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  • Link Love!

    I finally decided to take the plunge and join Tammy from Daisy Yellow on her link-love mission.

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    Today Tammy suggests we link to 5 of our favourite tutorials… so here goes.

    Julie’s blog is a constant source of inspiration and she has so many cool tutorials that it was difficult to choose just one, but I love the clever way this book is made from one folded sheet of canvas.

    Folded Canvas Book from Julie fei-Fan Balzer at Balzer Designs

    I love Effy’s raw honesty and the energy in her creative work. This journal is really cool, and so simple to make!

    Bookbinding 101 from Effy Wild

    I adore Kaleidoscopes, and this tutorial from iHannah is just so simple to follow. Give it a try!

    How to Create a Digital Kaleidoscope Mandala from iHannah’s Blog

    I just love the concept of this apron – combining the best of two aprons to make an amazing new creation!

    Creating an Apron of Inspiration from Samie Harding at Journal Girl

    I just found this really cool tutorial from Rae Missigman

    Plastic Fused Canvas and I can’t wait to give it a try!

    I’m off to explore everyone else’s favourite tutorials now. I’ll be back with some new artwork tomorrow!

    eunice signature

    By on Friday August 2nd, 2013 at 21:24 in Artistic Ramblings, Blogalong with Effy, Link Love - 4 Replies - Leave a Reply

    Hand Made Art Journal

    Phew! – I finally finished my latest project, a hand made art journal!

    Creative Art Journal - 21 Secrets 2013, Joanne Sharpe's Class

    Creative Art Journal - 21 Secrets 2013, Joanne Sharpe's Class

    I started out by following Joanne Sharpe’s class in 21 Secrets 2013. As usual, I didn’t quite follow the instructions! Joanne taught us six embroidery stitches to use on our panels – I used three of them plus two of my own. Our design was supposed to be all embroidery, but I got rather carried away with using Twinkling H2O’s to colour my shapes! While I was busy painting and embroidering my panel, I got a newsletter from Effy Wild which gave me a link to her free Bookbinding course. Well, I had to watch it didn’t I! As a result, the journal I made is a combination of Joanne’s and Effy’s classes with a few of my own little quirks thrown in for good measure.

    Creative Art Journal - 21 Secrets 2013, Joanne Sharpe's Class

    I drew the design for my book panel on some scrap paper then traced it onto calico using a homemade light box (a desk light pointed up through my glass topped coffee table) and a Pitt Artist Pen. I coloured it using a mixture of Twinkling H2O’s over clear gesso and embroidery stitches.

    Creative Art Journal (4) - 21 Secrets 2013, Joanne Sharpe's Class

    After I chose the fabric for my book cover I sat and hand tacked my wadding sandwich together so that it didn’t move about too much when I machine stitched it. I don’t know anything about quilting, but the wadding I bought was really thick, so the only way to make it manageable was to ‘quilt’ it! – I’m sure it’s not the right way to quilt, but I think it turned out alright.

    Creative Art Journal (5) - 21 Secrets 2013, Joanne Sharpe's Class

    Next came the pages for the journal. I started off with five signatures of watercolour paper but decided that wasn’t enough. So I added another six signatures of assorted handmade paper in a variety of sizes. I now had a small problem. Neither of the binding methods suggested would work with my enormous pile of signatures. To make matters even worse I decided to add some spacers between the signatures to allow room for expansion. My spine measured 1.5″ deep! I decided the only thing to do was to sew the signatures together in traditional binding style then somehow attach them to the cover afterwards.

    Creative Art Journal (6) - 21 Secrets 2013, Joanne Sharpe's Class

    I knew how I wanted the finished book to look, but had no idea how to achieve it. Once the signatures were sewn together it was easier to see what I had to do, but the technicalities of it baffled me for a while. After a lot of head scratching I decided the only way to do it would be to sew each signature into the spine individually – no mean feat with them all sewn together! But I did it, and I got the stitching to look the way I wanted it to!! Now I just have to decide what I’m going to use the journal for!

    eunice signature

    By on Tuesday May 28th, 2013 at 12:10 in 21 Secrets 2013, Artistic Ramblings, CED - Comments Off on Hand Made Art Journal