An Altered Journal - a craft fair item

Another item for the Hand of Man craft show for which I am a vendor, is an altered journal.

The journal was first covered with card stock.  But because it is a spiral bound journal the card stock had to fit around the spirals.

Rather than measure the distance between the spirals, I tore a page out of the journal, and used  that  as a template.

Once the holes were punched I snipped an opening from the edge into the hole so the page could be inserted into the spirals of the journal.

A little bit of adhesive was added to keep the paper in place.

The journal was then decorated using various retired DSPs   as well as butterflies that were punched directly from one the DSP

Altered spiral Journal

My craft shows are a few months away, but it's never too soon to get ready.  The journals I have altered have always been popular, so I make sure I have plenty on hand.

The journal was covered with Floral Boutique DSP with accents of Night of Navy and a touch of Delightful Dijon with the Moroccan DSP.

The spine is braided with Daffodil Delight  and Night of Navy seam binding, both ribbons being used at the same time.

The focal point is a Sunflower made using the yet to be released Eastern  Mediterranean thinlets.  The "flower" was die cut twice with Delightful Dijon cardstock and then adhered together alternating petals.  A bone folder was used to curl each petal.
The center of the sun flower was made by first die cutting in chocolate chip a circle using the layering circle framelit on top of which was adhered another die cut circle again using the Eastern Mediterranean thinlets.  Dimensionals popped the 2 layers up.  Another die cut circle was adhered to the center.  Some flower soft was applied on top of that.

The leaves were die cut in Mint Macaron card stock using the Stylish Stems framelits, and a stem hand cut with the left over pieces.  The edges were sponged with Old Olive ink before adding them to the flower.

The flower was built on a piece of Whisper White card stock, the backgound of which was stamped with Gorgeous Grunge - first with Delightful Dijon and then  with Old Olive. Before matting it with Night of Navy card stock. the edges were sponged with Delightful Dijon ink

The sentiment, from Grateful Bunch, was stamped with Night of Navy ink on a label stamped from the Rose Wonder stamp set.  It was then die cut, and this die cut matted with another label die cut with Night of Navy.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Rose Wonder, Gorgeous Grunge
Inks: Night of Navy, Delightful Dijon, Old Olive
Papers: Night of Navy, Floral Bouquet DSP, Mediterranean DSP, Chocolate Chip, Mint Macaron, Whisper White
Accessories: Tasteful Trim die, 5/8" Daffodil Delight seam binding, Night of Navy Seam Binding, Stylish Stems Framelits, Eastern Mediterranean thinlets, Layering Circles framelits, Flower Soft (non SU), dimensionals

Cost Effective Altered Journal for SUO Challenges

The challenge this week with SUO Challenges is to create something using the "stuff" from the Occasions and/or SAB catalogue. Since I had products from both catalogues I decided to use both to alter a journal. Because I sell the journals, I like to keep the cost down as much as possible by purchasing inexpensive journals (and make them look like a million dollars), and decorate them using retired products purchased from the clearance rack plus scraps from my scrap bin.

I purchased this journal from the Dollar store.  Because I like to braid the spine ribbon, I choose journals that have a wire spine.

The front and back cover of the journal were covered with "Carried Away" SAB designer paper, and I used the colours in that paper to decorate the journal. The insides were covered with coordinating Mint Macaron card stock.

Art Piece:

One wonderful thing about this year's Occasion and SAB catalogues is the cooperative interplay between the two.

The DSP from the SAB catalogue features hot air balloons, so naturally the "Lift Me Up" stamp set from the Occasions catalogue, with its coordinating framelits (Up & Away Thinlet dies), was used to create the scene on the front of the journal.

The edges of the Whisper White piece were first distressed with Basic Gray ink using the Timeless Texture stamp set.  Some large and small clouds were stamped randomly on the art piece as well as on separate scrap pieces of Whisper White card stock. The ones on the scrap piece were die cut and placed aside. Once I knew the placement of the hot air balloons, three birds (from "Wherever You Go) were stamped between the clouds.

Three balloons were die cut - the large one with Night of Navy card stock, backed with die cut pieces of various patterns of the SAB Designer paper.  The medium and smaller ones were die cut with the SAB designer paper. Three balloon baskets were die cut with Night of Navy scraps.  One was adhered to the larger balloon; the other two were cut to fit the other balloons.  The edges of the two smaller balloons were sponged with Calypso Coral ink.

After the balloons were adhered to the art piece with dimensionals (except the smallest) the die cut clouds were also adhered with dimensionals among the stamped clouds.

The art piece was matted with Calypso Coral card stock and adhered to the front of the journal.

Decorating the rest of the Journal:
The Tasteful Trim die (retired) was used to cut the Night of Navy trim which was adhered next to the spine, on both the front, back and inside.

The sentiment was punched with the Classic Label punch and matted with a Night of Navy modern word label punchie.

This was adhered to the top of the art piece.

Spine:
Four rows of retired Calypso Coral seam binding was used to braid the spine.  The ends were left a bit longer because I like to attach beads to them.  But because this is a SU only challenge, I used 2 retired Antique brads hot-glued together and to the ribbon end.

Book Mark
As a bonus, I made a book mark using 1/4" strips of the same DSP and the Calypso coral card stock.  These were braided together.  The top was decorated with  2 Calypso Coral and 1 Mint Macaron flowers die cut using the Succulent framelits. The center of the flower was punched in Night of Navy card stock using a 3/4" circle punch.  Before adhering them together with Tombo glue the edges were curled up with a bone folder.
After attaching the flower to the top of the book mark, dazzling details was applied to the edges and center of the flower

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Lift Me Up (Occasions), Timeless Texture (Annual), Wherever You Go (Annual)
Inks: Basic Gray, Calypso,
Papers: Carried Away DSP, Night of Navy, Mint Macaron, Calypso Coral, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Accessories: Up & Away thinlets dies, Succulents framelits dies, Classic Label punch, Modern Word Label punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1/2" Calypso Coral seam binding (R), Antique brads (R), dimensionals, Tasteful Trim die (R), dazzling details.

Pop of Pink Altered Journal with Braided Spine

This was one of the journals I made for the craft show I did yesterday. My altered journals are very popular and sell very well.  Included with the journal is a designer pen and a braided book mark.

The journal was purchased as inexpensively as possible, and covered with Pop of Pink DSP. At the edge near the spine, some black rick rack was adhered.  This was die cut using  Tasteful Time die which is unfortunately now retired.

Art Piece:
On a separate piece of Whisper White, the following were stamped: one image of the flamingo which was embossed with Versa Mark and Melon Mambo ink and a pineapple - the bottom in Crushed Curry and the top in Cucumber Green.  Both were fussy cut, the pineapple pieces adhered together

Another Flamingo was stamped onto the Art Piece, and the second Flamingo added as shown.

The remainder of the images, from the stamp set  "Pop of Paradise" were stamped with Cucumber crush ink. The white areas were filled in with the Timeless Texture stamp set.

Pop of Pink DSP was used to matte the art piece, followed by Basic Black card stock.

The completed art piece was adhered to the front of the journal.

The spine was braided using retired satin Melon Mambo ribbon. Some beads were knotted to the ends of the ribbon to give them a more finished look, and also prevents the ribbon from fraying.

The remainder of the pieces of DSP and some scrap Melon Mambo cardstock were used to make the book mark.

Supplies Used:
Stamp: Timeless Texturize, Pop of Paradise
Inks: Black Memento, Basic Gray, Melon Mambo, Versa Mark, Cucumber Crush
Papers: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pop of Pink DSP
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Tasteful Trim die (retired) , Melon Mambo ribbon (retired), beads (non SU)

Altered Journal

This will be one of the items on my craft table this Thursday.  I took a regular journal, covered it with DSP and placed a stamped image on the front.  I also braided the spine at least 3 times with 2 types of ribbon.

I used the stamp set "Sheltering Tree" as my focal image for this book.  I also extended one of the ribbons to make it a book mark with a butterfly at the end of it.

This shows the braided spine.  I do this to any journal I alter that has a spine.

Hope it goes over well.

Altered Valentine Journal with Eggshell Mosaic Heart

I purchased a Christmas apiral Journal at Target for $1.00.  The journal included a pen which you will see in the spine of the journal.
I had some retired Valentine paper (not enouth to cover both front and back - so I used 2 different kinds and covered the seam with a strip or Real Red cardstock) so decided to make it into a Valentine journal.

 But I wanted to try a technique first.  This technique will be done in class in the next month or so, so I wanted to be sure I could do it.  The technique is the Eggshell Mosaic Background, and the tutorial is on Splitcoaststampers here

I knew I was going to do this technique so I have been saving egg shells since Christmas.

So, yesterday I die cut a heart using the Heart framelits using SU's Coaster Board (you need a thick cardstock for this so the Coaster Board is perfect) and using the tutorial I finished the project.  Only instead of Alcohol inks, I used Alcohol and reinkers (Real Red and Pink Pirouette)

This heart became the focal image of the Journal.

The eggshell mosaic heart was attached to a doilie die cut using the Darling Doilie thinlet die.  I die cut it in Whisper White, but using heat and stick powder I applied Halogram glitter to it.

The rose I made using the Fun Flower die and Pink Pirouette paper.  The smaller roses are from retired Artisan Embellishment kit.

The word "LOVE" is White Simply Pressed Clay using the Alphanumeric Simply Pressed Clay Mold.  The letters were coloured using SU markers (Real Red and Pink Pirouette).  The clay heart was coloured with a Coastal Cabana marker.  After they were adhered to the journal and the glue was dry I added Dazzling diamonds to them.

I made the corner pieces using a retired Square scallop punch and a 1 1/4" square punch.

Some lace ribbon was added along the spine of the journal.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

In addition I used a Pink Pirouette marker and a sizzlet leaf die (retired)