It's A New Year ~ Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hey everyone and welcome to a new year of challenges for Simon Says Stamp. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

So to kick things off, we have an exciting new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and this week it's called ~ "Make New Friends, But Keep The Old" and for the first challenge of the 2015 we are celebrating both old and new! Will you use an old favourite and pair it with a new supply? Try an old technique with a new stamp? However you feature old (or new) ~ we can't wait to kick off this crafty year with you!

For my project, I decided to celebrate the start of the new year and created a "new" journal by altering an old book that I found in my crafty stash to give it a new lease of life and a complete makeover.

To begin with, I took an old wire bound book that to be honest, had seen better days and needed a facelift. I really should have taken a photo of it for you to see the transformation but totally forgot in my eagerness to get going!!

I covered the cover of the book with a good coat of gesso which I left to dry. Once the gesso had dried, I then started the transformation and for this, I used Distress Paints. I began by applying a layer of Spun Sugar Distress Paint over the surface and blended it with a touch of Victorian Velvet. Ensuring the paint was dry, I then applied some Tissue Tape onto random areas of the painted cover before adding some more paint to blend in the edges of the tape and applying a third colour, Mustard Seed Distress Paint. 

To knock back some of the colour, I then dry brushed some Picket Fence Distress Paint over the top before blasting the paint with a heat gun to dry it.

Once the paint is dry, place the Latticework Layering Stencil over random areas of the cover and using the Distress Marker Spritzer Tool and Black Soot Distress Marker, spritz the colour through the stencil. Give the stencilled area a quick blast with the heat gun to set the ink and then add splashes of Black Soot Distress Paint by flicking it onto the cover.

To complete the cover, I added some lines around the edges using a ruler that I dipped into Watering Can Archival Ink and just dragging the ruler along the cover, to create the lines

Now, comes the fun part of layering all the Ephemera pieces onto the cover. I used the Distressing Tool to slightly distress the edges of a selection of pieces and then inked them, before mounting them onto my cover using foam to created different heights and dimension and grouping them into a cluster.

At this point I also added some Film Ribbon which I tucked behind the Ephemera pieces and a coil of Wire String. As the focal point I used the butterfly from the Ephemera pack, which I coloured with Distress Inks. I added this to the centre of the clock face and shaped the wings.

I then wanted to add some metal Idea-Ology hardware and to begin with I used the same colours of Distress Paints as I used on the cover and applied the paint to an arrow which I placed through the body of the butterfly, some Gears and I also added a Compass Coin with a Clock Key attached to the centre.

I also covered the "Documented" word from the Framed Alpha Parts set and numbers from the Signmaker Alpha Parts with the paint and attached these to the cover.

We're nearly there and all that was left was to add some texture to my cover and for this, I dyed some Crinkle Ribbon with Spun Sugar Distress Stain, tied it into a bow and attached it to my cover, together with some decorative pins and a Heart Charm attached to a wire pin and threaded through the centre of the bow.

Finally, I attached some mini corners to my cover to complete my book...

...and that completes the transformation of my old "seen better days" book to a new book, all ready to document a brand new year!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and enjoyed my tutorial of how I created a new cover for my notebook.

Don't forget that if you're looking for some more great ideas and inspiration for this challenge, then you need to look no further than the blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. Good luck....

Thank you so much for all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Distress Paint: Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Picket Fence, Black Soot, Mustard Seed

Distress Stain: Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet

Mediums: Gesso

Inks: Watering Can Archival Ink

Distress Marker Pens

Tim Holtz Latticework Layering Stencil

Idea-Ology ~ Memo Pin, Crinkle Ribbon, Ephemera Pack Expedition, Ephemera Pack Thrift Shop, Alpha Parts Framed, Mini Corners, Heart Charms, Arrow Adornments, Compass Coins, Signmaker Alpha Parts, Clock Keys, Mini Paper Clips, Sprocket Gears, Wire Pin, Film Ribbon

Embellishments: Prima Wire Thread

Surfaces: Sketchbook Tissue Tape

Ranger Craft Sheet

Hot Glue Gun, Foam Pads

Distress Marker Spritzer

Decorative Pins from my own collection