inside pages, I made two signatures. I collated some sheet music, book pages, magazine pages, scrapbook papers, and a few botanical pages. These will be the pages I work on each day I do one of the prompts. I used the same cream lace, to bind the two lots of pages in.

If you are looking for a challenge, hop on over and have a look at the FB group, or Linda’s YouTube channel for lots of inspiration…………………..

Have fun playing

Stay Tuned for the 1st Prompt – Using fibres and creating a Book Mark…………………

Kerri x

“A Junk, Junk Journal”

Hi Friends,

I hope your week is going well. I am having fun playing along with a Youtube Turorial on Treasure Books. This lady makes wonderful art and I thought I would make a smaller version of a Traditional Junk Journal to use up some of my “JUNK”

I

You will find the Tutorial that I followed “HERE”  I just adjusted to what I wanted to make. I didn’t cut the box up or stitch it together.  I used a smaller biscuit box, then did a background technique for the cover using baking paper and paint. I then just embellished the front. I added jumbo eyelets and used seam binding to keep it closed. I went with elastic to bind it instead of sewing in the page signatures!!

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Above I have added some photos of the finished journal so you can see the different types of “JUNK” I added to it, the binding and the closure.

These are so much fun to make out of junk. the types of stuff I added was puzzle page, a couple of cards, lined coffee stained papers, magazine pages, a couple of Daphne’s Diary mag pages, music sheet, book page, vellum,  a couple of calendar pages, white paper bags, lined notepaper, a couple of encyclopedia pages, watercolour paper, brown paper, storybook pages, couple of junk mail flyers, envelopes and handmade paper.  You can add anything you like 🙂

I will be adding stuff to this one and showing you my Inspiration Journal very soon so stay tuned!!

Happy crafting

Kerri x

“Watercolour Smoosh Technique”

Hi Friends,

Who loves to watercolor? I do and I have most of today off, so I have been playing with a few different pens and inks, using the Smooshing Technique, which is easy and lots of fun!!

There are some great YouTube videos out there and I decided to do a sort of Step x Step for you.

 

Supplies Needed – Any water-soluble media like pens, crayons, ink pads, mists, etc that you have in your stash. A sheet of clear acetate or any clear packaging would work also, a spray bottle with some clean water, watercolor paper which is designed to hold wet mediums, any stamps or embossing powder you have to use for finished papers. I cut mine to A2 card front size which is approx 14 x 10cms, a non-stick mat or work surface, A heat gun if you have it.

STEP 1 – Using your piece of acetate on your work surface, lay down some different colored inks, mist, etc, then spray with some water. You will see it change or bubble.

STEP 2 – With your piece of watercolor next to you, turn the acetate onto the paper and with your fingers smoosh the ink over the paper. You will see the ink move through the acetate and you can move it to where you want your color.

STEP 3 – Lift the acetate off your paper and you will see the color and water blended on the paper. If you have a heat gun dry it before continuing.  Just watch what colors you put together as some of them will go muddy!

 

STEP 4 – Continue these steps, to add layers of color to your paper until you are happy with the result. You can see above the different layers from letting each application of ink dry.

After I made mine and they are fairly dry I put them under some heavy books or punches which helps flatten them out a bit.

STEP 5 – If you want to you can now stamp with your embossing ink and use whatever color emboss powder you choose on your card front. I had a go with the black and Gold and all of mine are Stampin! Up’© stamps. You can also use these as backgrounds and add some pattern paper and other bits to make them your own 🙂

I created the black watercolour for the background on this one and added some extra stamping and some lace to finish his card off for a black and white challenge for a FB group that I am in:)

This is a fun, quick technique with a great result and for quick cards! I hope you have a go at ‘smooshing” and I would love to see some of your creations also. If you would like any info on the products I used, please feel to message me and I can help you.

Happy creating

Kerri x