When is a Journal not a Journal.....?

Hello Friends

All this month Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team are sharing projects made with Eileen's flower dies.  My project includes the Pansy Flower die (Sizzix 661109).

I really do love using Eileen Hull's Passport Journal die, I have made many journals, but I wanted to see if there was another way of using it... so.... I have created a Book Box.  From the front and side it looks exactly like a journal....

A few steps on how I created the box... I was looking to create a 'rusty' box and a bright flower embellishment.

1)  To create the flower I coloured cream canvas fabric with ClearSnap Crafter's ink by Ann Butler for Color Box, in Aquamarine**.  I applied the ink to my craft mat, spritzed it with a little water and then painted it directly on the canvas.  This wonderful ink is permanent once heat set.

2)  I die cut the flower using Eileen's Pansy Flower die, cutting two sets of petals.  I wet each piece with lots of water, scrunched them up and left them to dry.  Once dry I assembled the flower and added a large pearl brad to the centre (embossed with Baked Texture Patina Oxide by Kim Evans/Seth Apter).

3)  The butterfly is from AALLandCreate *, designed by the talented Tracy Evans.  I coloured the butterfly with Ann Butler's Aquamarine and also DecoArt Quinacridone Gold and then fussy cut it.

4)  After die cutting the Passport die pieces (including the spine - not shown), I covered them with canvas.  The canvas was first painted with a wash of Paynes Grey by DecoArt.

5)  Next, I coated the pieces with Quinacridone Gold by DecoArt, this gives a beautiful rusty appearance.

6)  The covers were embossed with my favourite of Eileen's Embossing Folders - Sunburst (Sizzix 659879).
7)  I cut a strip of matboard to 11.1/4" x 7/8", painted it the same as the covers and embossed it, this was applied to three sides of the box bottom, with strong glue, to form the box element.
8)  I ran the ink pad over the embossing on both the covers and the box element, to give a slight 'patina' look.

9)  The spine element was not covered in canvas, I simply painted it in the same way as the covers.  I added the elastic to give the box the appearance of a journal.

10)  The front and back pieces were added to the spine before the box element was added, in the same way you would prepare a journal.  

11)  I also used Ann's ink to colour the vintage seam binding I used for the box closure.  I simply smooshed some onto my mat and dragged the seam binding through until coated.  I just love the versatility of these inks!  I dried the binding with my heat tool, to set the ink.

12)  I attached the seam binding to the top and bottom of the box. I die cut two further journal covers, painted them and added them to the inside of the covers for stability and also to hold the seam binding securely.

.A view of the inside of the assembled box.  I lined it with some turquoise felt and added another stamped image from Tracy's stamp set.

I really love the flower and butterfly on my box, but if you wanted to create a 'safe' box you could leave these off.

I hope you might be inspired to create a box yourself!  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below.  

Stamps and Stencils challenge this month is 'Fake It' - I have created fake rust on my box and created a box to look like a journal..... and the butterfly and dragonfly are stamped (hope that is enough to qualify !).

I am also adding my rusty book box to Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #48 where the challenge is 'Rust'.

Thanks so much for looking.  You can see what my teammates are making this month by visiting Eileen Hull's blog HERE.

Hugs, Anne xx

Stockists for products I used:

** I was lucky enough to meet the very talented Ann Butler when I visited Creativation this year, she gave me a set of her beautiful inks to play with.  Sadly the inks are not available in the UK :( but other stockists can be found here.

*  A worldwide list of stockists for AALLandCreate stamps can be found here.

In the USA, Eileen stocks some of her dies in her Etsy Shop.