Making journals

I just love a ready made journal ... the instant accessibility is a winner. And I should know because I have got lots and lot of journals (none of them are finished of course!)

But I don't think there is anything more satisfying than making your own journal from scratch.

I recently went to a proper bookbinding course (!) I learned a lot, but the finished book was a bit too neat for me so I couldn't wait to do my own freestyle version.

I finally got the time to play with my new Decoart Media goodies yay! The combination of fluid acrylics with the white tinting base is right up my street. If you have seen any of my DVDs or watched any of my on-line classes, you will know I nearly always begin painting with white and add colour to it allowing me to build up depth of colour, so this combination is great for me :-)

I started by making a colour swatch. You knew I would do that didn't you?!

And then I made a concertina style journal using cartridge paper. Some of the pages are already complete but I still have a lot to add to the others:

This is how the pages began. Yikes, it looks really messy!

 The cover was constructed with grey board covered with Ranger Sticky back canvas. and coated with Paynes Grey. I then gave it a good coat of Decoart Matte Varnish, before stamping and embossing in clear:

I have started to add the pages to the inside but I am keeping it 'free' at the back of the journal to allow me to pull the pages out fully to work on but you can see here how it is starting to look like a book.