Shine Your Light: A Journal Out of My Comfort Zone

 

This journal was a long time in the making. February is my month to “Finish it Up” and so I took what had started months ago as 3 signatures I had assembled with hoarded one-offs, left-overs, and a random sampling of most of my art papers which I had trimmed or torn down to random sizes. I’m pretty sure I was inspired by one of Luise Heinzl’s videos.

Where it started:

The finishing touch:

I had purchased several 1/2 yd. pieces of Seth Apter fabrics during his Black Friday sale in November and finally started to use some to create a fabric collage cover:

The cover base is an Amazon bubble mailer. The collage was built on a piece of canvas and the interior of the cover is a single piece of a Seth Apter fabric:

Inside the back cover: 

The signatures had included several experimental pockets I had created following a tutorial by Natasa at Treasure Books using various tissue papers treated with diluted glue and then stitched.:

This is my favorite spread:

Most of the papers were the result of a haul from my first trip to S.C.R.A.P., our local creative re-use center. I’ve been hoarding them for, oh…about 5 or 6 years because I’ve never seen that kind of assortment there since:

There are a couple of fabric ruffles:

Some mixed media:

I went a little nuts with the ink and embossing folders the other day. I love this technique:

I really love the wonky assortment of papers and sizes here. This is waaaayyy out of my comfort zone.

I included some of my treasured eco-prints:

I didn’t realize I had so many pockets in this journal, I think there are at least 20:

A pocket flap from a large envelope in the signature:

Another Treasure Books inspired pocket:

A large envelope pocket bound into the signature:

A paper bag pocket:

A deli bag pocket, paint and coffee spattered with a stationary paper from Tenerife, Spain (a S.C.R.A.P. hoard)

Pocket stuffers using dyed/stamped/stenciled index cards:

Italian straw paper from a cheese delivery where I work:

The finished journal is 9” x 6” x 2” ish with 3 signatures and about 180 pages though it’s a rough count given all the of off sizes and pockets. There’s so much going on in this book and seriously, the most labor intense journal I think I’ve ever made. It took its time, but became a labor of love because when I was pondering the stack of signatures earlier this month I was not feeling a finish to this at all and was set to deconstruct the whole thing but I am seriously in “use it or lose it” mode these days and I realized I wasn’t quiiiiite ready to lose it. Thankfully.

Turning One of my First Journals into a Gluebook

 

I recently resurrected two old junk journals I created when I first started making journals 5+ years ago. At the time I had participated in a “Naked Journal” swap in Rosemary Morris’s Facebook group “Trashy and Flowish Junk Journals” and loved how relatively quickly these came together when you don’t have to decorate and embellish. I made several of these to really get my pamphlet stitch binding down.

During this Thanksgiving weekend I started deconstructing a stack of Somerset Studio magazines as well as doing a collage challenge by Ceri  the Crafter using his “100 Perpetual Collage Prompts”. I needed a book to work in and of course my first thought was to make one but common sense prevailed and I went to my journal stash. I started working in “Cadillac Ranch” decorated with a photograph I had taken there during my cross country move from New York City back home to San Francisco over 20 years ago.

This book has 5 chunky signatures consisting of scrapbook paper, magazine pages, various graph papers, ledger papers and resume papers. The cover was made from a cracker box decoupaged with painty paper tissue scraps. I decided to test this out as a glue book and see how far I can push its capacity.

I’ve got 8 out of 14 magazines deconstructed at this point. I always pull out the “Art” papers Somerset Studios includes right away and tend to use them as signature covers in the journals I’ve made over the years.

Ready to deconstruct, I pull out the full page photographs and fold them down into pocket fillers.

Then I go through and isolate the images that speak to me artistically. They could be inspirational in that I could actually make something similar or just use them as color or texture reference. It’s my own personally curated book of inspiration.

Other images I will use to make die cuts.

Somerset Studios will include drawing papers (matte) that include some kind of prompt or artsy task. I use these for pages in future journals.

Although some of the articles and images aren’t my style, I appreciate them for possible uses in collages, backgrounds or punches/die cuts.

Captain Willoughby and Lady Winnimere aka Willie and Winnie. I welcomed these two bebez into my studio in July. They turned 6 months old last week and have brought so much joy into my home, as well as a bit of chaos. Creating can be a challenge because they want to get into everything and be in the middle of everything I’m doing.❤️❤️

Scrap Happy-Trash to Treasure Junk Journal

Scrap Happy came about from a junk journal challenge I followed in January where we were to create a journal using nothing but scraps.  I used a free publication I picked up at the grocery store for the signature pages as well as some advertising pages I tore out of a crafting magazine I subscribe to and some digital prints that misprinted.

I used Distress Oxide and Spray Stains to create backgrounds for potential embellishments

The cover was pieced together scraps of  scrapbook papers that I stitched around and then spray stained and splatter painted.

On some pages I used acrylic paint applied with a brayer.

I made a bunch of die cuts from odds and ends of decorative paper.

Some of the digital prints I just sprayed with water to create a bleed through effect and added some stenciling.

The corner pockets were made from drop papers I use in my paint box when I'm using my Distress Sprays.

 

Journals to the People: Wildflower Silhouette #2

 

2 signature junk journal

8” x 5 1/2”

88 pages

Garter closure

I created two of these wildflower journal covers months ago and have been working on them off and on. I’ve been hanging onto them because I love them so much and I think I can say that they are probably my favorite journals so far.

The cover is a collage of spent art tissue scraps that has been treated with several layers of matte medium.