The Making of the Birthday Journal...& a GIVEAWAY!

Good Morning. Today I am going to share some tips & tricks on how I made my birthday journal that was featured on my blog this past weekend. (Go here to see the original post.)

Here is the blank album pages that I started with....

....and here is the paper lines that I used: (Stay tuned for your chance to win!) 

 I really love this stuff! It is Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line: Multi-Medium Matte.

I, unfortunately was out of this when I did my album so I used Mod Podge. I have some now though! (in fact.. I have two jars! My local scrapbook store ordered it for me and I stocked up! lol...) The Multi-Medium is such a fabulous product. Here are some of the great qualities of this product, (from Ranger's Website...)

• Acid free, non-toxic

• Archival

• Matte and Gloss finishes

• Non-yellowing, dries clear

• Use for gluing, transfers, sealing and more

• Use for decoupage techniques

• Available in 4 oz. jars and ½ oz. bottles

 Now for the directions.

My album was really easy to make. I started by painting each page front and back using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint, Sable Brown. I then cut down my paper to 5.5" x 5.5", used a Corner Chomper to chomp the corners and then inked all my edges.

Here is a wonderful, fabulous tip:

The following works for any type of wet glue:

*To help prevent air bubbles you want to spread a thick coat of Multi-Medium on your surface. Make sure you cover the entire surface and that there are no uncovered places. Uncovered places=air bubbles!

*Then lay your paper down onto the wet Multi-Medium. Don't press down, but take your brush and apply the Multi-Medium to the top of the paper. START IN THE MIDDLE & WORK YOUR WAY OUT. This will work out any air bubbles! If you do get an air bubble, you can use your finger to help work the bubble to the edge to get it out. The important thing is you want to do this while the Multi-Medium is still wet.

Once I had all my pages covered, I just went back and decorated! For the above page I took a tag and covered it with my paper and inked it up. I then added some ribbon and a flower that I cut using Tim Holtz Alteration Die: Tattered Florals. My flower is made of Grunge Paper that is covered with Sticky Back Canvas. I punched holes in the top of the tag and tied ribbon all the way across.

For this page I die cut candles from a Quickutz die. I filled in the center of the candles with Stickles! In cutting down my paper at the beginning, I had a lot of little strips left over. I used them all throughout my book. Here I inked the edges and just layered them.

A lot of people asked about these cute little paper bags. They are made by Canvas Corp. The package says Canvas Home Basics and they are called Mini Bags. I stamped on one and the other I used my Texture Boutique and embossed the cupcake.

This page had to be special! It's my birthday page. I stamped a background stamp first. Then I went in and stamped my flower, but I used a paint dabber. I outlined the flower with Stickles. The numbers are from Tim Holtz Idea-ology line: Numerals. I used Alcohol Ink to color them.

To add a little more texture to my album, I used different materials for the pages. This page is made out of Grungepaper and sprayed with Glimmer Mist. I used an On the Edge die from Tim Holtz Alterations. Other pages are just sheets of paper from the paper pack that I used.

It is amazing how great something can look and when you break it down it really just comes down to cutting & pasting. Don't ever let a project intimidate you. Look at it and start breaking it apart and you will see how easy it is to create!



 NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!

To win the following you just need to become a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know you're a new follower. If you already follow my blog then leave a comment stating that... and I really would love to hear what you think about my directions to my book... were they helpful or could I do something to improve? I will pick a winner Sunday and announce the winner Monday! So spread the word!

The Prize: 2 Brand New 6x6 Paper Pads from My Mind's Eye!

Happy Creating!