Chickadee Wrapped Journal Tutorial

Hello friends! I can't believe January is almost over. This month flew by and we have had a busy start of the year, but almost only with good stuff. I have a journal/notebook/sketchbook tutorial to share with you today. 

 

As you know, I love to make my own notebooks and sketchbooks, and I take them along and use them. I am also trying to make fewer to-do lists and notes on printer paper. Outside my window, I often see great tits outside my window, which is why I decided to turn the bird on this journal into a great tit - which is a kind of chickadee, so the Chickadee stamp by Whimsy Stamps that I used worked very well.

Start by die cutting the Wrapped Journal by Eileen Hull, from mat board. It's an XL die, so you need the Extended Cutting Pads, but it fits in an ordinary Big Shot or Vagabond. Die cut it from sticky-back canvas too. You need to die cut two pieces, since the canvas is a little too short. Glue the canvas to the mat board and leave under a heavy book. Coat with gesso. 

Stamp the Chickadee with permanent ink on tissue paper.

I wanted the bird to face towards the opening of the journal, and not towards the spine, which is why the tissue paper was a great solution. Flip the tissue paper over and you get a mirrored image. Apply glossy medium to the book, carefully place the bird on the book, add a second layer of glossy medium on top of the tissue paper. Don't worry if the tissue paper shows a little, we will turn it invisible.

Color the bird with Distress Paints. I used a bird book to get the colors right. You will paint over some of the stamped lines, but don't worry about it.

Paint the cover with Antique Linen. This hides most of the visible tissue paper around the bird.

Dry brush Pumice Stone and Black Soot around the edges, and add some shadows to the bird.

When the paint is dry, add details to the bird with a black pen, and highlights with a white gel pen. 

Stamp the background here and there with Tim's Craze stamp and black ink.

You can bind the Wrapped Journals in different ways. I used an elastic string, going back and forth through the holes created by the die. Tie at the bottom and if you want to, you can add some beads to the strings.

One of the best things with making your own journal is that you can use your favorite paper. Cut into7.7 x 4.7 in (19.5 x 12 cm), fold in half and, and place into four signatures. The weight of your paper determines how many pages you can add to each signature. I stitched down the center, but you can also leave it as is, or use staples.

 

Slip the signatures under the elastic strings. You can also easily add new signatures when the old ones are full.

Here's a close up of the bird.

I aimed for a simple cover, so that the focus would be on the bird. The crackle stamp added just the right amount of texture.

I have quite a lot of beads, from my earlier jewelry-making days, and I really should add them to projects more often.

Isn't this a wonderful sentiment? It's from Tim's Quote Tokens. Rub white paint into the words to make them stand out.

I left the back plain, but you could decorate it too, if you'd like to.

Here's a look at the spine, so that you can see what it looks like with the elastic string.

Here's a look at the journal from the top.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it inspired you to make a journal, or to do the techniques on a different surface. You don't need to use a bird stamp since the techniques work with many different types of stamps.

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

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

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