Saturday, November 14, 2009

I'm Just a Girl Making Stuff

Saturday, November 14, 2009
Love these big "sketchbooks" made exclusively for Barnes & Noble. I can only seem to find them in store.



Here's why they're cool:

1. They're big and chunky.
2. They have thick paper - so inks won't bleed through and it can even take acrylic paint without pages curling.
3. They have perforated pages - so if you add any collage, you can cleanly remove pages to compensate for the added thickness. Therefore, your book will close flat.
4. The craft paper covers are easily transformable.
5. Retails for $13 - and you get a big discount with their annual membership card!

So knowing I have a big class coming up and that I'll be required to keep a daily writing journal, I had to make this. Right? (It seems I can't leave any journal as I find it - and boring just won't do.)



So I looked through my paper stash and grabbed a handful of wallpaper scraps my Mom had donated. Wow those cats are amazing! But I settled on the ethnic print.




I also found some metal objects I'd been hoarding and some cardboard packaging from a newly arrived bottle of Christmas wine. (Yes. I save everything!)



So first, I glued down the wallpaper which I'd cut to size. I like to use heavy gel medium to glue stuff down. The absence of water in it seems to make things stick well without bubbling.



Then, because the tin heart is concave, I "stuffed" the back of it with paper clay. That way it won't get smashed in or dented up when I toss the book around.



While the book cover was drying, I tore, then carefully burnt the edges of the cardboard into a rough shape. You could actually "ink" the edges to look burnt, but I'm all for authenticity. (The burnt edges didn't actually end up showing up too well against my dark background. Live and learn!)

I put a coat of gloss decoupage on the book cover to protect it from damage.



I punched holes through the tin heart with my handy dandy Crop-A-Dile and used eyelets to "set" it into place on the cardboard.

This gold ink marker is permanent on metal, so I altered the borders of the tin heart to a golden color - and added a little to the cardboard as well.



A couple of more eyelets were set into place below, giving me holes through which could use wire to fasten the key.

The hole assemblage was just glued onto the cover with Elmer's glue and allowed to dry overnight.



Since the book's built in marker was a little short to add much embellishment to, I made my own book marker out of some leather cord and a few beads.



Walla! How do ya like the new book?



Off to find somewhere to use those beautiful wallpaper pieces with the big cats! Meow!
AND watch the 1000 Journals Film for the 2nd time in 24 hours.

(Disclaimer: In accordance with FTC's new ruling on blog endorsements, I am not paid by any company to endorse products mentioned on this blog. I'm just a girl making stuff with things I find that work.)



3 comments:

Lisa said...

LOVE the new book!

FTC requirements for blogs? whoa! :)

Just Me said...

My first visit to your blog, and so luv the way you share...words, humor, and most of all your 'I don't give a crap' blah blah blah attitude. Awesome cover and many ideas. Thanks so much and will be back.

Eileen Sottovia said...

Wow, Tracie, these posts are wonderful! You are such an inspiration. Love, love, love the journals - evry one of them. Don't stop!!!!!!Thanks for the little nudge to get going on mine.
Hugs to ya
Eileen