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Small Hand-bound Shabby Chic Vintage Journal

Small Hand-bound Shabby Chic Vintage Journal

I probably should have put a bird on the cage....but it flew away!  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
I am showing you a small Journal I made last summer but never got around to posting on my blog.  I was going mad (or more mad than usual!) not having anything to show.......previous post gives the reason for my distinct lack of crafting.  So, I was churning through my photos and came across this little journal I made. I think when I started my blog I decided to show only projects from my first blog day onwards and not really considered previous projects which is silly really.  Ok, my pre-blog projects wont be quite as good as my projects now as I only really started crafting in April of last year.  And as I haven't been proper crafting for even a year yet, technically I'm still a beginner......so go easy on me, lol.
Anywhoodles, I think I did enough waffling in my last post that it can carry over for this one so without further ado (and waffly waffles from me) here is the wee journal I hand.  It sort of reminds me of a Victorian Steel Conservatory for some reason!
So this is it.  The individual pages inside are just blank unlined pages which I find handier than lined as I like to doodle in my journals. They are A6 in size so its a lovely wee Journal that can slip easily into a bag or even your coat pocket if you fancy being arty farty and going to the park, sitting next to a water fountain and writing poetry in your little journal......all the while trying to look very deep in thought whilst really trying to fish out the money from the fountain without getting caught!!!!  I saw you!! lol  

I think this is the only project I have EVER made that hasnt got all my own handmade flowers on it.  There is only one of mine on here which is one of my very early ones....the scrunched one in the corner, lol

I used wee red and white flowers on green wire but kept them on the wires and wrapped it around the bars of the Tim Holtz Caged Bird die to make it look like the flowers and stems had enveloped the cage after years of growing.  I think this is what reminds me of an old Victorian conservatory.  The old pitted metal with vines wrapped around the metal structure.  I added little green vine leaves also.  I put a wide organza trim along the bottom and spine side of the book and then dyed some lace with a homemade glimmer mist I came up with just to make it extra shabby chic looking.  I didnt want it to be a crisp and clean cream coloured lace. I wanted it to appear old and discoloured and worn.

I embossed the die cut cage in Antique gold embossing powder but I wanted it to look aged and pitted almost.  So after adding 2 layers of the gold embossing powder, when it was still hot and melty I sprinkled in some lava black embossing powder just by pinching some between my fingers and sprinkling it here and there in the warm gold embossing liquid and heat set it also.  It gave it the effect of pitting and wear and tear in the metal gold coloured cage.  I love how it turned out.  I them added some wee charms off the cage.

I made a bookmark in the spine of the Journal with ribbon and added a ruby red Crystal to the end of it.

The book was covered in a K&Co paper which was originally cream coloured but I again sprayed it with my homemade glimmer mist and used distress ink also.  I heat set it and tried to pool the glimmer mist in sections to make it look a bit old and battered. I added 3 wee pearls to the top right of the book just to balance the cover out a bit more.  A small wee touch but I think it worked well.

And thats it folks.  Another wee journal I made from scratch.  They are extremely easy to make.  I promise I will redo my Bookbinding tutorial videos and get them up asap so you can make your own if you fancy a go.

Toodles Noodles.....Lee aka Crafty Loops xx
Would you like to buy me a coffee?  Here is the link to my Ko-Fi page link.  Thank you so much xx


Comments

  1. Your birds gone the same place as my daughters Lee.

    Few years ago now, but my youngest son who is ten years younger than the 'youngest of the eldest batch' if that makes sense (we sort of stared again after the first three approached their teens)opened his sisters bird cage to let her canary have "a longer fly" !! Needless to say, never to be seen again.

    I really love what you have done with your journal and everything blends together so beautifully. I've looked at the pretty birdcage dies so many times, but always think "what would I do with that".

    B x

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  2. Great journal Lee TFS!
    hugs Alyson x

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  3. Hi Lee, This is beautiful, as are all your creations - Beautiful flowers and I love that birdcage design, just wonderful, Hugs, Teresa xx

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  4. Beautiful journal Lee,love all your detail...
    Mandy x

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  5. What a beautiful creation. I love the colors and the wonderful details.

    Hugs Jannie

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  6. Piękna i niezwykle oryginalna:)))

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  7. wow wow wow now I just love seeing your work when it pops out from my dashboard, as I know that I am going to see something awesome and this is no exception and don't worry about the little bird to be honest so much to look at sort of did not miss him
    Hugs Kate xx

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  8. It doesn't matter how long ago you made it Lee, its still beautiful!
    You are so funny, your posts crack me up!
    Hugs Laurie xx

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  9. Wow this is stunning Lee what a beautiful book and I love all the embellies! Hugs Rebekah xx

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  10. It's beautiful Lee and not cheating that you made it a while back!

    Confession time.... I didn't read to the end of your post (slaps on hand).... I'm tired and need my bed, and thought if I read to the end I'd be asleep in my computer chair!! But I promise I'll catch up with you next time..

    Hugs
    Christine x

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  11. A beautiful journal. Love all the wonderful details.
    Mags
    x

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  12. Stunning as always, you clever thing! xx

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  13. Stunning Journal Lee, love all the gorgeous details.
    Wendy xx

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  14. Hi Lee, I love this amazing creation hun. The birdcage looks so gorgeous entwined in the roses and the charms are gorgeous. Love it!

    Donna x

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  15. Hiya Lee, How are ya hun??? Gorgeous journal/memory book. How beautiful and your flower is stunning as always. So beutiful, must have a go at blinging up my memory books more. Anyway hun, check out my blog today, as there is a little surprise for you. Hugs LIsa x

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  16. wow this is stunning lee.really love the gorgeous birdcage and fabulous pretty details :D

    xx coops xx

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  17. That is such a stunning album Lee, love those little charms hanging from the cage and my first thought: 'oh good, the bird flew away', lol! Ira x

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  18. Love the journal Lee and the gorgeous bird cage. So looking forward to the book binding tutorial.xx

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  19. Love this journal Lee and you've given me some more ideas of how to use that die! Thank you hun and I hope you are back to crafting soon Karen x

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  20. Love it Lee,soooo Beautiful n imaginative.Hugs xxx

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  21. Wonderful journal Lee, such gorgeous detail! Loved reading your previous post too, you are so funny! Love Jayne. x x

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  22. Hi Lee,
    Thanks for the e-mail I'll get your surprise candy off to you,have a lovely day,creating magic..lol...
    Mandy x

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  23. A wonderful journal, so very pretty and fits our challenge perfectly. Thanks for joing us at Craft Room Challenge and good luck. Julia xx

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  24. Oh, my, but I do love this. Your embossing idea to add some black powder to make it look old is genius! I might have to steal, er ... borrow it. :)

    Thanks for joining us at Shopping Our Stash!

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  25. This is just gorgeous Lee, I love the old birdcage and agree that it looks like an old Victorian conservatory. It's beautiful with the flower stems winding around the bars and the little charms hanging fromt he bottom, and that dyed lace is fabulous. Maddy x

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  26. Beautiful creation.

    So sorry we can't accept this for the prize draw, cause our challenge is published the 6 th March!
    Hope you can join us with another work!
    Craft-Room Challenge DT Mervi

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  27. Beautiful journal cover love how you gilded the bird cage that 'trick' with the Lava Black ep is brilliant. Thank you for sharing with us at Craft-Room Challenge, good luck XOXO Zoe XOXO

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  28. This is stunning, I love how you've embossed the birdcage with the sprinkling of black - it's very effective - and your handmade flower is gorgeous! Really beautifully altered. Thanks for joining in with us at the Craft-Room Challenge, and good luck.

    Maria x

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  29. Hi Lee...love this beautiful creation. It is just so pretty.
    Debbie x

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  30. Really gorgeous little journal I love the way that you have twisted the flower stems around the cage and the charms are a brilliant finishing touch, beautiful papers too
    Lindsay xx

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  31. How fabulous is this .I love vintage Hugs Elaine

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  32. A beautiful journal Lee, I love it.
    xxx Hazel.

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Helloooooo! Anybody out there??!! Hey....there you are! Thanks for leaving a comment and stopping by my Blog. Lee x