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Sunday, July 1, 2018

Too good to waste....

It's July already..where has the last few months gone..I don't know if it's because I am older that time is flying by. The weather is ridiculously hot at the moment, I am spending more time indoors with all the fans going, but the time at home has given me an excuse the sift through a lot of my craft stuff.
I was given some albums some years ago..I was loathe to throw them away, so I stripped them back to the original covers and decided to make a couple of small journals for my design team project at Rhedd's Creative Spirit.for their July challenge.


I decided to make 4 journals  from the 4 boards so I measured them so 2 would be slightly larger than the other. 


I took one of each size and rounded the corners and the other 2 I set aside to alter at a later date.
I gave them a good sanding with some fine sandpaper to remove any glue residue.
I then gave them 2 coats of gesso.


For both of the journals I added some texture through a stencil to the front cover and left it to dry overnight.
 I painted both sides of the front and back covers using green,blue and yellow acrylic paints..then highlighted some areas in gold gilding wax for the shell journal and then I used brown,black and orange for the steampunk style journal, highlighting areas with gunmetal gilding wax.


For this journal, I adhered some orange mesh, muslin and shells to the top cover and finished decorating it with some pearls from an old necklace that was given to me some years ago, well I was never going to wear it,lol.
The pages in the journal are from scraps from around my craft room..some pages have pockets etc..sorry I forgot to photograph the inside.


The Steampunky journal is a great size..more for a man I feel. I decorated the cover with cogs and chicken wire that are from Fernli Designs...after painting them I added rust effect to areas to age it some more.
Again, the pages are from scraps in my craft room..


The Seaside journal measures 14cms x 8cms
The Steampunky one measures 14cms x 6cms
The covers are really sturdy as the board is really thick.

If you have any old board books and you no longer need them, why not recycle them and come along to Rhedds and enter our challenge...

You can find our July Challenge here at 


7 comments:

Sammy said...

Oh wow, these are just fantastic Sandie! I don't think I can pick a favourite between the two either, as the seaside theme and the steampunk are both firm favourites. Such a great idea too, and I'm thinking I need to make something like that for hubby, who always has a little notebook on him wherever he goes. I think something made just for him would be better than a cheap, tacky asda thing, lol.
Thanks for the inspiration Sandie. I really love them. x

Priya Satish said...

Beautiful journal projects Sandie... Love them both.

Lys said...

Two different styles and two beautiful albums! Maybe I would slightly prefer the steampunk one!

Judy McKay said...

Sandie - beautiful project. Lovely designs you have created for your mini books. Have a creative week. Judy

http://blog.timetocreate.com.au/ said...

The card in the albums is a perfect weight for your delightful up cycled mini journals Sandie. What perfect small gifts they will make.

Aimeslee Winans said...

Genius idea, Sandra and well done too! xoxo

Carol said...

AWESOME - I love both of your altered books yummy and I am itching to see inside them !! Have a lovely weekend xx