Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial

Hello friends! It is a new month and a favorite month for me. During April, the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team has been sharing Notebook projects. Don't miss all the inspiration. A couple of weeks ago one of our neighbours showed us two spots in the vicinity where you could find two kinds of rare spring flowers: blue anemones, and pasque flowers. It was a really nice outing and it inspired the spring-themed notebook that I made today.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. With Eileen Hull Sizzix Notebook die.

I was so happy to finally get to craft with Eileen's new Notebook die. Most of you already know that I love to make minibooks and notebooks, and this die has a great size and is a wonderful complement to, for example, the Wrapped Journal and the Journal dies. The finished size is 4 x 5 in.

One of the places we visited on our outing was an ancient grave, a barrow, which you can also see on the front of my notebook. I used watercolor paint together with Tim Holtz Distress Resist spray, to create the look of a white anemone field.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Start by die cutting the notebook from mat board and from watercolor canvas. Or you can use watercolor paper.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Glue the canvas or paper to the mat board and leave to dry under a heavy book.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Mist Distress Resist Spray on the background, focusing mainly on the meadow areas.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Molotow Art Masking pen.

To mask out the birch trees, I used a Molotow Art Masking pen, which is very easy to use.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Paint a watercolor meadow.

Paint the scene with watercolors. Don't worry about perfection here, paint loosely. 

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Rub off the masking fluid.

When the paint is dry, carefully rub off the masking liquid.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Add details to the trunks, and add more shadows, to create depth.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

To create the look of the blue and purple flowers, I splattered some acrylic paint on the background, holding a piece of scrap paper over the trees.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Bind the notebook.

You can bind this journal in many different ways. I decided to punch some holes. Two at the bottom, two at the top and one in the center of the spine.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Make inserts.

Cut papers 6.6 x 4.7 in (12 x 17 cm), fold and score. The amount of papers per signature depends on the thickness of the paper you use. The best thing with making your own notebooks is that you can use your favorite paper for the inserts. Stitch down the center, use staples, or leave them lose. 

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Bind the notebook.

Thread a piece of elastic as shown here. 

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Tie the ends through a button at the spine.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. With Eileen Hull Sizzix Notebook die.

Tie the ends, to create a closure mechanism.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Watercolor birch trees.

I frayed the edges of the canvas slightly. Add some birds to the sky to create life.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson. Field of white anemones.

Here's a close up of the birch trees and the shadows.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

I kept the cover simpel and just added a Small Talk sticker.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

The Distress Resist Spray gives a really cool, somewhat random effect. For more Distress Resist Spray inspiration check out my tag post from this Monday, showing two different backgrounds using the spray together with a stencil.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Folded out, the scene looks like this.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

Tuck the signatures under the elastic. You can also add new signatures later on.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

The back of the notebook.

Layers of ink - Watercolor Meadow Notebook Tutorial by Anna-Karin Evaldsson.

The notebook is ready to be filled with sketches, notes and memories. This would make a great gift, and you can also use patterned papers instead, and fill the notebook with photos.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

* Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.






Other supplies:

Fredrix Watercolor Canvas
Daler & Rowney Watercolor paint

6 comments:

  1. Oh that is just beautiful Anna-Karin! And your tutorial almost makes me believe I could do something like this myself :-) Thank you!

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  2. Stunning and a great tutorial

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  3. This is so good!!!!! I love it x

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  4. Perfect. I couldn't love this more.

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  5. THIS just blew me away it is so GORGEOUS!

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  6. Awesome colouring, your painted landscape on the notebook is just stunning!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!