Seahorse Wrap Journal Tutorial

Hello Eileen Hull Book Club fans! Today I have a tutorial using the newest Wrap Journal die. This die is definitely a must have. The best part of this tutorial is you can use many different products to add the color which makes it suited to the products you have at home.

Here is the wrap journal book I made, it is one of my favorites. I love anything to do with the sea, I love seahorses & these are my favorite colors!!!! Win, win. It is also very easy to take these techniques & simply use different colors & theme to get a totally different look. 

Here we go!! First off cut out 1 wrap journal using mat board. This die is amazing because the entire journal fits on one steel die (photo below). Cover the book with a coat of light modeling paste. You will want it to be a fairly thin coat, thick enough to stamp in but thin enough that the images are crisp. If the coat is too thick when you pull the stamp out the images will blur. The best part is as you are stamping if you don't like the image just scrap the paste out with a palette knife & re-stamp. Set aside to dry. 

While that is drying you can make the seahorse- sadly I do not have step outs. I cut the horse & covered it with gesso to start with a white surface. Next color with acrylic paint, or Eileen's Color Blend inks. Once that is dry cover with a clear Crackle, I used DecoArt One Step Crackle. Set aside to dry which can take a few hours. Then wrap wire around the seahorse adding a charm. 

Once the cover is dry it is time for paint. I used an acrylic glaze with one of my favorite paints- Golden brand micaceous iron oxide mixed with their acrylic glaze at a 50/50 ratio. This is a technique I learned from Donna Downey years ago to make a glaze that has an open dry time, & is slightly more translucent. Paint this mix over the stamped areas & let dry about a minute. Use a baby wipe to carefully pull some of the color off so it remains in the recessed areas. Let that dry. Now you can add color using either the same technique with an acrylic paint or with a water based spray like glimmer mist or Color Blends. Just add your color & wipe back until you get the desired effect. 

Next let's add some stamping. I used distress ink as I want this layer to be subtle. Do random stamping over the 2 spines. You can also stamp on the covers if you want, I liked my covers so i only did the spines. If you want your images to be crisp then be sure to use archival ink. 

Here is what the entire book looks like at this point. You can see that the journal cuts in one long piece.  You can see how there are holes on only one of the spine pieces. This is where you string you book, the other side is where the book folds over to create the wrap around flap. I did not use the Iron Oxide on the spines so the color is different.

I love adding embossing powder to my projects especially the spines of my books. I also find it helps give the spines some strength and helps the mat board hold up to use. On the right hand spine I used clear emboss, on the left I used Emerald creek Fractured Ice.

This product looks different on whatever surface you put it on- it has clear properties but an iced look with some black in it. Here is a pic of the finished spine but you can see the black and clear of the Fractured Ice emboss. 

Time for assembly! I found this very cool whale tail charm at Hobby Lobby & it was perfect as a closure. I adhered it with a brad, wrapped a hair elastic around it & glued the tail to my book. I added a fabric covered brad from my stash to the hole in the middle of the spine & the elastic wraps around that to hold the book closed. 

One of the challenges of this book is it is slightly longer then 12" so you have to be clever when using scrapbook paper.  I used paper which is an old K&Co. paper pad. In this case I just cut a piece using the wrap journal die & adhered it to go from the back side through to the front side, about 1/2" past the holes on the spine.  

Using a different paper I cut a piece 3 1/2" wide by 5 1/2" tall then adhered it. I like to use Supertape around the edges, inside the spine & a strong glue stick everywhere else. Make sure the entire paper is covered with glue & use a bone folder to press it into the mat board, or you will get parts of it that pull away. 

For the spine I used clear bracelet making elastic & simply stung it with beads on the outside, knotting to keep the beads in place. Each set of holes got 1 strand of elastic that was tied leaving a knot on the inside of each signature. I added some glue to the knot to help hold it. You have room for 4 signatures with this method.

For the signatures I used a mix of canvas, kraft & white textured card stock & each signature I started with a tag. The paper is cut 7 1/2" long & 5" tall. That gives about 1/8" of an inch to spare when placed in the book. The cool thing about this system is I can slide my signatures out to work on them. If I change my mind & want to make more of a scrap book I can simply replace the signature with scrapbook paper. Thanks for joining me today!! I hope you hope over to Eileen's blog to see the amazing designs my team mates have come up with! Have an inky day. 

I am entering this book in the Mini Album Maker's Challenge. You can win $25 in Stencil Girl stencils this month.