The Way I Feel - Journal Cover

Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing well. For today's post I have something of a rarity for me - a journal book cover. I find I often shy away from them, on the basis that in my head they seem very time consuming - even if that isn't actually the case in reality. I've been inspired by the "Wings" challenge over on the Mixed Media Place blog - and I'm so pleased I went with it!



I have a soft spot for the studs on the spin of the book, which were one of those awesome random finds...

So I started by painting a plain art journal with with Art Extravagance Copper crackle paste, layering it on thickly for some heavy crackle action. Once dry I used Art Extravagance Graphite texture paste with an ancient Donna Downey irregular circle mask, then adding Silks Acrylic Glaze (African Jade), mists and india inks to create a grungy patina look.

The wings behind the photo are a combination of Prima's new vellum butterfiles and Finnabair's "Don't Forget to Fly" stamp set which I stamped onto sheet music and cut out.

I decided I wanted to add my love of birds nests onto the project somewhere and had the idea to cut a Prima nest in half, filling with twine. I've love how tactile this is!

The main embellishments are a clustering of old washers, along with some Prima metals (Finnabair, Invild Bolme) adhering them to the album with 3D gloss gel. I've added pencil highlights and some subtle stamping to lift things.

So there we have it. Now the next step is to fill it up....

See you soon,