Tutorial for Full Size Wonderful Life Journal

 Hello Blogland, today is my tutorial for the Full Size Wonderful Life Journal. This Chapter 4 Sizzix release of Eileen Hull's has some awesome new diecuts. This journal is officially my favorite size. I hope you go and check out the Inspiration Teams recent blog post featuring the new die cuts. So much great inspiration. You can go here to get all the links.  

 I made a partial canvas book. The size is great, 6 1/4 x 8 3/4", nummy!! I have many ideas of what to use this book for. I think a hybrid journal, scrapbook, with some art journal elements. You know basically all the things. 

This book started with canvas on the outside. You can see the cuts in this photo. There are 3 holes for elastic, the middle holes line up so you have spots for 5 signatures. It is very easy to add signatures by running more elastic. The spine is 2" when used this way. If you want a smaller spine just cut some of it off. If you want bigger, cut and add another section. 

This is one of my favorite techniques if you follow me you know! Adding some decoupaged decorative napkins to the canvas. All the supplies are below with links where possible. 

Poppies on the front cover & sunflowers on the back. Decorative napkins have such wonderful imagery so the sky is the limit!

 

The canvas was a little plain for me so I added some Seth Apter Ice in Whiskey Frost. The great thing about this gel product is it adds a transparent layer so it is great for tinting. Also has a similar feeling to the decoupaged area which adds some consistency. 

Once that was dry it was time for some stencil work. This month Eileen's team is doing a cross promotion with The Crafter's Workshop or TCW. Using a bit of acrylic paint on a sponge some details were added to add interest. This is the very brilliant for junk journal stencil, called Medieval Music.

Time to work on the inside. It is always a good idea to reinforce the spine when making fabric journals. This helps prevent your book from bending when booklets or signatures are added. A spine piece was cut out of cereal box and had to be adjusted. The decoupage makes the canvas shrink a bit so this piece had to be cut to fit. Using Ultra Bond is a nice strong glue to attach the piece to the inside of my book. 

Let's look at the next few steps. On the left side is the cardboard spine piece. After adhering it nice & strong I realized it was a bit flexible, not what was wanted. So the right side a cut piece of mat board was used. That stuff is nice and firm. Once that was done the pieces were painted with Fossilized Amber. To make  the covers a little more sturdy 49th & Market scrapbook paper was added. Their card stock is a particular heavy weigh, perfect for book making. The bonus is the designs are also so pretty. I used a lot of items from the In the Leaves Collection. 

The spine on the inside cover (once dry) was stamped using TCW stamp set Sweet Sentiments. I used Archival Ink in a few different colors. This ink stamps really well on acrylic paint. You don't really see the images once the paper is in, unless you used notebooks. However it does peek through when flipping through the book, so it is a nice touch. 

Back to the cover, it was time to add a quote. A digital quote box was printed on paper. The awesome stamp from Eileen's latest Maker Forte set was stamped in Memento Ink. Once that was dry a layer of Eileen's clear embossing powder was used to create that cool epoxy look. A few brads were added, cause who doesn't love a good brad? Layers of ephemera were glued down, the quote on top. The ticket is also from one of Eileen's stamp sets.  

The spine was attached using Redline Tape & the center holes where the book attaches were reinforced with eyelets. The front & back cover were sewed around with my machine, changing stitches for fun. Elastic was run through creating the ability to slide in paper or booklets as wanted. 

I like making these removable ribbon, charm dangles. Really need to come up with a name for them. The ribbons were folded through a large jump ring and a thread wrapped around to hold the ribbon in place. A rusty clip was used and the jump ring glued to one side so it stays put even when the clip is removed. 

To finish off the cover a metal handle was glued on. A bee charm was added on a fabric ribbon piece. 

As I said we are doing a collaboration with TCW. I will have more journal items on my Facebook & Instagram in the next few weeks so be sure to follow me over there (links on the right of my blog). Here is an element I made using the Leaf Study stencil on top of a Distress Inked tag. Stencil Butter was scraped through with a palette knife. Look at how great that butter works through a stencil! A bit of background stamping & a quote were added with the stamp set. A photo was popped on & this will fit nicely in my journal once more pockets are added.

Now to work on the inside cover. Using Eileen's Tag die cuts a few tags were cut out of that paper pack. 

Here is how the inside cover looks. The tags were distress with Vintage Photo then topped with a ribbon or ticket. The 2nd tag is a digital. The quote "Seek the Good" is from Eileen's Snail Mail Inspiration stamp set. It was popped on top of a canvas piece, die cut from the extra's on the Full Size Journal die. 

Ok last element because this post is soooooo long. The front of the 1st booklet is again made from the paper pack. A pocket was made using Eileen's new Heart Mandala die cut. Then backed with paper & trimmed out. The library pocket & word "Junk Journal, is stamped from the Buttons..card set. The other pieces are from the paper kit or digital images. 

WOW that is the challenge with the book blog posts, so much info!!! Here is what the book looks like with the inside cover & the 1st booklet. I am already working on some more elements in this book because it is so dang fun! When I get more done I will do a video flip through. Thanks for joining me today!! I hope you have the chance to work on a book too!

Supplies;

• Eileen Hull Full Size Journal die cut by Sizzix, Waterfall Card & Tags, Heart Mandala,
  
• "           " Wonderful World of Flowers stamps (quote) by Makers Forte
• "          "    Buttons, Cards & More (ticket & library card) 
• The Crafters Workshop Stencil Butter in Terre Verte
• "                           "    Stencils Tulip Hexagons, Medieval Music, Leaf Study
• Dina Wakley Acrylic Paint  by Ranger Ink in Night
• Archival Ink by Ranger in English Ivy, Black Soot & Sepia. 
• Therm*O*Web Ultra Bond Glue, Redline Tape
• Rusty Clip by Prima Marketing
• metal handle (mine is from stash) by G45
  
• Paper by 49th & Market