Handmade Journals & Original Works of Art
This one is almost ready to be turned into a journal cover. The pieces making up the flowers and butterflies were all stitched by hand. Now it just needs some more embroidery around the edges of the flower petals and stems and then it will be time to assemble the cover.
I’ve never been particularly great at hand sewing. Truth be told, I actually despised it to the point of avoiding it as much as possible. That all changed after taking a needle book class by Roxy Creations, which can be found here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/670893598/online-course-petit-needlbook-with-pdf?ref=shop_home_active_29&pro=1
The books she created, completely by hand stitching, were gorgeous in their simplicity. Another thing about this process that intrigued me was that they were portable. This was something you could pack in a bag and work on while you were enduring your child’s weekly practices. Her techniques could also be used to create journal covers as well.
After watching her videos numerous times, I finally got out a fabric bundle I had purchased at Tuesday Morning and decided to take the plunge. Auditioning fabric scraps for inclusion and placement is more difficult than I expected, but I managed to put something together.
Now it’s time to thread the needle and get started.
More to come!
I was fortunate enough to be gifted some very nice faux leather fabric samples a while back. At first I wasn’t sure what to do with them, until I came across a journal in a craft store that give me an idea of how to put them to use. This is one of the first ones I made.
I recently decided that it was time to make a few more. After sewing the covers together, I decided that I wanted to do something besides a plain cover, so I decided to create some vignettes on each one.
Here is how they turned out.
To say I love them is indeed an understatement!
This is the start of the cover art for my next hand painted travelers journal made from an upcycled book.
I started with creating background layers created from magazine text and gel medium. After that layer, I repeated the process with colored images. Next came the paint and stenciled image.
Once the outside cover is complete, it’s time to add signatures, pockets and envelopes.
A while ago, I received several smaller faux leather upholstery fabric samples. During one of my many trips to my local craft store, I came upon a small travelers journal they were selling for $10. It was made of really cheap plastic that mimicked leather and had two notebooks made from kraft paper and one folder also made from kraft paper. All of these were held inside by very thin, cheap elastic. I purchased it, took it home and made a much better version of it.
I really love the size. It’s more compact than the other travelers journals I make. I have this fabric in lots of other great colors, so I will definitely be making more just like it.