Mixed Media journal

A few months ago I offered to make a handmade journal for a silent auction with proceeds going to St. Jude's. Have you ever made something and have to keep touching it and looking at it. That is how I feel about this little journal. It was just fun to make! I literally spent the entire day on this. We totally ordered pizza for dinner and I am still in my pajamas. I don't even feel guilty because this work of art is raising money for a great cause! That is, if someone at the auction sees the beauty in this little gem like I do.

I am very new to Gelliprinting and not willing to drop $60 for a real gelliplate, so I made my own using a recipe from www.thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com. I am extremely happy with it so far and was able to make a 13" x 13" plate.

I chose 5 colors of paint and did 5 prints of each one. 4 using copy paper and 1 using deli paper. I also did a few sheets with 2-3 colors on them.

 

I kept them pretty simple without a lot of stenciling and such since they will be used to journal on.

Now that is a pile of happiness!

I used one of the deli paper prints and washi tape to cover some chipboard covers. I stole the chipboard off the back of a watercolor paper tablet. Nice and sturdy! Gave all the papers a nice crisp fold.

The finished cover again.

I added Gesso, layers, colors, ribbon, stamping, all kinds of stuff until I was happy with the results. This is really my first true mixed media creation.  LOVE it!!!!

For the binding, I did a coptic book binding technique I found on YouTube.

The inside pages ready for some stories, memories and thoughts.

For some reason my gelliplate has this little wishbone shaped scrape on it. So a lot of my prints end up with this funny little "v" on them. I figure just adds to the character and handcrafted effect.