New Journals! I've Been BUSY! :)

Hello lovelies!

If YOU want to get into art journalling or if you're just looking for a new place to be creative in words or in art, then check out my new journals in my etsy shop.

I've made 12 journals using different paper cut into different sizes. They're bound together with a metal coil binding and sandwiched between two pieces of ultra heavy chipboard.

These journals are a dream, my lovelies - and I can be honest with you since I'm a journal-a-holic. I have at least 10 unopened journals that are ready to be filled. But sometimes I want something a little more awesome.

Some of the journals may include:
- graphing paper
- overhead acetate
- regular white printer paper
- Artists' papers from Strathmore
- accounting entry paper
- coloured paper
- cardstock in many colours
- book pages (for this set of 12 I used "The Secret Garden")
- maps
- scrapbooking paper


These books are specially designed to be added to. Specifically, they are about 3/4 full of paper in terms of what the coil binding will allow. This means that you can add your own items to the pages and not stress the binding. For example, you can add your own cards, photos, or other bits of papers to the existing pages. The book will still lay flat when closed instead of splaying open (as seen in one of the photos).

So check out these samples of some of the spreads you'll find in the journals and drool away. Then hop on over to the listing on etsy to find out how you can treat yourself to one.

The covers are plain black - ready for you to customize!

  

 The journals are about 3/4 full of paper in terms of what the coil binding will allow.
This means that you can add your own items to the pages and not stress the binding.

The Finished Product!!!

My most EXCITING POST YET! 

I got my sewing machine back from the repair shop on Saturday and closed myself in my studio the entire evening. My poor husband was completely abandoned on a Saturday night, replaced by my burning desire to finish an art journal!

So I've taken a bunch of photos to show you my process with this journal. I made up all of the pages this past week while my machine was in the shop. You can look at this post to see what pages I included.

Once I sat down to sew the signatures together, I realised that I had been WAY too ambitious planning my pages. The cover that I had made last weekend  was too small by about an inch and a half on the outer edges. After a couple of chuckles at my overzealousness, I decided that I would DEFINITELY make a new cover that would be even MORE awesome than the one I made last weekend! Since making the cover was the most creative and fun part for me, I was definitely A-OK with making another one.

I used orange embroidery thread to sew my signatures together.
Since this is the colour that I use the least in my sewing,
 I thought that I would use it for this job since once the book is done,
these stitches are hardly seen. 

Definitely too many pages for the cover I made last weekend!

Back to the drawing board to create a NEW, larger cover... a SUPER fun "problem"!

Assembling the art pages was a really fun part of the project. I have stacks and stacks of neat papers that I store away for a rainy day. For this project, I took out all of my favourite papers and put them into this book. Since it's my own art day timer for ME, I figured that I might as well use my favourite papers and fabrics!

Some of my pages were stitched together to include different layers of papers. 

My Contacts section was created using a set of alphabet tabs that I trimmed down, then sewed onto trimmed cardstock using a zigzag stitch. Very cool looking and just as strong (or stronger?) than glue!

Now for the Piece de Resistance! I've made a VIDEO to show you how the finished product looks. It's about 4 minutes long, and I am so proud of myself that I actually made a video and did the voice-over. In this video I share a lot of my techniques, how I store my papers, my thought process for putting the journal together, and a general tour of all of the things I've included. 

I would LOVE to read your comments, questions and suggestions on my new art Day Timer! Thanks for looking!