Get Wrapped Blog Hop...

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special post because today, I'm excited to announce that Seth Apter, Eileen Hull, PaperArtsy and Emerald Creek Craft Supplies have teamed up with some amazing designers all in the name of fun, and cross brand creativity to bring you the...

Let's Get Wrapped Blog Contest!

Of course there will be a prize pack valued over $150 USD from PaperArtsy, Seth Apter, Eileen Hull and Emerald Creek and to be entered you must pop by and comment on each of the blog posts. 

(We don't want you to miss any of the tips and tricks.)

Contest closes Aug 29th at midnight and a winner will be announced Aug 30th, 2018.

Order of hop:

Eileen Hull

Kim Evans

Debi Adams

Josefine Fourage

Susie Bentz

Linda Cain

Karla Yungwirth

Jenny Marples

Amanda Pink

Livia Yellowbird

Karen Bearse

Alison Bomber

Nora Paolini

Tonya Trantham

Emma Williams (you are here)

Peg Robinson

Maggi Harding

Stephanie Eaton

I was truly honoured to be invited by Seth to join this hop and it was so much fun creating this project ~ a travel journal with lots of detail and texture and one that can be filled with stories of all my adventures.

So let's begin and hope you enjoy the creative process of how I made this piece...

I started by making my wrapped journal cover, which was cut from mount board and then prepped with an application of gesso.

Once the medium was dry, I then moved onto the paint layer. I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Set 4 and started the layering process with the palest in the set, Glacier Ice which I applied over the surface of my journal cover on the inside and the outside.

I then added some more interest and layers by using a brayer to apply the darker colours, Venice Blue and Steel Grey and just allowing the paint to kiss the surface of the mount board as I rolled the brayer over the top. I continued this process until I felt I had enough depth to my paintwork. To add a final layer of texture, I applied a thin layer of the Steel Grey Paint to my craft sheet and using the Mountain Range Stamp Set, I picked up some of the paint from the sheet with my stamp and then randomly stamped over the top of the painted surface.

Now that I have my cover painted, I moved onto adding some more texture and some rusty tones around the edges. This was created using the Ranger Ink Embossing Dabber, which I applied in sections, directly onto the edges of the journal. I then sprinkled Chunky Rust Baked Texture Embossing Powder over the wet ink and heat embossed the powder until it was set and you can see what a wonderful rusty finish it creates to this piece.

For the front cover, I began by adding another layer and applied a Versamark Ink Pad directly onto the painted surface before sprinkling Beeswax Baked Texture Embossing Powder over the inked surface. Tap away the excess and then heat the powder to create this beautiful beeswax finish ~ I love the look of this technique and these powders create the most wonderful texture. As a finishing touch I added some Remnant Rub Numbers.

Now for the embellishments and I chose to use Seth's Coffee Break die which I cut four times from heavyweight card before layering each piece to create one substantial die cut image, which has incredible dimension and impact on the finished cover.

I painted the die cut with black gesso and then applied a Versamark Ink Pad over the dry painted surface before applying Deep Sea Baked Texture Powder over the top. After heat embossing the powder I repeated this process three more times to create an enamelled look to the die cut before adding a sprinkling of Ancient Amber Baked Texture Powders over the top and heat embossing it to melt into the enamel. I attached the die cut to the front cover of the journal, slightly overlapping the opening edge.

I completed the cover with some metal embellishments ~ a ruler piece, compass, arrow and completed the piece with a Flower Pin Wheel Brad which have all been altered using Alcohol Inks to create a more rusty finish to the surfaces.

These embellishments also acted as a fastening to the cover as I purposely didn't add a closure or a wrap to hold the journal together, the cover is just weighted down using this dimensional focal point.

As a finishing touch, I attached some glass domes which I painted with metallic paints, a couple of metal hardware pieces and a quote chip ~ Enjoy The Journey which has a layer of the Beeswax Baked Texture Powder applied over the top.

I now moved onto decorating the inside of the journal and because the inside is already painted I just needed to add all those little details and I started by adding the file tab complete with the word journal, and altered the tab with a little more of the Chunky Rust Baked Texture before attaching onto the inside fold.

To create the panels on either side of the journal, I used a piece of heavy stock card, cut slightly smaller in size to allow a border to show around the outside. I then inked the cardstock with some Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink before stamping some text over the surface. I then applied a Versamark Ink Pad over the entire surface of the card and sprinkled Beeswax Baked Texture Embossing Powder over the top. Tap away the excess and then heat emboss. I added some tape strips and ephemera pieces before sprinkling some Rocky Road Baked Texture into the embossed panel and heating it so it just melted into it.

I matted the panels onto kraft card and then mounted each of them onto the inside of the journal.

I completed the inside with a couple of ephemera pieces.

We're nearly there now and all that's left is to create the pages and covers for the inside.

I created two folder covers for the inside, cutting heavy stock card to measure, 19 x 12cm. I applied the same combination of paint to both sides of the cardstock, using the same technique as I did for the mount board used on the journal cover.

For the central section on the first folders which you see when you open the journal, I used the smallest two pieces from Seth's Shield Die and die cut heavy stock card. I then applied the Versamark Ink Pad to the surface of each die cut piece and embossed the smaller piece with Deep Sea Baked Texture and the larger circle with Ancient Amber Baked Texture Powder. I attached the circles to the centre of the folder cover and placed a Quote Chip over the top before adding an index clip and small hinge clip that I painted red and some machine stitching around the outside, leaving the threads to hang loose which is something I love to do.

The remaining folder cover includes some stamping and some tape strips.

I chose to add plain paper to my book, as I wanted this to be a functional journal, something I can use and write in, and also a place to add more pages and ephemera! To create a vintage feel to the paper, I inked it with Old Paper Distress Ink and then spritzed the pages with water ~ the moisture created a slight buckled effect to the paper which I loved and once it was thoroughly dry, I'd folded my pages down the centre, stitched them together along the folded spine and then added them to my journal, placing some pages inside the covers I'd already created above.

Place everything inside your journal, attaching it through the elastic cords.

To complete the journal I added a token to hang from the spine of the book.

Thanks so much for popping by today and I wanted to say a huge thank you to Seth for inviting me to be a part of this hop, I was honoured to be asked and also to Eileen and Kate for making this hop so much fun.

Additional Products Used:

Tim Holtz idea-ology: Compass Coin, Arrow Adornment, Quote Chips, Remnant Rubs, Ruler Piece, Muse Token, Travel Design Tape

Ranger Ink Embossing Dabber

Versamark Ink Pad

Tim Holtz Mixed Media HeavyStock Card