deco 101

For the fine folks over at LMAO. Well and for anyone else of course...

I guess I should have used the macro lens for close-ups, it's a bit fuzzy...maybe even moreso now that I've done the up and download thing. For some reason, it always looks better right on my destop.

For this deco I am using some cardboard for the covers, I fished it out of the garbage bin at work. I covered it using black construction paper, with blue on the inside. The front cover features a hand-carved stamp image that I actually did prints of, after doing a large monoprint with all those other colors and cutting it up for multiple printed images. The inside pages are made from cardstock I bought at a local store for five bucks a ream. It's okay to work on with crayon or colored pencil, but I have seen so many people (and usually do this myself) just create their own image on a separate piece of paper and then affix it to an existing page, I'm not too worried about the quality of paper in this particular deco. The pages are sewn inside, with a regular sewing needle and some nylon thread. Et voila!



Now this deco is made with laminate - the kind of stuff used for countertops. My friend Jacque works in a woodshop and she cut up a bunch of it for me. I am all about scrounging and re-using materials and leftovers whenever at all possible. All I am doing here (it's a work in progress as you see) is gluing mulberry paper to the laminate. Just to see what happens. I am using ModPodge to do it. It's pretty sturdy, especially when that glue dries clear and flexible. I'll sew the pages in the same way I did the small deco (above - it is ATC-sized). This deco measures...5"x5" or 13cm each way.

I am real new to all this and use inexpensive, easily obtained materials. There's a great site on how to make your own journal this-a-way.

Have fun!!