Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Eileen Hull Field Notes Junk Journal

I'm back again this week, but this time with a junk journal using a whole bunch of Eileen Hull Sizzix Dies, a whole bunch, as well as a lot of Tim Holtz Idea-ology and vintage goods for the inside. Eileen challenged her Design Team and those of us who are Educators to make a journal and focus on the inside, the guts as I like to say. Good thing I made a junk journal, because I decided to sew the majority of it, and the sewing machine decided to give me fits, so there is absolutely no perfection in this messy album, and I'm not very good on the guts of albums and journals. I'm more of a cover girl. ;0) This journal will be on going as well, as I have a slew of pages to fill that will take some time, so I am sure I'll be back someday to show you the rest of the guts. Until then, this is what I have so far, and it's a very long photo heavy post.  Enjoy!
 
I used heavy felt material for the base of the journal, the bones.. It's quite thick and rigid compared to regular felt. I adhered it together with two sided tape, and then added stretchy string to hold the pages in the middle. I saved all the scraps from the die cuts to use as the tabs for the inside of the journal.
Using the Notebook Pocket Die, I die cut with more thick felt this time in a grayish color. I only used the front area of the die, and not the back with all the tabs as I sewed this flat, so keep that in mind. I sewed the shiplap fabric to the front of the panels of the pocket. Then I die cut the words 'one' and 'two' in felt and hand-stitched (yup, you read hand-stitched...lol) those to strips from Idea-ology Stitched Scraps, and onto the base of the pockets using black thread. I am in love with those strips. I used every piece from one package on this journal.
After both of the pockets were finished on the inside panels, I started the front of the album, that way no stitches would show through on the inside covers. I cut a panel of the shiplap fabric to fit the front of the album, but DID NOT adhere it until the end. I stitched everything on first. I began with the doily die cut that I used the heavy gray felt with. I only used about 3/4 of the doily, and stitched two circles around the inside of the die to hold it on. Then I die cut the cup, to use as a pitcher, out of regular felt. I stitched it over the doily. I added pieces of the Stitched Scraps to the pitcher, and the spine (or where the spine is going to be). It was at this point that I was falling in love with this. There is just something special about sewing.
Then, I discovered something MARVELOUS. Something I probably already know, but forgot. REMNANT RUBS WORK ON FABRIC!!! I knew they worked on canvas obviously, but on felt?!! I was blown away!!! Seriously, blown away. I was so excited to know this, and tried the rubs on every piece of fabric I used in the this journal. THEY ALL WORKED. Remnant Rubs really transformed this from cool to WOW! for me. I was so worried about all the journaling in this, and thought I would have to either stitch or hand write, but the Remnant Rubs saved the day. Anyway I digress. Next, I die cut the 'journal' using the heavy felt, and hand-stitched that on with a light blue thread (the only time I used anything but black thread).
Then came the flowers. I die cut the Heart Petals with layers of fabric and heavy felt, and layered them up, making several stacks of flowers for the outside and inside. I adhered the layers together by hand-stitching a button to the center, and then stitching to the cover. I wanted pops of red, but only had a few sheets of this weather proof type of fabric that I have no idea where it came from, but I die cut the pansy flowers out of it, and stitched a black potbelly type button to the center, and then onto the cover. Then I needed leaves, so I die cut leaves from the Spring Leaves Die, out of a brownish colored felt. I just love this die as there are many leaves to choose from. Then I hand-stitched those leaves on randomly around the flowers. Then I finally stitched this piece of shiplap onto the base cover piece, leaving the blue from the felt being seen around the edges. I scruffed up the edges of the shiplap fabric to give it a more shabby feel. I am in love with this cover...yup, I am a cover girl! Oh and, as I was sewing the cover on, I added the tulle and velvet ribbon to the back of the album to wrap around and hold the album closed. I had a large bee charm from my stash, and tied to onto the tulle ribbon.
Then it was time for the guts of this album. I cut six pieces of each of the fabric prints I used, plus I used left overs of the soft felt pieces. So once I stitched the fabric pieces together, I ended up with 13 pieces for the pages. The pages would obviously be folded in half around the stretchy bands, so really I had 26 pages. Ugh, so many I know. I left the tops of the stitched pages unstitched, so I could hand-stitch things onto the fronts and backs of the pages so the stitches would not be seen on the other side. Confusing for sure, and I did mess up a few times, but I am all about details. ANYWAY, I used tags from all the Tim Holtz Demos over the summer for the main parts of the pages. I adhered and stitched on the tags as well as ephemera from Idea-ology and some from my stash for the guts of the album and on the tags. I fell in love with the whole Idea-ology Field Notes Ephemera line. There are so many butterflies and flowers to choose from. These pieces really transformed every part of this for me, and made the pages so easy to put together.  I adhered using Collage Medium and two-sided tape as well as stitching. I inked every piece of ephemera as well, and added more tulle for the tag tops. Lots more Remnant Rubs were used throughout, as well as scrap fabric pieces to make plain pockets. Nothing was formal about this, just willy-nilly. I truly had fun putting all the pieces together, and I am no where near finished, so the pages you will see below still need stuff in my opinion...remember it's on going. 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Supplies: 
(Die Cut Machine, Scissors, Sewing Machine, Needle w/Black, Light Blue Thread, Rub-on Tool, Ink Blending Tool, Two Sided Tape)
-Sizzix Eileen Hull XL Scoreboards Die: Journal, Notebook Pocket
-Elastic String, Heavy Felt, Regular Felt, Shiplap Fabric, Flower Script Fabric, Tulle Ribbon, Velvet Ribbon, Mother of Pearl Buttons, Small Black Buttons
-Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Fabric: Memoranda
-Sizzix Eileen Hull Bigz Die: Lace Medallion Doily, Mug and Spoon, Spring Leaves, Flower Layers with Heart Petals, Pansy Flower
-Sizzix Eileen Hull Thinlits: Homemade Alphabet, Journaling Words
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Heavystock Tags: #8
-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Stitched Scraps, Specimen Remnant Rubs, Tiny Text Remnant Rubs, Field Notes Ephemera Pack, Field Notes Snippets Ephemera Pack, Botanical Layers, Paper Dolls
-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Speckled Egg, Gathered Twigs
-Ranger Tim Holtz Collage Medium: Matte
-Vintage Floral Postcards, Floral Ephemera, Bee Charm
-Faber-Castell Pitt Pens

If you are looking for themes for journals, measurements for use in Eileen's journal dies, journal inspiration, or just entertainment, then visit Eileen's blog for several informational posts the last few weeks, as well as links to so many blogs filled with beautiful journals.
I'll be back again soon. Until then, I hope your hands get creatively dirty!

7 comments:

  1. Amazing - so packed with goodness - so happy we got to see each page spread... love all that ephemera and Paper Dolls in pockets! The soft touch cover is gorgeous too.
    Alison x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love it Anita! So many goodies packed in. =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness! This is so gorgeous! I would love to make something like this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is such a treasure Anita, full of wonderful details - a real labour of love. I do love the softness of it and I am definitely into wonky stitching rather than straight lines so I love the stitching you did. Beautiful and tactile, it is gorgeous! Hugs, Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! Fantastic piece of work, Anita! I love the idea of a junk journal. I am quite impressed by every detailing of your journal. I am looking forward to your future posts. I recently joined as a contributor to a famous Painting and Handicrafts blog site. I have posted some of my sample junk journals in it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. so much to see in this piece!! I bet you love going through it!! and touching it over and over.. love!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I missed this one, AMAZING. Where did you find the front fabric I love it.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for viewing my blog and commenting on it! It truly means so much to me.