Happy Holidays. . . . . . . . .

Good morning all. Two posts in as many day - amazing for me! It's time for a new challenge at Stamps & Stencils and our host this month is the wonderfully creative Toni. Here's what she has to say:

'It's that time of year where you may be thinking about dusting off your passport and digging out your swimsuit! Yes it's holiday time! Whether you're a lover of the seaside or someone who enjoys a city break, we would love to see your holiday inspired projects. This could be journalling, altered art, or even a good old card. Just remember that we are a mixed media challenge blog and your project should reflect that and as the name of our blog  suggests, don't forget to include some stamping and stencilling.' 

I decided to make a little travel journal which could be used to record details of visits, photos, sketches and whatever else might take your fancy. I recently bought the Eileen Hull Passport die and was eager to use it. Here's what I made:

A journal which ties at the side to keep everything safe inside.

The journal has a solid cover with a good deep spine. There are holes for three signatures and these could be quite generous if you wished.

To start, three colours of DecoArt Fluid Acrylic are roughly brayered onto a piece of card. No need to be particular and white bits don't matter!

I used these three colours - sand, sea and sun for the perfect holiday!

Two cover pieces are cut with the die and folder embossed with some travel/holiday type words.

After folder embossing, the front cover is coated with Versamark followed by clear embossing powder. This was done twice to achieve good coverage.

The front cover raised sections are brayered with DecoArt Chalky Paint to give more definition. Again, I did this twice for good coverage.

The back cover is treated slightly differently. The chalky paint is brayered onto the embossing folder and the card is embossed. The black paint appears around the letters which is quite a good outcome. The whole of the cover is then powder embossed as before.

The inner covers are painted with Hansa Yellow Medium as used on the outside.

Inside pages for signatures are cut using the die. The inside of the spine has the same stamped design as the inside covers. The little pockets are visible here too. The grosgrain ribbon is to keep the journal closed.

The pages are cut in similar colours to some of the paint used on the outside. They are ordered together then tied into signatures through die cut holes on the pages and the spine. It would be easy to add more pages if necessary.

On this journal I've left the strings outside. It would be possible to cover them or make more of a feature with ribbon, cord, lace etc. The spine is also powder embossed for extra durability. The edges are finished with black acrylic and a piece of cut n dry.

Detail shot.

Detail shot. Love how the colours glow next to the black.

The white areas on the background give a rather good graded effect and again, the colours pop next to the black.

Love the bright colours and the wipe clean covers!

Please remember to pop over to Stamps & Stencils to see what my fabulous teamies have been making to inspire you.

So, it's your turn now and I can't wait to see you what you make for our holiday theme this month.