Friday 7 February 2020

Against The Grain ~ A Vintage Journey ~ New Challenge

Hi everybody! There's a lovely new challenge over on the A Vintage Journey blog. Sara Emily is our fabulous host and she has called her challenge, 'Against The Grain'. This is what she has to say about it.......
"Most of us love the look of wood and there are a lot of art/craft products out there that help us achieve beautiful wood grain, including stamps, stencils, embossing folders, paper and mixed media products. We would love to see how you add a touch of wood texture or appearance to your vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk projects."
You can see Sara Emily's fabulous project as well as many other inspiring pieces by the AVJ Creative Guides, using this link.
I've used Eileen Hull's wonderful Passport Die to create this journal with a real wooden cover! This is how I did it......
Some years ago, I bought a bag of mixed pieces of wood veneer. I knew that somewhere along the line, I'd be able to use it! Miraculously, I was able to find it in my somewhat, overloaded, craft room. I chose a couple of pieces that had some visible grain and were not too dark, as I wanted the stamping to show up well. I then ran them through my Big Shot, using the Passport Die.....
I also cut two covers from mount board and adhered them together. I used Book Binding Glue, which worked very well. I put a a mat, with some heavy weights on top of the covers while they dried. I was very pleased with the results! I had a piece of leather in my bits bag, and used this to cut the journal spine. As the leather was quite soft, I decided to adhere it to a piece of soft grey board.......
Once the covers were dry, I used Staz On Ink with, with some of my trusty Tim Holtz stamps, to make a design on the front and back cover....
I also used a pyrography tool to add a few 'distress' marks here and there. The tool is something else I've had for years!! I covered the inside covers with a couple of strips of Tim Holtz's collage paper....
At this point, I was pretty pleased with the way my book was coming together and even more so, once I attached the spine. I used contact adhesive, to ensure a good bond between the leather and the board covers.......
 Before attaching the signatures, I gave the covers a polish with beeswax polish. This really showed the grain up beautifully.......
I used tea dyed paper for the signatures and attached them with some fine linen thread...
 I toyed with the idea of adding other embellishments, but I decided against it, as this project, for me, is all about the wood. and it rather went 'Against The Grain' to add anything else! 
 We would love you to join us for our February challenge. Just hop over to the A Vintage Journey blog with this link and you'll find plenty of inspiration from the Creative Guides, as well as all of the details of how to share your projects with us. I look forward to seeing you there ! x




8 comments:

  1. Toni, standing ovation from me! I love that you found those veneers in your stash, and dolled them up with your perfect stamping and distressing from your old pyrography tool. The leather binding only adds to this journal's vintage beauty. It's just delightful and such a creative project for our challenge. Thank you for your inspiration and for being such a wonderful teammate! Big hugs! Sara Emily

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  2. Wow, such an amazing project! It all came together so beautifully and the wooden veneer looks perfect with the TH stamps and staining - stunning 😁. Thanks for the inspiration and wishing you a Happy February! Hugs, Jo x

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  3. This is fantastic. Saw it shared on The Eileen hull designs Facebook page. So happy to “discover” you. Amazing work

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  4. This is just fabulous, Toni - the combination of wood and leather gives it that real masculine look to go perfectly with the stamps you chose. I love that you used actual wood veneers (I've got some hanging around too - though I think I may have donated them to the dollshouse museum stash - but I can still get hold of them there too, of course!), and the distressed papers inside are great too. A wooden treat!
    Alison x

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  5. Toni, your passport journal is amazing. The veneer (well found!) and the leather work beautifully together and I love, love the stamps you used. The pyrography is just the icing on the cake. Love, love, love this! I hope you will consider joining in with us at Mini Album Makers this month? Hugs, Anne xx

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  6. Gorgeous! Perfect use of all those materials and supplies xoxo

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  7. What a fabulous journal Toni, love that you used the wood veneers along with the pyrography tool, stunning results! Thanks so much for sharing it, Deb xo

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  8. Absolutely brilliant Toni!!! I saw it briefly on Instagram already, but to see the detail here is just wonderful! The wood veneers are so clever and give such a cool effect and I adore how you used the Professor here! Great project!!!

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