sewing "notions" journal

Hello everyone,
I am so happy to be back for another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog.
My December in the designer spotlight is moving quickly, and the month is very busy, I just want to savor this wonderful opportunity. I am grateful to Lols and the entire design team from the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for their encouragement and support, it means so much to me.

I hope that you are excited about this week's challenge "stitch it up." We would like to see you add some stitching to your project (real or faux).

I had quite a few ideas regarding this weeks theme and settled on a journal to store ideas or "notions" for sewing projects. My mom can do amazing things with her sewing machine and, thankfully, has taught my daughter to love creating with it as much as she does. I am comfortable running an embroidery on the machine; however, when it comes to putting needle to my paper crafting, I am somewhat of a scaredy cat. This journal will be a special place for us to generate new ideas and also make notes of changes for works in progress.

I start with a die cut journal base made from chipboard using the Eileen Hull/Sizzix journal scoreboards die. This is definitely one of my go to dies for all sorts of projects, it is really versatile. There are various ways that the covers can be put together. For my notions journal, I assemble the covers to accommodate two signatures. When I began, I was still unsure how I would be finishing the spine of the book; for this reason, I painted both spines with black soot distress paint and allowed to dry. The black will help to conceal any raw edges if I decide to cover the spine with paper or something that does not wrap the corners.

While the paint is drying, I die cut a base dress form from lightweight chipboard with the Tim Holtz/Sizzix sewing room bigz die. I cut a second dress form from woodgrain cardstock and a third from heavyweight cardstock covered with adhesive backed linen textile surfaces. The woodgrain cardstock is inked with distress inks in vintage photo, gathered twigs, ground expresso and walnut stain to simulate an aged wooden dress form frame. I trim the top finial and the bottom stand sections and attach them to the chipboard piece with collage medium. The linen covered bodice area is also trimmed, inked around the edges, and then attached to the form base. When the the glue is dry, I stamp the word PARIS from a section of a stamp onto the bodice with black soot archival ink. 

Next, I die cut the wings from metallic kraft stock with the Tim Holtz/Sizzix layered angel wings die. The largest layer is debossed with the wings texture fades embossing folder. The middle wing layer is embossed in the texture fade as well but on the reverse side so that the texture is raised. The topmost layer remains plain metallic gold. I lightly sand all of the wing pieces and ink around the edges. The wing layers are stacked and glued together along their innermost edges with collage medium. 

The winged dress form is the focal point of my cover. I attach a milagros adornment to the center of the bodice with a small star brad. This entire piece is situated above a strip of paper cut from the  Christmas paper stash. I just love how the wings and foiled stars from the paper play off of each other. The strip of paper is distressed along the edges and inked with gathered twigs before being attached to a piece of lightly sanded, classic black kraft stock. 

It is at this point that I realize the spine should coordinate with the main focal point, to unify the book design. To accomplish this, I wrap the outside spine with the same adhesive backed linen as the dress form. The edges are inked with gathered twigs distress ink.

I want to incorporate more of the woodgrain into the cover design. The word NOTIONS is cut out from a strip of inked, woodgrain cardstock using alphanumeric thinlits. A piece of lightly sanded gold metallic kraft is positioned and attached below the cutouts section. The center portions of the O's are glued into place. This title strip is stitched onto the base paper layer of the cover and the entire composition is attached to the journal cover with Scor-Tape. 

 

The inside covers of the journal are covered with a tweed design paper in keeping with the theme. Before attaching these papers, I cover the inside spine with linen hinging tape (colored black) to reinforce the binding. A "measuring tape" strip of paper is incorporated along the center of the inside spine. Although it is not necessary, I like to reinforce the holes where the elastic is strung. To do this, I set 1/8" eyelets at the hole locations. I feel it gives the journal a finished look. 

Two signatures are covered with coordinating "textile" patterned papers. Black kraft die cut labels are added to each leaving a spot to note what the signature will pertain to.

The final touch to completing my journal was to add the word SEW along the outside spine. I die cut the letters from medium weight chipboard with the Tim Holtz/Sizzix billboard alphabet die. The letters are covered with gold leaf and then adhered to the spine with collage medium.

I have so much admiration for projects where sewing is incorporated into the design, it really adds another dimension to everything. One of my goals for the upcoming year is to incorporate more stitching into my paper crafting. I hope that I can make it happen.

Thank you so much for visiting. I hope that you are able to enjoy these last precious weeks of 2018, and maybe even squeeze in a bit of creative time.

~Ann

 xxx

Perhaps you have been inspired to create something for this week's challenge. We love seeing your take on the themes when you join in the fun. There is a $50 gift voucher to SIMON Says Stamp for one lucky participant, but you can only win it if you are in it!

Thanks again for visiting my blog today. I love reading your comments or answering questions, it's always a treat when you share your thoughts with me. I have included a list below with all of the supplies I used to create my journal. Any of the products that are available from Simon Says Stamp are listed with links. 

Supplies used:

Distress collage medium: matte

Distress archival ink: black soot

Distress ink:

 black soot, gathered twigs, ground expresso, vintage photo, walnut stain

Distress paint: black soot

Distress woodgrain cardstock

Eileen Hull / Sizzix Scoreboard Journal XL die 

eyelets 1/8"

Scor-Tape 1 1/2" 

Tim Holtz ideaology:

classic kraft stock, milagros adornments, paper stash-christmas, paper stash-dapper, paper stash-destinations, textile surfaces, star fasteners

Tim Holtz / Sizzix dies:

alphanumeric, billboard, sewing room, layered angel wings, stacked label, 

Tim Holtz / Sizzix texture fades: wings