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All work exhibited here is my own design, unless otherwise stated, in which case I shall have credited the original author of that work. I am thrilled to be able to share my designs with you but would appreciate that you respect that these are my designs and do not copy and place them anywhere else online or use them for your own personal gain in any way.


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Thursday 5 February 2015

TMC 06 Album/Journal Cover

It’s time for February’s challenge over at The Mirror Crack’d. This month we would love to see your Album/Journal covers. We are sponsored by Woodware Craft Collection with a fabulous £12 voucher to be spent at your favourite Woodware stockist, either online or in store. Please note though you will be responsible for your own postage!

Journal Cover 1a

My cover is for my Journal. The words on it come from my inner desires I guess. Right from a very early age I have had the most vivid dreams of flying. I used to live opposite a park and in my dream it would start off with me playing on the swings. I would swing higher and higher until eventually I would go right over the top of the bar and it would launch me into the air. At first I would be terrified I was about to crash to the ground, but quickly I realised that actually I was levitating there or floating.

When I relaxed and stopped being terrified of falling I started to fly. There was no flapping of my arms or legs, I just glided effortlessly in the sky, swooping and swirling with no effort. It was so vivid I could recall later what the park looked like from the sky, how my house and garden looked from above. What people I knew looked like from above them too. When I used to wake up I would rush to get dressed and go out to the swings to try and repeat what had happened in my dream, as I was convinced that the dream had been real. I was always deeply disappointed when the swing would only go so high and I couldn’t really fly.

Years later, when it became fashionable to buy one of those aerial photographs of your house I realised that what I had been seeing in my dreams all those times was actually very accurate! Who knows, maybe I was having an out of body experience, or maybe I really was flying! As I have gotten older the dreams have lessened in frequency, but nowadays if I have that dream, rather than being disappointed it hasn’t happened for real, it feels like an old friend has come to visit me.

Anyhow, that is why I chose the words and the images for my journal cover because they reflect what is truly inside me, a deep desire to recapture that fabulous feeling of my dreams……

There are no holes in my cover yet because I am a bit of a tidy freak and will want it to line up with all the pages neatly, so once I have enough pages to fill it. I will punch it then! Anyhow, I started off with a 9x12” canvas board, which had been pre-gessoed, and roughly laid out what I fancied.

 Playing

I had a play around with butterflies and where the words should go until I came up with this, which I gessoed over a couple of times to cover up the brown of the lazer cut birdcages and the difference in colour of the letters. When I was happy with that I used a stencil to add texture paste to the butterfly, as you can see from the finished piece I later added a second butterfly, which I also texturised. I added more texture paste to the background just to give a bit of a more textured feel. I realised at this stage I should have added some stencilled areas before sticking my letters and bird cages down, but it was too late at this stage as I couldn’t get the stencils flat enough to paste through, which is why the rough areas of paste instead. A lesson for next time!

01 02

Then I just went to town with Prima Color Bloom Sprays.

When I finally had them roughly how I wanted them, I went over the letters with spray and a paintbrush with a different colour to the background because otherwise the words were lost. I also used gilding wax on the birdcages in Silver and on their hanging supports on one in pink and the other in blue. I did the same with the birds themselves. I buffed up the cages and holders to a shine.

Cage 1 Cage 2

The dragonfly I painted with sprays, and when it was all dry I added some stickles to it’s wings and body, and also to the butterflies.

Dragonfly

The next picture captures the glitter trails I added to the butterflies and the dragonfly.

Journal Cover 2

I also went all around the edge with the silver gilding wax to give it a more lived in look.

And finally from a different angle, showing all the different dimensions.

Angle

I am entering this into:-

2 Creative Chicks – #23 Anything Goes (no cards)
Come and Get It - Texture
Decorate to Celebrate – Anything Goes with 3D
Fantastic Tuesday – #71 Anything Goes with Twist of Purple
Fussy and Fancy – #131 Things With Wings
Hiding in My Craftroom – #185 Freestyle
Imagination Crafts – Feb: Anything Goes
Not Just Cards – #12 Anything Goes
Rhedd’s Creative Spirit – Feb: Mixed Media/Alt Art Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers – #26 Snarkers Choice ‘U is for Unused – The majority of the letters on the piece above have been in my stash since before I grew a beard (the menopause sure is a killer!)’

LIN W

26 comments:

  1. Fabulous!! so many interesting things to see on your cover, Lin. you have worked really well with pastel colors.

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  2. How cool... I keep meaning to start an art journal but the pristine white surfaces are a bit daunting to me. When I get started, I shall remember your tip about getting the stencilling done before putting the extra bits on!!

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  3. I love the textures and yummy colours, Lin!

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  4. What a fabulous journal cover, and a great tutorial of how you created it....thanks for joining us at the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge...best of luck...Jo. X

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  5. Beautiful journal cover with wonderful texture & colours. Thanks for playing along with us at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge. Pat K x

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  6. Hello Lin,
    You have been successful in relating an airy feel to this design and it looks wonderful. I enjoyed reading your little story as well.
    Smiles:)
    Sue

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  7. Beautiful! Love the colors you used!
    Thank you for joining us at Decorate to Celebrate!
    Lilian
    http://theleafstudio.blogspot.com

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  8. Absolutely gorgeous Lin.
    Hugs Julie xxx

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  9. love the project thanks for sharing with FTT Rachel dt

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  10. Cool colours with a sparkly effect, beautiful! Hugs, Kerstin

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  11. Gorgeous! I love the pretty soft colours and all the elements on your journal cover! Thanks so much for joining the sisterhood of snarky stampers for the "Snarker's Choice" challenge to help us celebrate our first blogiversary / birthday!

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  12. Beautiful! Love the colors.
    Thanks for linking up over at 2 Creative Chicks

    Have a creative day.
    Pam
    ♥ Scrap N Sew Granny ♥
    ♥ Pam's Stitched With Love ♥

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  13. how beautiful thank you for joining the challenge at dtc. hugs

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  14. This is absolutely gorgeous! Love all the texture. and the beautiful colors you used! What a great story too! I also had to LOL about your menopause crack! Thanks for joining in the anniversary fun at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

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  15. Lovely...nice dreamy colors! Thanks for sharing this with us at Rhedd's Creative Spirit, this month. Good Luck, Rupa (DT)

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  16. The colours and design of your journal cover are so beautiful! So well done. Your post was such fun to read, as well! So glad you joined the anniversary fun at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

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  17. Fabulous project Lin. Love the colours and all the awesome texture. Thank you for sharing with us at Come and Get It and we hope you will join us again soon. Meighan DT

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  18. Beautiful soft journal color. Thanks for playing along at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

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  19. Beautiful project, love your colors you chose..... great layout!

    Glad that you could join us for the challenge at Come And Get It…..hope to see you back soon!

    ¸..• ´¨¨)) -:¦:-¸.•´ .•´¨¨))*((¸¸.•´ ..•´
    Shell in Alaska ~ CAGI DT ~
    http://akstamping.blogspot.com

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  20. Beautiful mix media piece. Love it. Great design. Thank you for joining us at Not Just Cards this week. Judy DT

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  21. Very cool. I still haven't done a cover for either of my art journals..although I haven't started the second one. Thanks for joining us at SoSS for our Snarker's Choice challenge

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  22. Stunning piece of work Lin - love all the elements, texture and colours

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  23. Hi Lin, loving your journal cover. The images and the colours work so well together.
    Happy crafting, Angela R. x

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  24. What a fabulous Canvas...love the delicate colours....a great entry for our February Challenge over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit...x

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  25. Amazing project, love the colour you have used!!
    Thanks for joining us at Hiding in my Craft Room
    Cheers Jennie DTM
    Jenscrapstoo

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  26. Beautiful and lovely colors!! Thank you for joining us over at Decorate to Celebrate.
    Hugs,
    Norma

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Thank you for leaving a comment. I enjoy reading each and every one and appreciate that you took the time to leave one. If you have a particular question you can always click the 'email me' link in the sidebar. Lin

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