How I Made my cover

This is how i made my cover for my mixed media art journal.  I really love how it came out.  I kept touching it..

I do need to be better at sewing the papers together (aligning wise) it was a tad off but still off enough to bother me.. LOL

I used distressed the grungepaper with TH distress ink Frayed Burlap.  

I used the TH tool at first but it was taking too long and just started using the ink pad directly onto the grungepaper then used the spongey thing to swipe the ink.. worked so much better (for me)

After the ink dried (used heat tool to help it along) i used some Tattered Angel glimmer mist (Suede)

After I had glimmer mist and inked it and i wanted a lil bit more of an orange'ish color I added another color of distressed ink to it.  I used TH's Rusty Hinge to it.  It worked for the feel i was looking for.  

In this step i used the following products to acheive the look i wanted.   More suede glimmer mist, the mustard'ish color of Gelato, the goldish color of perfect pearls which i mixed with water and used it in the mini mister.

Here's how that turned out.. I used the colors as i wanted.. I love it.

These are the stamps and other products i've used.. 

I used the clear gesso on the cover because i wanted to seal in my techniques.

Here's the cover before i sewed it together.

I had problems with my sewing machine and had to get help from my local friend to adjust my sewing machine.. 

Here's the sewing machine i used.  It's an old one.. I really like it though. It's simple. LOL

Once I sewed my two pages together I put glossy accents on the inside/outside of the book.  Being it's going to be used alot i didn't want the thread to come undone.  If you notice there's two different types of stitching it's because I couldn't figure out which one I wanted to use.

It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to do the closure.  I wanted to use the zutter closures.. But then i really loved how the texture of the grunge paper came out and didn't want to cut anymore off then I already had.  So, i just folded the excess over and made added a buttong and string type to it for closure.  I really love it.  I stamped the excess that was going to be folded over and I'm totally in love with it.

Here's the buttong i used for it.  

My Mixed Media Art Journal

I joined a mixed media art journal round robin swap over on FB.. (wow that was a mouthful.. or a handful of typing.. LOL)

Here are some pix..

The cover i made from grungepaper (i'm so buying more to make some more-LOL) I'm really loving how this came out - I stamped all sorts of my favorite stamps that are Paris related over the cover) I added a charm to the side with my favorite stuff as well.. 

My section of my pages.. I really love how this turned out. I also stamped Paris on it (left side) and more paint.. I couldn't help myself cuz i kept adding to this page..

Up close

The lil insert (Donna Downey style) I journaled a lil bit on it 

I added a button with a lil piece of Seven Gypsy Paddington paper (brown w/the Fleur De Lies) and stamped "T" inside the button.

2012 Art Journal completed!

The first thing i want to post is my completed 2012 art journal.  I love this group and the fact that it takes me out of my comfort level (at times) and how much fun I have getting down and dirty.  I also love how it makes me think.. I mean really think hard about things and what's going on in my life.  I still have this book out b/c i love looking at it and it makes me smile.  In fact, i'm smiling now as i'm typing this.

Here's my completed book - I finished this book a while back but of course I didn't update on it here. :) sorry, my bad.. major bad!  But here is my completed book for A Year in the Life of an Art Journal

Here's the video of the book.  I love that it's completed and i'm stoked to keep on this journey with my art journaling.. :)

Art journal Feb 29

Here's my entry to A Year in the Life of an Art Journal - obviously it's not done, however, it's a work in progress b/c it's about Childhood memories.. LOL

THE PROMPT: Childhood memories

(it can be something from your own childhood or from your kids, a memory, a thought...)

THE STUFF: Glimmer mists & paint (time to get messy!)

THE TECHNIQUE: silhouettes (can be black, patterned paper, anything goes as long as it's a silhouette)

I got the painting down on this one, but that's as far as i've gotten. LOL

Using up thickers...

I'm using up those Thickers that i haven't used or have use for. .  I'm participating in A Year in the Life of an Art Journal again.  I'm late.. well.. VERY LATE, but i'm playing catch up and that's fine by me. :) There's no rule that says I need to be on time. Heehee.

One of the challenges is (January 30th) is to use stencils or mask.  Since i don't have any alpha stencils or mask i created my own. I used my unwanted Thicker as stencils.

Here's a couple of pix. As you can see i still have more Thickers that i haven't used, but i'm getting there. :)