Small Hand-bound Vintagy Shabby Chic Journal

Small Hand-bound Vintagy Shabby Chic Journal

Shabby Chic Journal with removable charm

Hi folks........ITS THE WEEKEND..WOOWHOOOOO!

Now that I have gotten that sudden act of madness out of the way, I shall begin.  Haaahaaa, sorry, Im just laughing at myself saying "sudden act of madness".  I think its fair to say that "sudden" is not the correct term.  Lets face it, I think it would more much more accurate if I was to say "sudden act of sanity" in my case.  Its probably the more rare behaviour on my part.

Anywhoodles, before I start into how sane or in fact insane I am I would like to share with you this little journal I made.  Its quite a small wee thing, I think the pages are about A6 in size so its a dinky dainty wee journal.  As some of you may know, and indeed some may not I am self-taught in Bookbinding.  Therefore, this pretty little journal is all made by me from scratch.  I made the signatures, sewed them together, made the covers, bound the book, decorated it etc.....its all done by me.  I havent just bought a notebook and decorated it.  No sireeee, this is all hand-bound by little old me.

So here are the photos (Photo heavy) and what Ive used to decorate it.  I also have a wee video of it at the end....AND.....Im talking in it!  Shock horror!  Well, Im kinda talking in it.....Im whispering but in my defence it was 6am in the morning when I filmed it and I didnt want to awaken sleeping Scrubby next door.

So here we go...

I covered the book in my lovely New Prima Paper I bought....yes dont faint, I actually bought some paper. Well it is part of my New Years Resolution....Im determined to have a paper stash!  This is from the Pixie Glen Collection.  I then used a lovely heart doily that I was kindly given in a DC swap from Maureen (Mojo on DC...thank you!).  I cut a strip of bling mesh from the roll and added it around the heart.

I wanted to protect the journals corners so I added these gorgeous metal book corners that I bought from ebay.  I love them, they are so pretty.

This dressform is from a beautiful new stamp set I bought from the Girl's Paperie.  Isnt in gorgeous. I coloured it will Victorian Velvet Distress Ink.  I curved the dressform slightly to give it dimension and put it on the front of the book with 3d foam so it sits off the front of the book and not just flat.

As much as it nearly died from frustration, I actually fussy cut between all the rungs of the dressform.  It was so bloomin' head pickling to do but ultimately it was worth it.

These wings were kindly sent to me by the lovely Karen (Redrottie), they are from a Tim Holtz die.  I coloured them again with Victorian Velvet distress ink and them glued a piece of stunning lace onto it.  I then added some stickles and blended it all over the wings.

I love this rose trim from SaCrafters on Zibbet (link no longer available). I have more ordered on the way for me and my buddy Maddy (Izzwizz).  I just cut a strip off the wide length and put it around the side and bottom of the journal.  I added little pearl beads to the centre of each rose.

I just love this cameo and it went perfectly with the vintagy shabby chic style of the journal

When I made the covers for the journal I put a little hole at the top of the spine using my Big Bite and added a gold eyelet.  I added a small piece of silver chain so I could hook and unhook my swivel clasp charm to and from it.  I added a pretty pink tassel on the charm too so it could be used as a bookmark.  But I wanted the charm to be a multi functional embellishment so it can unhook and be placed on your handbag, mobile phone, necklace, keys, belt etc. 

Obviously, I made the wee beaded charms to go onto the swivel clasp.  I love the beautiful glass beads taken from a necklace I dismantled that I bought in a charity shop

The back of the book.  Ohhhh lookie lookie, I got my very own handmade stamp made for me.  This stamp was excellently made from the wonderfully talented Nicky from Stampingallday.  Please do visit her website, she's incredible fast and is very willing to work with you and cater to your needs.  I emailed her to tell her what type of stamp I would like and she got back to me immediately and I had my stamp the very next day.  She is very sweet and so great to work with.  Honestly if you want to have a stamp with your details on it please do visit her website here.  Her work is of the highest quality and her prices are so reasonable.

Just a little nosey of the inside

And this is it.  One cute wee small hand bound vintagy shabby chic journal.  Made by Moi.  I love it, I think its so cute.  I didn't want to add any of my handmade flowers as I didn't want the front to be too bulky.  I want it to be a functioning journal, not just a pretty book to look at and not be able to write in it.

Here's a wee whispering video if you want to see it.

And that's it from me folks. I hope you like what Ive made.  As usual if you have any questions, please ask.  I have recorded a Bookbinding tutorial of the process of making this book.  I havent got it edited as yet, but as soon as I do and have it up on Youtube I will let you all know.  So, if you want to be able to make a journal like this, I will take you through it step by step.  I will get that video done asap.

Toodles Noodles....Lee aka Crafty Loops xx

If you want, you can buy me a coffee which helps me maintain this blog so I can make bigger and better content, simply click on the image or copy the link below.  No pressure at all, its just if you want to.  Cheers big ears!

https://ko-fi.com/craftyloops