Friday 1 March 2019

Let's Celebrate the Journey, for A Vintage Journey Birthday Challenge

Hello lovely visitors, today is a special day as this Friday it is the 75th Challenge on A Vintage Journey. it's also our 5th birthdaybirthday, and as one of the original team, what an amazing journey it has been! So many of my team mates have become close personal friends over the years, we have laughed and cried together and have shared our creativity together and with you our lovely visitors.

Well just last week I was able to visit one of my teamies, the lovely  and talented Annie, and we had a super fun day playing with some new techniques, so it seemed fitting to use one of my projects for this special celebration challenge.
It's a journal cover created with Eileen Hull's fabulous journal die and I will give you an overview of how I put it together below.

My first step was cutting the cover from mount board with the die and gluing it together. I then covered the mountboard with calico fabric for added strength.

Annie had the fun idea of playing with hotglue, so the texture on the cover is created with a hot glue gun. This is what it looked like in it's first stage:
Sorry for the weird shadows, but I just took the photo quickly with my phone, so I could show you the first step.

We had watched some youtubes of people doing projects with a gluegun, and several showed, how after having covered everything with gesso, you can add some gold paint and when that has dried completely, go over it with a dark colour and then wipe away some of that to let some of the gold appear again.
. We decided to do that and when I got home, I used a mix of Paynes Grey and black Decoart media fluid acrylics for my dark layer.(A quick word of warning, when using hot glue for texture you can't use a heat tool for drying between layers as it melts the glue and takes away the texture, that's why I had to finish my project at home).

At this point I decided I wanted a rusty patina look for my cover so out came a variety of sprays to try and achieve that, blueish patina first of all, I used both Lindy's Stampgang and Distress Sprays, as well as some Finnabair Magicals.
Too blue, some more coppery sprays to give it a slightly more rusty look:
Sadly the rusty shimmer does not really show up on the photo, but at this point I also decided to add some white background stamping using gesso, just to lighten it all up a bit.
Next I had to decide on a closure for my journal, - at first my idea had been to use a ribbon closure attached under some design paper on the inside of the covers which you can see here:

In the end I thought that looked awful, so I cut off the ribbon and instead used a simple elastic closure. (Eileen's die has precut holes for that). I also added a few little embellishments to both the front and the back:
The insert for the cover is a Midori blank one that I will use for quotes and to practice my lettering.
Learning to do dip pen calligraphy has been my personal journey in the last few weeks, something I have spent many hours on, so I thought I would close this post by sharing one of the recent samples of my efforts with Copperplate style script:

The script is my effort, the background is not!!! I printed that background from an image on the Graphics Fairy site. Doing flourishes like that will require a lot more practice for sure!!!

Well, that's it from me for today. If you have not been yet, do hop over to A Vintage Journey to see the birthday projects my talented teamies have created and we would of course love you to show us your journey projects!

Thanks for your visit like always
xxxxx






27 comments:

Robin said...

I love this journal and really think you created a great combination of colors on the cover. It's beautiful Astrid.

Helen said...

I love your journal! amazing texture.

Valerie-Jael said...

This is more than fantastic, great project. Hugs, Valerie

Maryann Laursen said...

What an absolut amazing cover, you´ve created here Astrid. I love the rich texture and the color is gorgeous too. EWverything just looks stunning and sooo perfect. Well done on a fantastic piece of Art here.

Brenda Brown said...

Wow Astrid this is a beautifully textured journal with all your hallmarks of colour and design. I love how you created this, the fabulous steps you took to end up with such a great journal to write and work in and I’m so envious of your copper plate writing skills. It’s been an amazing five years of developing ourselves, our talent and the challenge blog at AVJ, we’ve all made significant strides in our personal artistic journeys but it’s the warmth and the bonds of friendship that have also grown between us all that has been just as heartwarming. Thank you for sharing your incredible talent with us and for being such a stalwart supporter and friend. Huge hugs xxx

Annie said...

I love love your journal cover Astrd and the colours are incredible x Love the white stamping and embellishments that adorn the cover xx Your writing is fabulous and I so adore the sentiment xxx We certsinly had great fun and I am sure we can use the hot glue in many more ways xxx

Happy Anniversary and its been a pleasure sharing the journey with you as well as out close friendship xx

Huge hugs
Annie xx

Margaret Mifsud said...

Wow!! What a fantastic journal cover Astrid! I love the glue gun technique, it looks amazing and the colours are so gorgeous!! The white stamping is a fabulous contrast and I love the textures!! Your script writing is totally awesome. All the practice has certainly paid off. Have a wonderful weekend!! hugs xx

Words and Pictures said...

The glue gun textured tree is really amazing - so organic and beautiful with the layers of colour and gleaming in the light. The layered patina is so effective, and I love those accents of pale script giving that perfect extra touch of depth and detail to the background. How lovely to celebrate with a project created in company with Annie - an AVJ creative day! Happy AVJ Birthday... it's an honour and a delight to travel with you.
Alison x

Dorthe said...

Amazing what a gluegun can be used for , and then create such beauty !The tree and the script is simply gorgeous !!
Love the patina you achieved dear Astrid, the gold let through in some places give a gorgeous look, to the front of your book !!
Thank you for telling and showing - must have been fun creating this together with Annie . Hugs, Dorthe, xoxo

Let's Art Journal said...

Oh my, what amazing makes! I love the patina that you created on your journal cover and I've been wondering about this technique with hot glue when I came across it last year, maybe I'll give it a try but I'll need to raid my hubby's tool kit first ... lol 😉. It certainly looks like you had so much fun with your dear friend Annie too! Then there is your beautiful calligraphy, which I'm totally in awe of - it's stunning! Thanks for the inspiration and wishing you happy Friday and weekend! J 😊 x

Caty said...

Wualaaa this is an amazing Art journal cover !! I love love it Astrid, love the hot glued tree, both parts are wonderful !! The colours are so lovely, fantastique details too !! Great !
I wish you a very happy weekend,
Big hugs, Caty

Meggymay said...

A fantastic project to celebrate AVJ's 5th Birthday. The textures using the heat gun looks amazing.
Yvonne xx

Redanne said...

What a fabulous result you achieved with the glue gun Astrid, your journal is gorgeous, the patina is so beautiful. The journal cover has such a wonderful 'organic' look to it and how lovely to create it alongside Annie too. I know I have not joined in much of late but it has been a real pleasure seeing your wonderful art over the years, as well as getting to know you as a friend. Hugs, Anne xx

suzieq23 said...

Astrid, this journal cover is so so cool! I just love it. So vintage, and grungy, and unique. Hope you dont mind if I use your inspiration to make one just like it. Thank you for great step-by-steps.

S@ndy Diller said...

The colors and textures on your journal are amazing. What a great way to celebrate our birthday, with a tribute to friendship. Love all of it. Hugs, S@ndy

Tracey@Hotchpotchcreations said...

What fun you and Annie must have had with that glue gun, it's a super technique and i'm sure you will find other ways to use it now you have had a play. Those colours really do look beautiful together reminding me of a garden plaque I once saw in a country garden whilst on holiday in Wales. A beautiful way to celebrate your journey and all the more enjoyed with good friends along the way. Thank you for sharing as always Astrid as you know I love it all.
Creative Hugs & AVJ Birthday wishes Tracey xx

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Wow.. Love the hot glue tree... Just a brilliant idea!!! Super gorgeous Astrid!

froebelsternchen said...

Just one word from me :
F*A*N*T*A*S*T*I*C


Nikki Acton said...

A fab post Astrid! Isnt it great when you meet with crafting friends and try different things... love the glue gun textures!!! (Feel the need to play......). Wow to your calligraphy - this is beautiful, I cannot imagine ever being able to do that!!! Wonderful to celebrate 5 years on AVJ (well nearly for 5 for me) with you, just wish our paths would cross at some point!!! Nikki xxx

Deb said...

What a beautiful journal cover Astrid, the natural organic feel of the 'tree of life' and the fabulous patina you achieved is so beautiful and so you! I want to thank you for all of your support and encouragement over the years as we've traveled the road together at A Vintage Journey, it was truly one of the best days of my life when I was asked to join A Vintage Journey as a Creative Guide. Although we've never met in person I consider all of you my friends and I hope that our journey will continue together for many, many more years to come! Deb xo

Jackie PN said...

What a cool journal cover! The first looks at it,made me think of Sleepy Hollow,so vintage,almost ancient! Then as I read on and saw it was with hot glue! WOW ! How cool!! Even the word journal is done so beautifully! Bravo on those colors!
Well, reading till the end and then looking at your script, Astrid,your writing skills are beyond amazing! You sure have captured the technique and may I say, if I did not know better,would swear that was printed! Fabulous! All of your practice has sure paid off!
Now,is there something you cannot do? LOL
sending big hugs and lots of love,Jackie xx

sarascloset said...

What a fabulous patina you've achieved on this journal cover, Astrid! I truly looks like aged copper! The hot glue gun technique is one I've wanted to try, and your flowing tree design is wonderful inspiration! Indeed, this will be a great journal to practice your penning! But it really looks like you need NO more practice--your sample is absolutely beautiful and skillful! Wow! You are one talented lady! Sending hugs and apologies for being so late!

Julia Aston said...

How very fun to craft with Annie and to learn about using hot glue like this! What a wonderful cover you created - love the texture the glue gives and the beautiful colors you used Astrid! And what gorgeous dip pen calligraphy you did on that lovely piece of paper - it is so even and straight - I think you are ready to teach the technique - your practice sure paid off - even your pen with its stand is beautiful!! well done! xx

Mac Mable said...

Stunning creation. Love the texture from the glue gun and the colours are glorious. Thank you for the step by step and love your text with the dip pen too. Tons of inspiration, thank you x.

A Pink said...

Your Journal is absolutely Stunning, Astrid. You have glue gun drawing down to a fine art - fantastic detailed design. I've given glue gun drwaing a go a couple of times and although its fun its the easiest especially when more detailed drawign is involved so all credit and 'hats off' to you for such a sterling job.
As for the colour palette - I'm well n truly sold and oh my your calligraphy penmanship is outstanding.

Thanks you so much for being such a great teammate and lovely friend, Astrid. I feel honoured and humbled to have been able to share the AVJ journey with you since I joined the team.
Heres to many more happy creative AVJ years together .
Hugs

Lagene said...

WOWZERS!!! This is absolutely GORGEOUS! Thanks for the details of how you created this journal cover!

Shari P said...

Fantastic Astrid!

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