Personalized Journal

A couple of days back my cousin asked me if I've ever made Journals before and if I could make one urgently for her to gift it to her friend. I was meaning to try it out journals for a while now and I jumped at the opportunity to try my hand at it. Plus I was happy that I could count it as my first official order :P (though it was from family :D )

I asked her if she had any theme in her mind and she provided me the image of the word Hope and said the rest was up to me. I started conceptualizing the cover in my head and decided I would make it colorful with some ink smooshing and also add some feathers and Angel wings as I felt it went with the theme of Hope.

So start off I gathered all my materials and decided to go with an A5 sized journal. I took some papers from a sketchbook and decided to use them as the pages for the journal.

With the dimensions of the pages ready I used my Silhouette Curio to draw the image my cousin gave onto watercolor cardstock using the pen holder feature - to use my Sakura Micron Pen.

I had never tried ink smooshing before so I practiced on some scrap piece of paper first and then once I was satisfied I tried it on the main piece. I used Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Broken China and a combination of Mustard Seed and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks as my four colors for the smooshing. I liked how dramatic it looked.

I felt the word Hope was getting lost in all the colors so I went in and colored it with a black Sharpie.

I used my Curio once again to cut out some feathers and angel wings and I positioned them on the panel to see which arrangement looks best. I wanted the wings on top of Hope and the feathers to be dangling from the arrows. I decided to use some silver twine to tie the feathers to the arrow - or at least give that impression. I also added some sequins of corresponding color to make it look like the colors are splashing out. I added a few other embellishments and the cover was ready.

For the back I wanted something colorful to be in line with the front and decided to do a splatter of  the same colors used in the front. I also used a typewriter font stamp to stamp out my cousin's friend's name at the bottom.

After the front and back were ready I went ahead and punched two holes on all the pages and tied them using some dark pink twine. I also swiped my ink pads on each of the sides of the journal so that all the pages have a colored border - again used each of the 4 colors used on the cover. With this my first Journal was ready!

Though it was a relatively simple one to start with I totally enjoyed the whole process of designing it and the execution of the thought process! Looking forward to making more such wonderful journals and projects.

I am also entering the journal in the following two Simon Says Stamp Challenges!

1. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Layer it Up

2. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use more than One Die or Punch

DIY Home Decor - Wine Bottle

Today I'm sharing a couple of home decor items using wine bottles that I had made sometime back. Its fairly simple to make with minimum number of items.

These are a lot of fun to make and you also get the satisfaction of having created something on your own. :)


Bottle 1 - Sequins

Supplies

• Wine bottle (or any glass bottle of your choice)
• Sequins - of your color of choice
• Craft Glue

The one thing you will need the most for this particular design is Patience! :D But I can assure you that it will be a rewarding experience. 

You basically can start at the bottom of the bottle and work your way upwards. Apply some glue to the back of the sequin and then adhere it to the bottle. Continue with the others and try to apply them in a straight line around the bottle to give it a nice look of uniformity. Then you just continue to build it line by line as you move up.

For the bottle I made, I also used some bigger sized sequins for some change in design. You can also do the same with different sizes and colors of sequins to create some nice patterns.

After I was done with the sequins part I painted the cap of the bottle (it came with one) with gold paint and it was done.

  

                                       

Bottle 2 -  Spray Paint

Supplies

• Bottle
• Spray Paint - (I used Rust-oleum's Bright Gold Spray paint)
• Glitter Powder
• Craft Glue

This design is less time consuming but you need to be careful with the technique to get a neat finish.

The first step is to prep the bottle. You need to make sure the stickers if any are gone and have not left a sticky mess. Clean the outside of the bottle thoroughly. For the spray paint to adhere well and to get a uniform look the bottle needs to be absolutely clean from the outside. 

Once the bottle is ready you can start with the spraying. Make sure you are in an airy place like a balcony or terrace - basically not inside your house. Set up the bottle in a comfortable setting and then start spraying. Spray in a uniform motion from one side to the other. Keep turning the bottle to get an even coat all around.

Once you are satisfied with the sprayed look you can either leave it at that or you can add some sparkle to it like I did with some Glitter powder. For this you need to apply some glue on the sprayed bottle (after the paint has dried). After that, sprinkle the glitter powder all over the bottle. The glitter will stick only on the areas where you have applied glue. After you brush off the excess glitter your bottle is ready!

Hope you liked the two techniques I shared to create your own home decor artifacts. Do share your feedback and experience on trying these out!