Friday, May 11, 2012

Altered Journals - Teacher Gifts

As you know it's Teacher Appreciation Week so I've been sending in little bits of goodness to my son's teachers everyday this week.  Thursday was "Stock the teacher's room with school supplies" so you could send in any kind of supply.  So I decided to send in altered journals but I did things a little different than I normally do:

 Instead of covering the journals with scrapbook papers, I thought I'd treat them like canvases and paint them.  So I started by priming up the journals with Gesso.  By doing this, I ran into a little problem.  The paint started to get into the pages of the journal so I added some scrapbook paper but this didn't work either because my paper was to small.  I ended up using 12x12 sheets and in retrospect, I should have used some parchment paper instead because the paint ended up sticking to the scrapbook paper and tore a bit when I pulled it off.  Oh well, lesson learned, right......

Next came a coat of my favorite shade of blue! :D

Now that the base color was down, it was time to start adding texture.  I decided it needed some transferred print so I tore a page from a book, slapped on some Gel Medium and placed it on the journal.  The key to making this work is giving it a good rub down with a bone folder. 

Time to pull it back and see what we have........
Yay it worked!! 
You see how some of the paper is on the journal, you can spritz it with some water and gently rub that off.   Okay, so at this point thing started popin so I forgot to take more pics along the way.
 
I used some Stazon to stamp on some sheet music.  Then I used a polka dot stencil with a sample of the new Liquitex spray paint that I got in the mail.

There was a lot of paint on the stencil from the first journal so I flipped it around and used it as a stamp on this one.
Ta Da!  Here are the finished journals.  I stamped the sentiment onto some white cardstock and outlined it with India Ink then added a strip of black tape.  To finish it off, I wrote little notes for them.  I wanted to add some flowers but I don't think adding a lot of dimensional items is practical for a daily journal.  I've made some like that for myself and they always seem to fall off. 
If you add dimensional items to your journals and don't have a problem with them falling off, please let me know your secret :D

TGIF!!! 

Have a Wonderful Mother's Day Weekend!!!!!

19 comments:

  1. These books are gorgeous! I love how they look :o) Have a Happy Mother's Day Norma! :o) Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I agree- they're beautiful!~

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great job!!! I love that you flipped your stencil to use on the other book! I haven't had much luck with large dimensional items, but for the small ones, I use hot glue (only where you can't see it) and Glossy Accents. I try to encase at least two pieces of the edge with the glue. This works for bottle caps, buttons, silk flower heads, vines, and several other "small" dimensional items. I always add a little bow, paper flower, feather, or something else "flat" over the encased areas to kind of hide the extra glue.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These journals are AMAZING! What an awesome job! I've got several waiting on me to alter and I, too, usually just cover with PP and embellish. I'm going to run out and get some gesso and have fun getting messy! Thanks for the wonderful idea!

    ReplyDelete
  5. these are sooo awesome!! the teachers are going to LOVE them!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Norma!!! You always amaze me with your awesome projects!!! Love your journals! I'll take 2 please!! lol ;)

    ♥HL

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is a great project...I like that stamp too. (Laura www.whosthischick.com)

    ReplyDelete
  8. WOW! These are simply stunning, I bet they LOVED them! Every time I read your blog I get the urge to go buy some paint. I hope you have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is FABULOUS! I LOVE the texture you are getting from the book print transfer- it's one of those things I've been "meaning to do" for a while but I'm afraid to tackle because I'm afraid of "messing up". I LOVE the red and turquoise together! Thank you so much for swinging by my blog today! I think I'm going to try this transfer technique tonight- first time for everything!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love this! Great for adding texture without the bulk...thanks for the inspiration :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh my gosh....FABULOUS!! I absolutely love the look of these!! They are gorgeous!! :)

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful journals! I love how you added "layers" with the paint and the stamping!! Love that quote too...you REALLY make me want to try one of these!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Did your children use your collection for Send gifts to teacher?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kinda of, I made theses especially for his teachers.

      Delete
  15. What Gel Medium did you use? Also do you know if you can do this straight onto a scrapbook page?

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...