art journal cover

Hello, my friends.  This week, Eclectic Paperie had a blog hop showing journal covers, which is just the beginning of monthly journal entries.  They invited us to play along and create our own journal cover.  I chose to make mine 6"x6".

I started by gluing three pieces of cereal box chipboard together to make a very sturdy chipboard.  Then I cut two pieces 6"x6" for the front and back cover.  I covered mine with some textured denim.  I added some gesso to make it look shabby.

I made a flower from a piece of hand crocheted lace.  I used alcohol inks to make it red.  The center is a tiny crocheted flower.  For the stem, I crocheted a piece of cording and dyed it with Ranger alcohol inks.  The leaves are cut from corrugated cardboard and dyed with alcohol inks.  I used a glue gun to attach all the parts of the flower.

The word art is die cut from designer paper with a retired Sizzix sizzlit alphabet called Block Party.  The letters are glued to navy lacy oval die cuts.  To raise them off the cover, I punched four layers of card stock ovals to glue behind the lacy ones.

The remaining words - "for the joy of creativity" - are those that I use as a subtitle on my blog.  That's why I create things in whatever medium, whether it's stamping, quilting, lace making, art journaling... I find joy in creating.  I printed the words on my computer, cut them apart, added an edge with a black marker and glued them down.

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  It makes me happy that I was able to use fabric, lace, die cuts, and also do some recycling to create something new and beautiful.

Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Grungy Monday #09

Happy Tuesday, my friends. We had a nice family day yesterday for Memorial Day. In the morning, I spread weed & feed on our lawn. I was so hot and tired by the time I finished. It felt really good to wash off my feet with the hose. Of course, I picked up a bit of sunburn at the same time. It doesn't take much for that to happen, so I really don't spend a lot of time out in the sun.

In the afternoon we got together with some of my husband's family, plus a few others that my FIL invited to share with us. I found out that one of the ladies I met is the sister to none other than Mrs. Rubbernecker (Patty, Dave's wife), and just as sweet. How fun is that! We had a great time chatting.

Today I have a card that I made for two challenges. One is Grungy Monday #09, celebrating the products and techniques of Tim Holtz. This challenge can be found each Monday on Linda Ledbetter's blog, Studio L3. This week's challenge can be found on Tim's blog here.

I started with a piece of black cardstock and embossed the image in clear ep. Then spread pool paint dabber and Apple ivory acrylic paint over it. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but for the life of me, I couldn't get the paint to wash off the embossed image, so I improvised and used a sanding block to sand it off instead. I thought the problem was because I mixed two types of paint, but I tried it with just one paint dabber and had no better results.

The second challenge this card is for is Inspiration Emporium Monthly Challenge (IEMC02) using packaging. I used some plastic packaging from a Spellbinders die. I did heated pearls technique on the plastic, which basically uses white glue, pearl ex and a heat gun. Instructions can be found here on Splitcoaststampers.com. Then I die cut the plastic with Tim's butterfly movers & shapers dies. I reheated the butterflies a bit, so I could shape them while they were warm. I really love how they turned out. I attached them to the card with mini glue dots.

One edge of the main image panel was die cut with Tim's on the edge scallops die.

For the sentiment, I stamped the word 'delight' from an old SU set, paint prints with black stazon ink. Then die cut it with a nestabilities petite oval die (Spellbinders). I added some black ink along the edges as well, and then covered the piece with versamark and clear UTEE (3 layers). I punched holes and added some brads. This is a takeoff of Shelly's tutorial here.  This piece was attached with dimensional foam tape.

I hand crocheted the edging.

shabby butterfly

Happy Monday. This morning I made a card for the technique challenge on SCS. The challenge was to use corrugated cardboard. I love the many looks you can achieve with this.

I first wet one side of the cardboard and let it sit about 5 minutes, which makes it much easier to pull off that outside layer to reveal the texture underneath. After removing most of the top layer, I used my cuttlebug and two SU/Sizzix (top note & beautiful butterflies) dies to cut it. I added some antique white acrylic paint to the butterfly. Once that was dry, I stamped Lady of Grace (Stampington) in faded jeans distress ink (Ranger) and then sponged and distressed the edges. For the center, I wanted a small crochet flower, but didn't have any in the right color, so I sat down and made one, which I attached with a brad. Here's a closeup of the butterfly.

On the top note, I used a stamp from Gratitude (Club Stamp) in aged mahogany distress ink (Ranger) and added sponging and a lot of distressing on the edges, even tearing off one corner. I added a piece of my crocheted lace edging as well.

The base card is not quite navy and the vanilla layer is stamped with Dots & Flowers (Hero Arts). More sponging and distressing. The sentiment is from the Gratitude set. I attached the butterfly with dimensional tape.

Thanks for visiting today. Have a wonder-filled week.