Sunday, November 18, 2012

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The next part was finding a book that would work. I love reusing old book covers and have no qualms about using my rotary cutter to cut a book up, so that's exactly what I did. I found an old Social Security Time Book from the 1940s and sliced the spine of the book close to the middle, leaving a little overlap on both sides. I then glued the overlap to the inside of the book so that the edge looked finished.
Next I put some old Heidi Swapp mask letters along with some old vinyl number stickers on the front cover. I used a teal blue glaze and painted over both the front and back covers, going in a diagonal direction. The glaze was perfect to add a bit of color but also let the vintage book cover lettering show through. I let that dry, did another coat, and then once that was dry put some clear glitter paint over that. I let it dry a little and then took the masks off. They didn’t quite work as well as I hoped, but I got some nail polish remover and some Q-tips and was able to clear up where the paint bled into the negative space. I put two final coats of glossy Mod-Podge over the top, attached a cut vintage doily to the front and back with two layers of Mod-Podge, make some holes with my Crop-a-Dile, put some binder rings to attached the covers, and the cover was done. I am so pleased with the glitter and shine but also the simplicity of the design.
Next to come is some information on prep work I have done for the inside pages...

Monday, November 12, 2012

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Hello! I wanted to share a peek at an exciting little project I am working on.

I know that many of you are familiar with the whole December Daily album idea, but for those of you who don't know, I'll give you a brief summary. Basically, you create a little scrapbook or art journal page to document each day in December leading up to Christmas. I've never done it before quite like this. I've journaled before, but it's not quite the same without the visual impact one of these books can make. There are some WAY cute kits out there to satisfy your crafting needs. For example, the Studio Calico kit in conjunction with the lovely Ali Edwards can be found here but unfortunately is all sold out. There are tons of other kits which are awesome (check out Etsy and support some local artists), many of which even include classes, but my pocket book is a bit slim and I have a crazy amount of cool things in my hobbit hole curiosity shop (i.e. my crafty hoarder's office). So, I am making my own December Daily DIY style. Yay! I first took one of the embellishment kits from my shop. This is the Sugarland Woods Vintage Embellishment Kit.

I next went through my vintage fabric, vintage papers, trim, and scrapbook papers to come up with an inspiring mix of goodies to fill my book with. I found an old Social Security Time Book that would work perfectly as the cover of the book. It's not too big so that I feel overwhelmed with filling up a page and it's not too small where I can't fit a 4 x 6 inch picture in it without having to cut it up.
I've started a Pinterest board that is devoted to some of the free printables, journaling suggestions, and inspiring page designs to get me started. I want to get the basic book design created before the madness of the holidays and I will keep you all updated on my progress. Yip yip!