Journal cover (with the Eileen Hull Scoreboards die)

I had just convinced myself that I didn't really need the Eileen Hull Journal Scoreboards die, when I spotted in on offer at That's Crafty and snapped it up without even thinking about it. The offer was pretty irresistible at more than a third of the price off. Sadly, I think it's now back to its original price.

I managed to cut the die without the extended plates, but it was a bit tricky. I had to shift the plates down a bit for a second run and it was a tiny bit out of sync with the first cut, but it's hardly noticeable. I'll have to buy some new plates at some point, anyway, so I'll just get the longer ones. Theoretically, you could cut a similar cover by hand from thinner materials, but I've never been good at measuring and cutting straight lines and I wouldn't be able to cut thick card or chipboard quite as neatly with scissors.

I cut my cover from recycled mailing envelopes, stuck the two parts together, gessoed it and then added my embellishment pieces. The original design looked a bit different - I had to rip off the flowers as I couldn't cover them with paint properly. This is what it looked like originally.

When I removed the flowers, it looked like it might be a gonner, but I was able to cover up the rips with some metal elements, so you don't see the mess underneath! I added an additional layer of black gesso and then painted everything with a mixture of Greenish Blue (557) acrylics from Amsterdam (I love that colour!) and Irridescent Green Yellow (359) from Pebeo. These two colours work wonderfully together! I found some polymer clay tiles in my stash from an earlier project which fitted perfectly within the frame - with a little help from some spacer beads. I also stuck a small gem stone in the middle of  each metal shape for a little oomph. I accented the edges and the raised parts of the texture with some Bronze gilding wax. And that's all there is to it! Here's the redesigned version of the cover rescued from the bin:

I threaded the journal following Eileen's instructions online with an elastic string to hold the inserts - there's more than one way of doing this. I cut some tea dyed sheets of paper to fit the journal and prepared three separate signatures, which simply slot into the cover, like so:

I made a little dangly thing through the spine with metal beads and some paper beads from years ago  - I finally got to use them! This is what the completed journal looks like from various angles (the colours look different depending how the light catches them):

Thanks for joining me today for this show&tell/tutorial. 

Wishing everyone a happy weekend! 

Die-cut journal with pockets and tags

I've finally finished my "mystery" project that I had shared bits and pieces of previously.  I can now reveal that I have been working on a pocket-size journal cut with the Eileen Hull Passport Journal Scoreboards XL Die. I don't often buy such expensive dies, but this one seemed good value, given the fact that it has the cover, spine and inserts all included on one die. I didn't need to buy the extended cutting pads either as the shapes are arranged so you can cut them in two separate passes. Also, the album cover is just the right size for making tarot cards, affirmation cards, postcards, journalling cards, etc. which is an added bonus. I would never be able to cut chipboard by hand with such perfectly rounded corners, so it is a very versatile die to invest in.

Here are the shapes I cut for the journal before I assembled it. The covers and the spine are coated with Basic Grey patterned paper - I still have a few sheets in my precious collection from years ago. The inside chipboard pages are coloured with acrylic inks and I also cut some inserts from tea stained regular printer paper.

Here's the journal after I assembled it and added all the bits and pieces: pockets, tags, labels, tickets, charms, etc.  I left most of the inner pages blank for journalling except for some random stamp marks here and there.

Here's a quick video flip-through:

I'm linking this post with this month's Mini Album Makers Challenge. 

WOYWW #470: Dry embossed hearts on mountboard

I don't know if it's just the time of year, but there's so much inspiration out there, I find it hard to keep up. I have several projects in the pipeline to be finished or even started but I keep dropping them and even forgetting about them when something else catches my eye and sparks my creativity. It could be that I'm just scatty, but I tend to go with the flow and do whatever tickles my fancy.

Here's a photo of my desk to demonstrate my scattiness (and messiness) to share with my WOYWW readers. Oops, you can even see my long overdue mystery project there - to be unveiled later in the week. It still needs some finishing touches. I was working on some heart ornaments inspired by Sarah's Craft Shed. I wanted to see if it was possible to emboss thick mountboard with stencils to achieve similar results to using embossing folders and I'm happy to report that it works really well!

I cut the hearts from 1.5 mm mountboard (known as mat board in the US) which is pretty much the maximum thickness the Sizzix Bigz dies can handle. Then I just ran them through the Big Shot with a stencil on top and the pattern embossed beautifully. I applied black gesso as the first layer, followed by a layer of gold acrylic paint and turquoise blue or green acrylics on top. You have to wait for each layer to dry sufficiently before adding the next.

Then I took a wet baby wipe and carefully removed some of the paint to partially reveal the underlying layers. The texture will look similar to weathered bronze.

On second thought, I made an identical set and stuck two and two together with a piece of string in-between for hanging as ornaments. I painted the edges gold. 

I used the same technique to make this ATC but with die-cut shapes instead of embossing:

That's it for this week, dear Deskers! There's only one thing left to share - yes, you've guessed it right - Oreo! Here he is sleeping peacefully and contentedly in the middle of the day. Life's so hard when you're a cat!

Happy #470! I'll be around visiting soon!

WOYWW #447: Christmas presents and happy play!

For once, the past week went rather slowly. The countdown to Christmas was rather excruciating as I was counting down the days till I was finally allowed to open my present! Not since I was a child have I felt so excited! Here I am for a special edition of WOYWW this week: What's Underneath Your Christmas Tree?

Here's a shot of our tree on Christmas morning. Oreo is well positioned for his festive snap. His present is on the left, mine's the big one in the middle, hubby's was too large to go under the tree, so we took a photo of it instead (it's a metal tool cabinet on wheels - the man version of the iconic Ikea craft trolley!) - the rest belongs to my son, who was almost as excited about Christmas as I was! He chose his big presents but I also bought him some smaller things for the surprise element. Luckily, we no longer need to pretend about Santa! What a scam, hey? He still holds that against us!

Here's Oreo posing with his present: six months' supply of Dreamies, his favourite treat.

This cinematic light display is so much fun to leave messages around and I couldn't resist that little cuddly toy that literally jumped on me in the shop. His name is Barry.

And here's the one you've all been waiting for - tada! No, not Darth Vader - the Big Shot with a selection of dies to play with. Darth is only guarding it for me. 

I used to have a Big Shot years ago, but I sold it when I got my Silhouette Cameo. It was a mistake - you really do need both - they can't replace one another! Although I realised this early on, I didn't have the space for another device, so I had to make do without a Big Shot for years. Now, I've found the perfect spot for it:

I had a marathon play session in my craft room trying out all my new dies. I bought some simple shapes, tabs, tags, frames and a nice alphabet with numbers - the kind of things I can use on a regular basis without having to fire up my Cameo every time I need something. I was delighted to see that most of the the dies easily cut thick kraft card - I'm pretty sure the Cameo would have struggled with that. I've made some tags with my newly cut shapes and also to test run some cheap craft paints, found at The Range.

Note: I chose these numbers at random - I've only just realised, it could have easily been 2018 - why it's 9018, I'll never know LOL! The creative side of my brain doesn't have a seasonal setting!

Actually, it wasn't the Big Shot's ability to cut shapes from card that excited me the most! It's the fact that I can now cut foam, and emboss as well. The Cameo does neither of those jobs. I have a lot more things to share about the Big Shot, but I'm afraid I'll have to leave those for another blog post.

That's it, folks! The last WOYWW in 2017! I'll be back for a lot more in 2018! I hope you'll enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations. See you again in the New Year!