Tiddly Inks Challenge #23 - Crackle or Glaze

Hello Everyone!!

Happy Friday!!  Today I'm bringing you a creation based on this weeks awesome Tiddly Inks challenge.  We were challenged to use Glaze or Crackle in our projects in anyway.

I recently picked up the GORGEOUS new image Door Of Dreams , Flutterflies (which come in a fantastic set of 3 - all 3 different sizes!!), and Key (it comes with the paper but I only used the Key for this project).

For those of you who do not know, I'm a Journal and Notebook Junkie.  I can't explain it...I use one for a bit and then put it away and pick up another and round and round I go!  I never use one until it's totally done and then move on.  I wish I could but it's not how I am wired.

Anyway - I've had this spiral bound, 5 subject notebook for sometime and it's my "journal" of sorts for now so I wanted to really gorgeous it up!!  And I was feeling in a whimsical and romantic mood when I chose my colors. 

I started by covering the cover, which has a curvy shape on the right - hence the raspberry paper peeking out from inside, with a pretty light blue slightly patterned paper from SU!.  I then added another contrasting "school style" paper as a strip along the bottom.  I love any DP that looks like notebook paper, graph paper, ledger paper, etc.

I then started working on my door.  I printed it out on PTI white cardstock - the heaviest that I've found in the industry - it's simply the best.  I glued the printed stock onto a piece of thin cardboard knowing how heavy the glaze can be.  I then set to coloring it with my Copic and Prismacolor markers, gold paint pen and my white gel pen to add some extra distressing on the door frame.  I then printed the door again on a piece of blueish/greenish designer paper and paper pieced the door panels for some added dimensional love.  I pulled in a bit of the raspberry due to the color of the notebook paper edges so it would match properly. I then coated the entire door in Mod Podge and set it aside to dry.

I worked on my Flutterflies and key using the same markers and coated them with Mod Podge also.  I left the Flutterflies with the coating of Mod Podge only and trimmed them out.  I coated the Key in Crackle Glaze as well as the door.  However, after leaving it overnight, I came to the Key, which had crackled properly and the door which was just heavily glazed.  I think it's because I put the Crackle Glaze on the door really heavily with a paint brush so perhaps I disturbed the natural curing process.  Oh well!  The glaze looks fierce!!

 

Now that everything had dried, I trimmed all of my images out.  I worked on my left hand panel area first.  I used another piece of really pretty romantic paper from SU! covered by a gorgeous piece of creamy taupe lace from Gauche Alchemy.  I didn't want any adhesive to stick through the lace (as that would annoy me every time I used the book) so I held the lace to the paper and ran it through my sewing machine a few times on using a wavy, zig zag stitch in bright blue thread.

I then attached it to the notebook along with the Flutterflies and Key.

Now..the door.  (my favorite!)  Using my Exacto knife I cut around the door so that it would open.  I had to be very delicate at first to make sure that I didn't damage the glaze or image underneath.  But it's really sturdy.

 I printed out a fabulous quote by famous sculptor Henry Moore "To be an artist is to believe in life".  It jumped out at me and needed to be on the cover of this book.  Using MS Word I printed it on more SU! DP and then added it to the back of the door along with a small strip of the same blue background paper to give it a bit of consistency.  I added a velcro dot to keep the door closed but easily openable when I need a little pep or boost.  =)

I truly love how this came out and I hope you do as well!

Please come play over at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog!!  It's a super fab place to be!!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith