Eileen Hull - Heartfelt Creations Journal die

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all you UK Mums today!

Today I am sharing another journal that I made with Eileen Hull's fabulous new Journal die, by Sizzix,  which is due out very soon now!  You can Pre-order it now in the UK from Country View Crafts HERE.

As I love anything to do with the sea, I used Andy Skinner's Fossil stencil, Andy's Mega Crackle Technique and lots of DecoArt products to create the Journal cover.

This is how the journal starts off, this one was cut with Sizzix |Mat Board which is similar to Mount Board, it is very sturdy and will take a lot of wet products without warping.

I used Andy's Mega Crackle Technique to get to this stage (do dry naturally after each stage).
1) Cover the piece with Gesso or Paint (I used a mix of black, green and blue paint)
2)  Apply a coat of DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackle Medium
3) Apply a coat of DecoArt Crackle Paint
4)  Apply a coat of DecoArt Ultra Matte Varnish
 I applied a wash of DecoArt Paint in very watered down Prussian Blue

I stencilled in black and once it was dry I stencilled again with DecoArt Modelling Paste.

At this point I was not happy with the black showing through and I gave the whole thing a coat of thinned down white Gesso.  It did cover up some of the crackles but I wasn't too unhappy about that, it still had a nice 'rough' surface.

Next, I applied a wash of my favourite colour of DecoArt paint - Cobalt Teal Hue randomly over the base and Quinacridone Gold (again watered down) for the stencilled fossil area.

I love the colours now!  Next, I over-stamped the journal using Cobalt Teal Hue and a bubble stamp from IndigoBlu.  The sentiment is also from the same IndigoBlu set - Under the Sea.  I added lots of splatters in blue and white paint.  To finish off I added one of the closures that comes with the die, and some hand dyed ribbon.

I love to finish off my journals with a matching hinge clip and charm.  The clip and the seahorse were embossed with Stampendous embossing powder and I strung some tiny shells with elasticated jewellery thread.

I created three signatures for the inside, in the style of a junk journal, using up papers from my 'left over' box.

I hope you like my sea themed, Andy Skinner inspired Journal!

If you would like to see another of my Journals, there is another one being shown by Susan from Country View Crafts HERE.  It is one that I have not shown before and it is quite different to the one I am showing here today.

I am so thrilled that Susan at Country View Crafts has Eileen Hull's fabulous new HeARTfelt  Journal die on Pre Order too, at a fantastic price!

And last, but not least, Eileen Hull has created a Journal too, this is being featured over on the A Vintage Journey blog.  If you do have time, I hope you will have a look, it is a real beauty!

Thanks for you visit, hope to see you soon.
Hugs, Anne xx