Journal your summer

Hi all.  Gudrun here.

I’m getting ready for summer-vacation right now, and am busy packing all the stuff I need for a couple of weeks at the south coast of Norway.

This year I thought it would be a great idea to journal a bit to help my self remember all the good memories from this summer – so I created a little summer journal to bring along.

This is a fun and easy to make journal, and I had a blast making the stamped cover.  I made my cover with flower-stamps, heat-embossing and glimmermist for a really summery feel.

1. For this project you’ll need:

“Abundant blossoms” and “Funky Flowers” stamp sets, acrylic block

white cardstock 8,5×11 inch or A4, turquoise cardstock 8,5×11 inch or A4, note-paper 8,5×11inch or A4

Clear or pearl embossing-powderm, Embossing stamp pad

heat gun, glimmer mist, hole-punch, jewelry tread or embroidery floss, glass-beads for embellishment, sewing machine.

2. Start stamping flowers with embossing ink on to your white cardstock

3. Cover the stamped areas with embossing-powder. Remove all exceed powder from the cardstock before heating.

4. Heat the stamped areas until embossing-powder melts to a glossy finish.

5. When all areas of the cardstock is covered with stamped and embossed flowers (it might be a good idea to stamp and emboss the cardstock little by little ) spray the cardstock with glimmer mist. I used two shades of turquoise and blue. Let dry.

6. Using a paper towel dry away all exceed color from the embossed areas. The flowers will now show clearly against the blue background.

7. Fold the turquoise cardstock in half, cut the stamped and “inked” cardstock in half and make it fit to the front and back of your turquoise book cover. Attach the homemade patterned paper to the turquoise cardstock using your sewing machine.

I glued a nice patterned paper on the inside of the cover too.

8. Fold the note-papers in half and add them to the inside of your book-cover. Make holes for the binding using a hole-punch or a crop-a-dile.

9. Using double tread, bind your book and tie a knot on the outside of the book. Leaving the loose ends and add beads as embellishments.

VOILA the summer-journal is ready to use.

Hope You feel inspired.

Happy summer – and happy creating!