Karen Bearse Designs: K&S Precision Metal Blog Hop!

Hello Blogland, today I am bringing you an awesome metal embossed journal. Very honored to be included with a great group of designers who are hopping today. The blog hop list, sponsors & a list of supplies will be at the end of my post.

There are few things I love more then embossed metal, journals & ink. Putting these things together was a natural partnership. I also love color so using all the colors that were sent to me was just plain fun. For added effect alcohol inks were used to create even more color. Let's see how this journal was made.

I started my project with a cereal box & the metals that were sent to me. Just love this rainbow of colors. These aluminum sheets are the perfect weight to be die cut or embossed. Using Eileen Hull's Pocket Journal to cut the cereal boxes was a great place to start. The journal pieces were then put together using Redline Tape along the spine.

As I said embossed metal is just so striking, there is really nothing like it. I adhered the sheets to card board, using double sided adhesive. This gives them more strength which helps the embossed images stay put.

I knew I wanted all the colors on the cover & decided to create a patch work look. Cutting the 1st piece following the lines of the embossing folder gave me a starting point. I then drew the outline on a piece of paper to create a template. The template paper made it easy to draw the other shapes to cover my covers.

The paper template pieces were cut out. The paper templates were then adhered to the back of the embossed foil using Pixie Dots. These wonderful adhesive dots allow the paper to stay put while cutting the shapes out, then release easily without damaging the surface you are using.

The 2 book cover surfaces were covered with double sided adhesive. This tape is really strong & great for using when you use it on the covers of albums that will be handled. This will make adhering the foil pieces to the cover easy peasy.

Once my pieces were all cut they were assembled on the covers of my journal. They didn't fit perfectly but that is ok. Some colored paste can be used to cover the gaps.

Next step was to scuff up the metal. This will add dimension & texture to the images & help them pop. I used sand paper for this, you will want to be light handed to protect the embossing. For the silver piece I simply used one of the colors back sides.

When adding the silver piece was to bring in even more color. This portion was colored with alcohol ink. It took the color beautifully. Stream & Pitch Black were used. Simply dab the color on with a felt blending tool.

The plan was to cover the spine so use your favorite way to add elastic for the signatures to go in. I have a video showing how to string these books. Simply adjust depending on the number of holes. You can also just tie each signature in separately. The beauty of using elastic is your signatures can be removed to easily work in them.

You can see here my elastic cords are not even, as I said I wanted a covered spine so the elastics did not need to be tidy. This fabulous piece of fabric was glued to the spine area using Ultra Hold.

My book definitely needed some embellishments. The gears were cut using Sizzix bigz steel rule die. These were card board covered in foil & embossed then cut. For the moth like creature as the die is a thinlet & not as strong, card stock was covered to give it a little more strength but still be able to cut out.

Some assembly required! The foiled embellishments were adhered to the cover. Then more details were added. The gears had some paint added on the high points just to add that patina look.

Finally a chain was added with jump rings to the faucet knob. One end of it has a lobster claw for easy opening. Thanks so much to K&S Precision for including me in this hop. I hope you get a chance to play with these very versatile metals!

Very excited to be working with metal again, it has been ages & this is right up my alley. Was thrilled to receive these colored aluminum foils from K&S Precision Metals who are one of the sponsors of this blog hop.

Another of our sponsors is Bella Crafts Publishing. Bringing lots of inspiration to you with their online magazine. "Bella Crafts is the #1 craft magazine that is always FREE for readers to view online or download. You will enjoy oodles of innovative and inspiring craft projects here. There is also a 20 Minute Craft section, when you think you don't have time to Craft...you will find these projects are oh so quick and easy to do...that you can find the time!"

Our final sponsor is Designer Crafts Connection. "The Designer Crafts Connection is a group of premier Arts & Crafts industry designers who have joined together to share their creativity and design talents, to support and promote crafts in general, introduce readers to new project ideas, innovative manufacturer products, new trends and techniques and ultimately inspire creativity in others." You can find so much inspiration there. I hope you take the time to check out these fine companies!

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