Life Outside the Fishbowl

Genealogy Minibook with Eileen Hull's Journal Die

I've started a new minibook using Eileen Hull's Sizzix Journal XL die.  For this project I started with Sizzix's black mat board. You can see a step-out of the basis for the cover on the ScraPerfect blog here. 

It first looked like this:

Which I liked. I liked how the leafing turned out, as well as the contrast of the blue title.  But the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to add something.  I toyed with adding more text underneath the title.  I had a brand-new package of Tim Holtz's Idea-ology Paper Dolls and I thought adding a few around the title would be fun. What I really wanted was to have a few pictures layered beneath the title, which I couldn't do since it was really glued to the tag. 

Next thing you know I was using an exacto knife to pry up the word, ripping the kraft tag. Which was fine, except I broke the word ...  but there were several more to choose from in the Heidi Swapp package. 

So I started again, this time laying down an old Maya Road transparency piece as the base.  I grabbed my bottle of the Best Glue Ever and started layering:  transparency, kraft tag, Paper Dolls, a Cosmo Cricket phrase (tell your story) that ended up getting mostly covered up, another Heidi Swapp wooden word, Tim Holtz memo pin, and a Maya Road star pin (love these!!).  The stick pins go right into the wood and are set pretty snug.

For the time being I've loosely attached the covers with elastic, doubling it up so I have six elastic strands on the inside.  Right now I'm working on the inside of the book and I want to leave myself enough room to (1) add and move pages around and (2) bind the book permanently when I'm done.  The elastic will allow me to hold everything in place as I create this book  - and when I'm done the signatures will be ready to bind. And, if this book ends up like many of my minibooks -- very thick -- I can easily make the spine wider before binding.

Save

Travel Sketchbook with Eileen Hull's Journal Die

I had so much fun using Eileen Hull's new Journal XL die that when she offered me a few more blank journal covers I jumped at the chance. I decided to make a travel sketchbook with one of the sets.  Check out Eileen's blog for inspiration and how-to's on putting the journal together.

If you've got the die in your hot little hands (always the best choice), the best way to make your journal is to adhere your paper to the mat board prior to running it through your die cutting machine. This ensures that the paper and mat board are scored together on the fold lines for the cover.  Otherwise you run the risk of the paper cracking and ripping where you don't want it to when you fold the edges of the spine.  

I didn't have that option with this journal, as I was given a set of mat board covers.  My first choice in this situation would be to die cut the paper prior to adhering to the mat board. If you don't have the die, first mark the paper where the score lines are and then after adhering, gently cut through the paper using a craft knife.

For the cover of this journal I collaged a variety of old book paper, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and paper scraps on the front and then applied Dylusions paint with a Tim Holtz stencil. A few pieces of ephemera, more Tim Holtz (metal) and washi tape.  The back has fine art paper from Paper Source and I applied washi tape over the spine.

Handy hint:  if you're using washi tape on a project, add a bit of glue to the tape to keep it sticking. I've found this an absolute necessity if it's not a layout that's kept untouched in a page protector.  On a journal you're just asking for trouble -- it was always start to peel up. My favorite glue for this is ScraPerfect's Best Glue Ever. Seriously.

On the interior of my journal you'll notice that I did something a bit different.  My sketchbook holds a small travel watercolor palette, plastic pouch, waterbrush and a bit of 90 lb. paper. I used a Tim Holtz elastic.  You need a bit of patience to get the metal end through the hole, but it works like a charm! 

The plastic Artbin container was on sale at my local art store.  Many people like to turn Altoids tins into watercolor palettes, and this is about the same size (maybe a bit thicker).  It did have the benefit of being (1) on sale and (2) already divided so I didn't need to purchase half pans (i.e., cheaper). I used a large circle of industrial velcro to hold the palette in the book.  This allows me to remove and reattach the palette at will, and makes it easier to use on the go.

I found the pouch at Michaels in their planner section.  When I ran elastic through the spine, I wove it in and out of the prepunched holes in the pouch.  It's actually slack enough to hold another brush or pen if I weave it in the elastic.  I'm using it to hold some of my Peerless watercolor sheets.

On the inside back cover I attached a vellum pouch that holds a small plastic palette.  The palette can slip out easily and the vellum pocket flattens out without interfering with my watercolor or sketching.  I punched a hole with my crop-a-dile and added a piece of wider elastic to make a brush holder. The elastic is from Dritz, 1/2" Tie-Dye -- picked it up at Joann's.

And here's a view from the side with everything all closed up:

December Daily Journal - or Eileen Hull Rocks -- Part Two

This year's December Daily / Journal Your Christmas book was made using Eileen Hull's new Traveler Journal die from Sizzix.  You can see how I put the cover together on this post. For the interior pages I made four signatures from a compilation of plastic page protectors, scrapbook paper, paper bags, envelopes, and specialty paper from the Paper Source.  I decided to pick up two of Ali Edwards' december daily kits this year and about four sets of clear stamps from Kerri Bradford -- because you can never have enough Christmas stuff.  The page protectors I used were mostly 6x8 sized, which I folded and/or cut down to fit. 

With my signatures I decided to use the elastics and just slide them underneath.  They are not permanently attached to the book - which turned out to work in my favor as I could remove pages to add stamping.  So much easier! I used two to three page per signature.  I'm going to show you a few of the variations I used.  You can find the entire album here: 2016 December Daily album.

Here I added an envelope, adhering the flap to the paper bag on the left. The fold for the envelope becomes the middle of this "page," and I was able to add a card with journaling inside the envelope.

This page is the remainder of the pocket page above. It's a 3 pocket x 3 pocket page (possibly Snap!), and I folded it so that two pockets would fit to the left of the fold.  I attached paper to the part of the protector you using clip into your album. 

In this signature I slipped in a gift bag and a piece of heavy cardstock  from one of the kits.  Instead of adding another piece to the paper to make a larger page, I decided to leave it as is and use it more like a tab.

And a few more pocket protector / paper combinations. Thank you for looking!

 

Save

December Daily Journal - or Eileen Hull Rocks!

I've been doing a December Daily / Journal Your Christmas journal since 2008.  I usually blog about my pages and progress as December goes along, but this year I had to keep this baby all to myself.  Which was really hard.  This journal started out back in November with Eileen Hull's new Journal Scoreboard XL Die die by Sizzix.  And it's on it's way home from CHA -- or Creativation as it is now called -- where it was on display in Eileen's booth just outside of Scotty. 

This die lets you make your own Midori-style journals, planners, and minibooks.  For my cover, I used Sizzix Mat Board covered with red felt.  Before adhering the felt I ran it through a Big Shot using Eileen's Sunbust Textured Impressions embossing folder.  I decided to add a bit of decorative stitching to the spine and modified a Japanese stab binding pattern.  You'll see in the picture below that the stitching goes across the spine on each side.  The tag and acrylic word were both from Ali Edward's December daily kits.

Since I was stitching using bookbinding thread, I decided to reinforce the backside of the mat board with book tape prior to stitching and cover the rest with pattern paper. I used two separate elastic bands with this journal, which gave me four bands to hold signatures. All my signatures are just slid between the elastics.  For the signatures I used patterned paper, page protectors, envelopes, paper bags, and specialty paper. I'll post more of the individual pages tomorrow.

Want to see how this works? Here's a great Facebook live demo using the Journal die that was made at Creativation:

I've been told the Journal die will be shipping around March...  which can't get here soon enough!

 

Journal Your Christmas / December Daily 2013

Christmas Day. This entry ended up being three pages, and I could have easily done several more just with photos, but I think I'll save that for the scrapbook binder.

When I put this book together I added several SNAP pockets into the book, just perfect for slipping in photos. The photos on this side both started out as 4x6's, but I trimmed them down so I could add paper to each side. I didn't need extra shots of the tree, and to be honest the chair Rachel's sitting on was clashing....

On the flip side, more photos and a vellum overlay. I love using the vellum as it lets the photo show through yet hides distracting areas (namely our very old kitchen).

And one more pages, with journaling, remnants from one of the Christmas crackers, and a tag from Santa. For all three pages I used my Silhouette to cut numbers & phrases. I've also used items from Heidi Swapp's Believe collection and Echo Park paper.

Journal Your Christmas / December Daily 2013

Hope you had a nice Christmas. Around here it's been a whirlwind of baking, last-minute errands and frantic wrapping. We invited some friends over Christmas evening to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special (more baking involved) and then just tried to recooperate on the 26th.

During the past few days I've been working on my pages here and there. I've got a couple more complete ones to share. Then we're off to try our hand at ice skating.

Day 13 -  a look at our outside lights a bit of info on the weather.

And Christmas Eve - a double page with Echo Park paper and a snapshot of the kids when we got back from church. This was when they were smiling and not about to kill my husband for telling them he was going to keep a roaring fire going all night long.....

And another photo right before I went to bed of the tree, with an article of Christmas weather in our area.

Journal Your Christmas / December Daily 2013

The Christmas cards are done, the presents are (mostly) wrapped, and I finally had a few minutes to work on my December Daily / Journal Your Christmas project.

Day 11  - something new for us this year- Christmas crackers. I've got two types: magic tricks and toys. Let's see how everyone likes these.  I'm looking forward to making everyone put on the paper hats.

On this page is paper from Hambly Screen Prints and Glitz; a transparency from Webster's Pages; an a Two Peas paperclip.

Skipping ahead to day 15 ...

This year we decided to make salt dough ornaments. With our Doctor Who cookie cutters. This was fun. We've finally finished painting all the ornaments, giving them a coat of glitter paint (except the weeping angels). Now all I have to do is hot glue some ribbon on them so they can be hung on the tree.

Supplies for this page include another piece of the Webster's Pages transparency and paper, a digital stamp from Ali Edwards and number cut with my Silhouette (which I ripped off my advent calendar).

And day 19 - a photo from Rachel's class party during their snowman game.  Rachel got to be the "snowman" and was dressed with toilet paper, black circles, a streamer scarf and a plastic cup hat.

On this page I used more Hambly Screen Prints paper, Echo Park paper, Webster's Pages pape and Studio Calico wooden stars. The digital stamp on the photo is Ali Edwards.

 

Journal Your Christmas / December Daily 2013

Letters to Santa, Christmas wish lists, and a place to put them.

I sewed around an Allison Kreft Webster's Pages paper and transparency to make a pocket for this page, then decorated it with a journaling tag, Heidi Swapp rub-on and die cut,  and tree cut with my Silhouette.

Once I can get the kids to finish their lists and actually write a letter to Santa I'll put a copy in the pocket.

Journal Your Christmas / December Daily 2013

Just a quick post to catch up on a couple of stragglers.  For December 4th, I wrote about the advent calendar I made for the kids.  I used printed glassine bags and hung them from a branch over a window.

The only drawback to this project is that I only put two pieces of chocolate in each bag, not enough to share with me!

December 7th - I made cookies for a cookie swap party. I found a recipe on Pinterest - shortbread fingerprints with dulce de leche and sea salt.  Two thumbs up from everyone. Mmm four sticks of butter - can't go wrong with that! With a mixer, these cookies were easy and quick to make.

Here's the recipe.  It splits the topping between a can of dulce de leche and nutella.  I found that you  use one can of the dulce de leche for an entire batch. I made a second batch with the nutella topping.

Journal Your Christmas / December Daily 2013

Snow days and white Christmases.  About a week ago we got our first snow (or snowish) weather for the season. Followed by two snow days, more snow and  a 2 hour delay.

Dec 8 - The snow started in the morning before we left for church.

 

And, after church we went to Tyson's Corner to get lunch and look for snowboots for the kids. Then we went to see Santa. Thomas was a bit surprised that Santa was indeed keeping tabs on them as he asked them to really make an effort to pick up all the little pieces of toys all over the floor (ahem, Legos).

And Monday was their first official snow day. Actually in a while, since we had a mild winter last year. All the trees were white and glistening with ice.  Yup, that's not snow in the picture. It's ice.

So, since everyone was home we decided it was the perfect time to pick out our Christmas tree. We helped shake quite a bit of ice off the trees for them.   It was fun to have Tom shake out the tree and watch the ice go flying.

We picked out our tree then set it up in the garage overnight for the ice to thaw out.