Shine Your Light: A Journal Out of My Comfort Zone

 

This journal was a long time in the making. February is my month to “Finish it Up” and so I took what had started months ago as 3 signatures I had assembled with hoarded one-offs, left-overs, and a random sampling of most of my art papers which I had trimmed or torn down to random sizes. I’m pretty sure I was inspired by one of Luise Heinzl’s videos.

Where it started:

The finishing touch:

I had purchased several 1/2 yd. pieces of Seth Apter fabrics during his Black Friday sale in November and finally started to use some to create a fabric collage cover:

The cover base is an Amazon bubble mailer. The collage was built on a piece of canvas and the interior of the cover is a single piece of a Seth Apter fabric:

Inside the back cover: 

The signatures had included several experimental pockets I had created following a tutorial by Natasa at Treasure Books using various tissue papers treated with diluted glue and then stitched.:

This is my favorite spread:

Most of the papers were the result of a haul from my first trip to S.C.R.A.P., our local creative re-use center. I’ve been hoarding them for, oh…about 5 or 6 years because I’ve never seen that kind of assortment there since:

There are a couple of fabric ruffles:

Some mixed media:

I went a little nuts with the ink and embossing folders the other day. I love this technique:

I really love the wonky assortment of papers and sizes here. This is waaaayyy out of my comfort zone.

I included some of my treasured eco-prints:

I didn’t realize I had so many pockets in this journal, I think there are at least 20:

A pocket flap from a large envelope in the signature:

Another Treasure Books inspired pocket:

A large envelope pocket bound into the signature:

A paper bag pocket:

A deli bag pocket, paint and coffee spattered with a stationary paper from Tenerife, Spain (a S.C.R.A.P. hoard)

Pocket stuffers using dyed/stamped/stenciled index cards:

Italian straw paper from a cheese delivery where I work:

The finished journal is 9” x 6” x 2” ish with 3 signatures and about 180 pages though it’s a rough count given all the of off sizes and pockets. There’s so much going on in this book and seriously, the most labor intense journal I think I’ve ever made. It took its time, but became a labor of love because when I was pondering the stack of signatures earlier this month I was not feeling a finish to this at all and was set to deconstruct the whole thing but I am seriously in “use it or lose it” mode these days and I realized I wasn’t quiiiiite ready to lose it. Thankfully.