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Mini Mixed Media Journals - featuring Elmer's productsI love all the mixed media altered journaling that's out there right now. I thought I might make myself a couple of little books with prepared paper that I could doodle in when the fancy struck. No need to wait for paint to dry, I can jump right in!
For this project I used the following materials...
- CraftBond Permanent Dot Runner
- Elmer's Painters - Neon
- X-ACTO Gripster Craft Knife
- X-ACTO Corner Rounder Punch
- X-ACTO Self-Healing Cutting Mat
- Pages from discarded old books
- Scrapbooking paper
- A stapler
- Paintbrush
- Water
I like to use old paper in my work. Old paper is quite different than modern paper. It generally has a higher cotton content, absorbs pigments better and is more durable. Sometimes old paper can be quite brittle, but often it can be crinkled, folded, squeezed with nary a tear. It's great fun to work with!
For this project I began by saturating an old page with some water.
I let the water absorb for a few moments and then started to dab the page with the Elmer's Painters acrylic paint markers.
I added more layers of paint and water.
Using a cloth I dabbed at the painted areas. I also smudged, rubbed, squished, folded and even crumpled some pages.
I did a fair bit of experimenting with the Elmer's Painters. If you shake them up and down, they will not leak BUT by quickly and firmly flicking them I managed to get a bit of a splatter on the page. I also tried dipping the tips in water, then dabbing on the page, the paint bled and spread much more than when I simply applied directly to the page. I continued to work and experiment until the desired effect was achieved.
I'm pretty impatient so I like to iron my pages dry. Ironing any pages that you crumpled up has the added bonus of giving a nifty textured effect.
Next, I trimmed up my pages to the desired size using the X-ACTO Gripster Craft Knife and the Self-Healing Cutting Mat. When it comes to cutting straight clean lines, nothing beats a good sharp X-ACTO blade and steel ruler. Be sure to do your cutting on a self-healing mat. They're really useful and will save your work surface a lot of potential damage. The X-ACTO mat is great because the inch and half inch lines are clearly marked with different line weights.
For these books I simply used a folded piece of thick, double-sided scrapbooking paper for the covers and stapled the edge.
To finish them off, I used the Corner Rounder Punch. I know it's a small thing but I think the rounded corners add a nice little touch. Finally, using the CraftBond Permanent Dot Runner I affixed a small mixed media twinchie and ATC to the covers.
Ta da! Now to pop them in my purse and start doodling with some CraftBond Gel Pens
