Beautiful New Year Moments

Hello all, and a very happy 2018 to all of you.  I hope it brings you all that you are wishing for.


The first of the month means it's time to begin a new challenge at Mini Album Makers.  As always, any handmade book is welcome, and my lovely team-mates have provided a wealth of inspiration for you.  But before you hop over there to check it out, here's my own offering.


I've made myself a journal for keeping notes and ideas in for a new word-based endeavour I'm involved in - making it perfect for Simon Says Stamp's Something New theme.  It's decorated in a simple, natural style that makes me happy.
















And those lovely leaves also put in an appearance on the inside, albeit in a slightly different way...

I started by tearing the pages of a cheap watercolour pad in half, and then cutting the end-board of the pad in half to make my front and back covers.... simple and easy so far.















I painted the outer covers with some DecoArt Chalk Paint in Enchanted and added some of the Crackle Glaze formulated for the Chalk Paints.
















While the glaze was drying, I hole-punched all the pages and gave them a light spritz of Bundled Sage Distress Spray.













The pages were then left to dry as I added the top coat of the covers.  The white DecoArt Chalk Paint is known as Everlasting.  I love the mega-crackles from that hefty application of Crackle Glaze.












I glued some pre-printed tissue paper and some torn teabags onto the crackle... all nice and translucent.















I then added a patch of seamed calico fabric (one of the unwanted curtain bands which come with a certain Swedish furniture store's cheapest calico curtains... waste not, want not!) and lots of scrunchled thread to the mix.













That all needed time to dry so I got on with something else in the meantime.













I pulled out some of the lovely chipboards by one of the Mini Album Makers' sponsors, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  I thought these leaves would make great decorative elements over my background textures.














Before decorating them, though, I used the leafy garland as a mask to add some more decorative detail to a few of the interior pages.  This time the spritzing was done with Peeled Paint Distress Spray.












I gesso'd the leaves and spritzed them with a combination of Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint sprays.  They looked pretty cool while they were still wet...













... but the colour faded quite a lot as they dried.  I was a bit disappointed when I came down the next morning.














In order to recapture the "wet look", I used some DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - a mixture of Green Gold and Sap Green spritzed with water on the craft mat - and splodged the leaves down into them.
















I'm very happy with the result.












I know spring is quite a long way off yet, but the vibrant freshness of the green leaves is a promise of good things to come!













I lightly gesso'd the fabric and tissue of the front cover to knock it back a bit before adding my finished leaves.  And then I thought I'd better do the back cover too, so that the crackle would be softened in the same way as on the front.













The binding is very simply done with twine threaded through the hole-punched pages.  














But I decided I wanted a bit more natural earthiness, so I bound a twig into the twine as I tied it off.  It serves no particular purpose, I just like it!












The twig actually comes from a roll of wired twig garden edging which I'm gradually dismantling as I find a need for the twigs.













A little bit of Gathered Twigs (but of course) inking around the edges, and we're pretty much done.  














I love that there are places inside where I'll be writing over or around the masked leafy garland pattern, echoing the front cover...















... but not always.














I also really love the wild thread giving movement to the whole thing. 















The Idea-ology Quote Sticks tell you exactly what I hope to be doing throughout 2018.









I toyed for a while with the idea of spattering it with white paint in time-honoured fashion, but in the end I restrained myself.  I thought it was better left with this clean, fresh look.

So there you have it - Happy New Year!  I hope 2018 will be kind to you, and to us all.  Why not kick it off by coming to play along at Mini Album Makers?




There's lots more inspiration for you over at the challenge blog, and you could be chosen as one of our top picks or win our sponsor prize, which this month is a fantastic $25 gift voucher courtesy of the fabulous Lindy's Stamp Gang.  So do come and join in - we welcome any handmade book, and we love seeing all shapes, sizes and styles.  Hope to see you there some time during January.  Happy crafting all!




You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
Henry David Thoreau

I'd like to play along at That's Crafty Challenges where Anything Goes
At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge they are looking for Something New - well, not only is this my New Year's journal recording words for a new creative project, but I've also used these new (to me) Gypsy Soul laser cuts

Nature Journal

Hello all!  I hope those of you in the UK are enjoying the Bank Holiday, despite the rather gloomy weather.  I'm delighted to be here today with a very exciting post.

You'll have seen projects using Eileen Hull's amazing new Journal die popping up here and there, and I'm so thrilled to have been invited by Eileen to create my own version to celebrate the release.

These journals will also be appearing soon in a special e-book, collecting together the inspirational projects from around the world.  Details for that will follow soon but, for now, here's my Nature Journal for you.


















Regulars know I love my crackle and my wild meadow flowers and grasses, so that's what I went for with this journal.  It's for me, so why not have all my favourite things on it?!

The other thing which always appeals to me in a journal is gentle simplicity - to give room for the imagination to breathe.














On the inside, I've kept it simple too - a combination of watercolour paper (so that I can continue my new obsession), and some old music manuscript prepared for action with washes of gesso and white paint.














Eileen's die makes it so easy to make your journal be exactly what you want it to be, and as you will have seen around Craftyblogland, the possibilities are pretty much infinite.















I can't wait to play again and see what happens the next time around.  But for now, here are a few close-ups and some details on how I did what I did, and the products I used.













The base layer was DecoArt Chalky Finish Paint in Relic (dark grey) and Primitive (stone) - doesn't matter how it looks at this stage, it's all going to be covered!).











Over that I used the DecoArt Crackle Glaze formulated for their Chalk Paints with a coat of Everlasting (white) once it was dry.

I decided I wanted a really rustic crackle texture, so I added some of the DecoArt Media Crackle Paint with a palette knife in places as an extra layer.












To seal all that in, so that the crackle won't peel off, I gave it all a generous coat of the Ultra-Matte Varnish also by DecoArt.














From there, I added washes of Fresco Finish Chalk Paints and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in lots of my favourite blues and greens.  (Blues down from the top, greens up from the bottom.)











I use them with lots of water, and also with a spritzer handy, and add layers and knock back until I'm happy with the look.

For many projects, I would do this with Distress Inks, but this journal is going to need to withstand some wear and tear, so the paint is a better alternative.

Then I let loose with the glorious meadow grasses by Lin Brown for PaperArtsy.  

I used the stems from ELB30 and 33, and layered them up in Olive and Leaf Archival inks, creating height at the edges.














You may be able to see that I've also done some light spatter with some of the leftover blue/greens from the craft mat.












I was slightly concerned about what might happen when I cracked those creases back into action, but the break was easy and clean, and I love the effect of the cracked edges.











After I'd inked around the corners and along the edges with Archival ink, I made sure they got an extra helping of Ultra-Matte Varnish to be sure they'll be nice and sturdy.

So far, it's been to the Czech Republic and back with me, and it still looks as good as new.  Next stop, New York.















For the inside covers, I used some design papers by 7 Dots Studio.  The line is called Nature Walk (which seemed appropriate for my Nature Journal).













And the signatures are formed of papers which I hope will inspire me to play...

Plenty of watercolour paper, torn along the edges for a nice distressed look...














... alternating with the white-washed music manuscript pages torn from an old, unwanted music book.

I love how the page edges look all together.  Simple things please me!















The signatures are held in place with fine twine, threaded through Eileen's cleverly constructed spine.














I made a feature of the binding on the spine, adding a couple of Idea-ology pieces to an extra piece of the twine and tying it around the strings at the back.















And the same fine twine acts as a fastening - tied in a simple bow.  It looks complicated to untie and retie, but really isn't!












I used my Hero Arts alphabet to stamp the word Journal onto one of the leftover watercolour strips torn from the sheets used to make the pages inside.

It's layered up over some tea-bag fragments.  I love how these fragile bits of paper add some definition, while still allowing you to see the crackle and the stamping underneath.












And the back, of course, continues the gentle walk through the meadow...















So that's my Nature Journal - just the first of many journals which will appear, I'm thinking.

It's been amazing to get a chance to experiment with Eileen's design - it's going to be in such regular use when I get my own die back home to play with (it's waiting for me in the States at the moment).  









I'll be back with details of the e-book release as soon as we have them, and at that point I may even give you a sneak peek of some of the experimental works in progress which are now in the pages inside!  For now, you can catch up with some of the extraordinarily inspiring creations from around Craftyblogland over at Eileen's blog.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and if I can get my computer keyboard to behave, I hope to spend some time in Craftyblogland soon.

Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
John Muir


I'd like to share this at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is The Great Outdoors
At Mixed Media World they are playing Anything Mixed Media Goes with a twist of watercolour
As always at Love To Create it's an Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
And at Mixed Media Monthly, as you can see, they would like us to Put A Stamp On It