Get Wrapped Bloghop

Hello all!  I'm thrilled to welcome you to a very special bloghop extravaganza today.  I'm delighted to be part of the Get Wrapped Bloghop, featuring products by Seth Apter, PaperArtsy, Eileen Hull and Emerald Creek.  It's all in the name of fun and cross brand creativity, but there will also be a prize pack valued over $150 USD from PaperArtsy, Seth Apter, Eileen Hull & Emerald Creek. To be entered you must pop by and comment on each of the blog posts before midnight, August 29th.

If you're already hopping, you should have arrived here from the wonderful Karen Bearse, and I'll point you in the right direction for your next hop at the end of the post. If you've landed mid-hop, as it were, you can find the full hopping itinerary at the foot of the post too.

It's a real honour to have been invited by Seth to be a part of today's inspiration bloghop, alongside so many amazing artists and crafters... and a joy to play with the products too.  Here's what I came up with using Eileen's Wrapped Journal, Seth's fabulous PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints, and some amazing embossing powders from Emerald Creek, including Seth's own Baked Textures.

I'm going to show you a couple of different angles to start off with.  The Wrapped Journal is deliciously chunky, so you get lots of surfaces to play with... front, back and sides...

Some of you will spot that I've used some of my "Engraved Enamel" plaques on my journal.  I shared the full details of how to make these recently over at PaperArtsy, so I won't go through it all in detail again now.






These plaques do make me happy.  I knew from watching Seth in action at Creativation (via youtube, not in person, sadly!) that you could get great results from stamping into his Baked Textures powders...














... but I wasn't sure that I would be able to get a clear enough impression with my intricate quote stamps until I tried... and lo and behold - magic!












Let's go through a few making-of stages for those who'd like them - otherwise just scroll down for some more close-ups!

I started with a matboard die-cut of the Wrapped Journal, and gave it a rough coat of Seth's Midnight - a rich dark blue.






No need to be a perfectionist at this stage - it's all going to get covered up, first of all with a coat of PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze.  These are most of the Seth paint colours I used as I went along...

... with the addition of the white Snowflake - always necessary.  They're from his special edition collections with PaperArtsy - sets 3 and 4.






Once the Crackle Glaze was dry, I applied Snowflake Fresco paint over it, and then sponged on some of the lovely grassy Magic Moss colour.















Coming down from the top, I sponged some Glacier Ice - the palest of icy blues - layering some touches of Double Denim over that for a deeper blue, as well as adding some at the bottom edge too, to tie things together.













I decided I wanted a touch more definition along the bottom edge, so I swiped on some embossing ink and sprinkled on some of the Deep Sea Baked Texture powder.  







Time for some stamping.  Since it was clear by this stage that I was once again heading out into the meadows, I reached for my much-loved PaperArtsy grasses by Lin Brown.

They're stamped in Olive Archival ink, another favourite.  I haven't had much crafting time lately, so when I do find myself at the craft table, I tend to indulge myself with my favourite things!






Next I cut some of the lovely Tim Holtz Wildflower Thinlits out of plain card, and started adding layers of Baked Textures powders to them.  Just look at the glorious sheen when the sunlight catches them.













They're done either with the Vintage Beeswax or the Deep Sea powders.  One of the things I love about these two translucent powders is that, the more layers you add, the deeper the colour tone of the finished result.














So the palest of these stems has only one layer of Vintage Beeswax...













... but the glorious golden one down in the middle on the front has had three layers.

They've all had some white spatter by the end too, which adds to the depth, I think.












For my signatures, I've used some mixed media paper from a Canson 7 x 10 inch pad.  Torn in half and then folded once, the pages are the perfect size for this small Wrapped Journal.










I used fine twine to fasten them into the journal with a simple knot - and I haven't stitched my signatures, so that I can pull the pages out to work on, if I want to, and then re-insert them later.















I love the look of the fine twine on the outer spine...
















... nice and natural against the meadow background.












The interior of the journal cover is done very simply with Seth's paints.  Again, it's a coat of the Midnight to start, then some Glacier Ice brayered over the top, and some Magic Moss applied with an old credit card.














It creates an artsy look without being too in your face, so you're free to concentrate on what you're putting on the pages of the journal.













Finally, the actual wrapping of my Wrapped Journal...  It's some more of the same fine twine, a triple string, which I've glued between the front enamelled plaque and the journal cover.












To keep the twine more fully in place, as well as to strengthen the plaque itself, I glued another piece of card to the rear side of the plaque where it extends out from the cover.














Then you simply wind it all around the journal a couple of times and tuck the knotted end into the wound twine to keep it in place.










I really love the structure of this Wrapped Journal... the chunky look when it's all wrapped up...

... the excitement as you start to unfurl it to see what's inside...

... plenty of journalling space, with four whole signatures...

... and the lovely extended decorating space over the whole cover when it's "unwrapped"...

And I can't get enough of the gleam of the "enamel" in the sunlight on those word plaques...

Thanks so much for stopping by today - or should I say for hopping by?!  Your next stop on the Get Wrapped Bloghop is the lovely Nora Paolini.  Remember you need to comment on each post before midnight, 29th August, to be in with a chance at the fabulous prize package.

Before you go, I'd just like to say thank you again to Seth, to Eileen and to Kim and Katelyn at Emerald Creek.  It's been just lovely to be a part of the hop today, and I hope you're finding oodles of inspiration along the way.

Plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, rather than waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
Jorge Luis Borges






Full Get Wrapped Bloghop line-up
Eileen Hull
Kim Evans
Debi Adams
Josefine Fourage
Susie Bentz
Linda Cain
Karla Yungwirth
Jenny Marples
Amanda Pink
Livia Yellowbird
Karen Bearse
Alison Bomber - you're already here!
Nora Paolini
Tonya Trantham
Emma Williams
Peg Robinson
Maggi Harding
Stephanie Eaton