Sunday 18 August 2013

Paper, Scissors, Rock! - A Selfmade Art Journal

I told you in my last post that I only took some watercolours, pencils and some paper with me....well, today I really took my "holiday stash" to its limits (and a bit further ;)

Sadly the weather causes me a lot of headaches again, so I was not too keen on walking out into the hot summer sun or lying on the beach today... which led to my very first selfmade art journal.



As my son loves to draw and craft too, we always take some glue, scissors and paper with us when we leave for our summer vacation. We also have a travellers sewing kit with us, just in case a button comes off... well, all of this came in quite handy today. ;)

I started my journal by tearing two sheets from my drawing block into six pieces of same size. Then I folded them in half.


I tore all the edges too as I did not want any cut off looking edges with my journal.


That reduced some of the pages' width of course, but I think it was worth it as I wanted my journal to look torn and worn all over.


Then I "stained" my pages using the watercolours brushing, dripping and sqishing them through puddles of paint which I simply made on the kitchen desk ;)

To avoid having my pages blown away during drying time on the balcony I put some weights on them - using some of the fossil stones we found some days ago.


The worm traces look beautiful, don't they? I am always fascinated by the idea that they have been lying there for thousands of years - waiting to be found by my son, DH and me....



I remember, when I first found one of these (being a little girl then) I thought I had found imprints of fossile grass... later I learned that these are traces made by tiny organisms... a kind of "wormholes" they dug into the mud before time transformed it into stone.

While my pages dried, I created the book cover from some cardboard (from a cookie box), some newspaper and a page from an old nature science book I found at a church fleamarket some days ago.





As you can see I added some washes of colour to the book page for more depth.

The bookplate was made from a scrap of the same page, which I tore to size and stamped the title onto. Then I painted a border using shades of brown, lilac and orange.


I glued the bookplate to the cover and let all dry.


Using a crack in the balcony's wooden rail, I punched five holes for my sewn binding using nail scissors ;)


Then I used the "first aid" sewing kit (from a hotel from our studies trip to Turkey) for the binding.


I glued the first and last pages to the book's cover. Done!


The first page shows a sketch of one of the fossils I used ;)


I used an Indian Ink pen.


Sadly the light was gone, when I wanted to make some more shots of the finished journal...I hope you will forgive me for the dark pictures:



I enter this journal into the "Wings and Things" challenge over at Vintage Stamping challenges. 
And last but not least an image showing the things I used for creating my journal:



20 comments:

  1. ...this is smply awesome claudia, you've made a stunning journal from virtually nothing and a wonderful keepsake from your trip away from home, ingenious, i love it...Mel:)xx

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  2. Love this. You have done a great job. Love the way you put
    it on the foto. You can be proud of yourself. Thank you Anneke.
    www.annekescardart.blogspot.com

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  3. Hi Claudia, your little journal is simply amazing. How inventive of you! Love the fossils too. Hugs, Anne x

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  4. wow das ist einfach traumhaft schön!!! Und die Erinnerungen werden dir immer wieder schöne Momente zurückbringen - SUPER!!!!

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  5. das ist einfach nur bezaubernd! ein tolles Urlaubsbuch ist das aund auch Dein Urlaubsaquarell ist einzigartig schööön!

    lg Susi

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  6. Blimey Claudia! That book is as stunning as the scenery around you! Love how you've got so creative with your limited supplies. Hugs, Jenny x

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  7. This is a great idea for a journal and much lighter in weight than taking a full size one on holiday and I should know lol! Thanks for sharing this with us. Angela x

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  8. Da kann man echt nur staunen. Was für kreative Gene in dir schlummern ist echt der Hammer. Da sieht man mal wieder, das man kein High Tech braucht (:o)

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  9. was für ein originelles, superschönes album! ein echter, kreativer hingucker.
    glg
    margit

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  10. Wonderful -- I need to learn some new words but I love your little book. You are very clever and talented!! I do love what you create!
    sandy

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  11. What an impressive book Claudia...real artwork, made with love and loads of creativity!GREAT

    kind regards, Alie :-)

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  12. Ohh wow, Claudia! What a wonderful selfmade art journal! Great step by step! Hugs, Sandra

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  13. Der Urlaub tut Dir gut, liebe Claudia! Das Journal zeigt, dass auch mit wenigen Mitteln Tolles geleistet werden kann! Man bremst sich nur aus, wenn man meint, das neueste Kreativprodukt haben zu müssen... Dein Beitrag aus den Sommerferien verbreitet viel Inspiration und Freude! Vielen Dank!
    Manu

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  14. So impressive to create such a beautiful handmade book from pretty much nothing! It's a stunning make, Claudia, and so inspirational. Time to stop buying crafty stash, maybe?!?
    Alison xx

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  15. Wow...this looks awesome! I love the natural colours with a style to match.
    Thankyou for joining us at Vintage Stamping Challenges.
    Dot x

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  16. I was in crafty heaven when looking at this gorgeous make Claudia. I will be popping back when I have more time so I can take everything in properly.

    Thank you for sharing with us at Vintage Stamping Challenges.

    Crafty hugs from Shirl x x

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  17. Wow, this is stunning. The torn paper edges were definitely the right idea. Enjoy creating in it.

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  18. Stunning little book, made from the available bits & pieces. very cleverly done.

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  19. I love your blog!
    congratulations
    fron chile
    c@

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