I love the simplicity of summer days: outdoor barbecues, picnics, and the lack of scheduled activities and responsibilities. Summer days give us time to relax. Lately, I've noticed a trend in journaling towards junk journals. I thought it would be fun to create a vintage styled "favorite recipe" junk journal, combining the simplicity of vintage style with modern day trends. Today I am on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog sharing details for my retro recipe journal.
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts art journal is the perfect base for this project. It contains sixteen chipboard pieces of varying sizes and textures and two binding rings. All of the pages are punched to accommodate ring style binding. Four of the pieces are "tabbed" perfect for creating different sections, and if you want to add your own pages, 5x7 fits perfectly.
I wanted my journal to have a retro vibe, so I selected a vintage red and white gingham check for the cover, then I added a black stripe along the binding edge. I embossed the favorite recipes title with a black glossy finish and added it along the right side of the cover. Since the cover will receive the most use opening and closing, I added chrome grommets to the punched holes. This will allow the journal to open easily.
Next, I searched for vintage images of recipes and advertisements to include on the front sides of the chipboard pages. I intentionally left the back sides of the pages unfinished to allow for artist freedom when the journal is put to use.
The images were cut out and added to the smaller chipboard pieces that are located in front of the tabbed dividers. On pages where the image was smaller, I incorporated the red and white checked paper, as well as some black paper details.
Each of the tabbed divider pages are covered with a vintage ledger paper. I thought it would be fun to add titles to the tabbed portion, in the keeping with the retro recipe theme. I used label letters to spell out each course, ie. salads, soups, entrees, and deserts.
With the main pages complete, I created some clips that can be used in the journal. For these, I used the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts kitchen utensils set. I added a coat of black gesso to each side of the pieces. When the gesso was dry, I attached a paper clip to the back side with strong glue and set aside to dry. The oven mitt piece was covered with gingham and black paper before the clip was attached to one side.
The only thing left to do is cut some of your favorite papers to be added to the journal. I cut a few different types of paper in 5"x7" size then, using the existing page holes as a guide, I marked each page. Using a hole punch, I created the holes and slipped all the pages into the journal where I wanted them. The binding rings make adding and removing pages a breeze.
I think the possibilities for the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts art journal are endless. You can turn this piece into any style of your liking quickly and easily. The size is perfect for slipping into your bag and taking it with you wherever you go.
Perhaps I've inspired you to create your own journal, I'd love to see your take on this piece.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today,
I really appreciate it.
~Ann
xxx
supplies used:
black gesso
black embossing powder
found papers and images
1/4" grommets
A while ago Tina Walker, artist and columnist for StencilGirl Products, introduced a new StencilGirl collaborative challenge, which I was thrilled to join. Today, on the StencilGirl Talk blog, Tina is sharing all the details about the collaboration and her project, as well as links to each of the participating artists' projects.
The challenge presented was that a person would create a unique A to Z journal in a theme of their choosing. Each person in the collaboration chose and committed to a different theme; there were no two alike. From there, we were to "create 26 art journal pages, one each inspired by each letter of the alphabet, A to Z." We were allowed to use any mediums of our choosing, but strictly SG stencils.
A is for arrows, B is for bamboo, C is for circles, D is for diagonal stripes.
As soon as the collaboration was announced, I had an idea in mind for how I would like to create my A to Z journal. Having a background in architecture and an appreciation for the art of paper cutting, I wanted to use cut patterns to form the letters of the alphabet. Each of the cut pattern designs is either a full StencilGirl stencil pattern, formed using small bits of design from a stencil, or uses a stencil design as the basis for the cut pattern.
E is for empty, F is for floral, G is for greek key, H is for hearts.
To begin, I drew each letter of the alphabet in uppercase on pieces of white cardstock using a ruler. These would be the boundaries for the designs. Once all of the alphabet was drawn onto the pages, it was time to select the patterns to go with each letter. I am not going to say this was an easy task; some letters proved much more difficult than others. There were letters that required a lot of manipulating the stencil to draw a pattern, while others were straight forward.
I is for inkblot, J is for jonquil, K is for kaleidoscope, L is for lattice.
Once the design was settled, I needed to figure out which sections would remain intact and which sections would be cut out. I learned pretty quickly that in order for the letter form to be prominent, there needed to be plenty of open areas along the edges, but that the design also need to be attached to the edges. Needless to say, there were a few do-overs in the process.
Mis for mushrooms, N is for numbers, O is for ogee, P is for paisley.
Many of the stencils I used were from the StencilGirl ATC collections. The scale was perfect for the size of my letters. I also used a few standard size stencils. For each page shown, I have listed the pattern name. At the bottom of the post I have a list of the StencilGirl Stencils used.
Q is for quatrefoil, R is for rectangles, S is for stripes, T is for triangles.
Once I understood the balance that was needed between the positive and negative spaces, it was really fun deciding on what pattern would be used for each letter. I do have my favorite pages, but I think the best part was when they were all put together in the journal.
U is for unbalanced stripes, V is for vertical stripes, W is for windowpane, X is for x's.
Using a method of binding I learned in a bookmaking class taught by Seth Apter, I created a binding bar that was the height of the pages. Two pieces of chipboard, wrapped in black paper, create the front and back covers. Each letter page was attached with a sheet of vellum in between.
Y is for yin yang, Z is for zigzag.
Here is a short flip-through video for you to see the book in its entirety.
I was thrilled to be part of the StencilGirl A to Z challenge. I hope that you can find time to visit the StencilGirl Talk blog to find links to all of the other artists that were a part of the challenge, as well as learn about Tina's fabulous journal and thoughts on the collaborative.
