Finally, it's been finished!

Thank you all for your patience while I get round to uploading the finished results of my Brighton minibook! Just as I was finishing it up I found a few more photos I just had to cram in, so it's ended up with quite a few pages more than I intended, but, hey, who makes plans and sticks to them anyway? Ok, here goes -

I wanted a really tactile cover as it really adds something to the whole appeal of minibooks I think. This has been put together using a heavy weight corrugated cardboard base, gessoed, then layered with a good old coat of texture paste. I used sequin waste and pushed the paste through this to get the pebbled foreground. Once it was dry I painted it and gave it a layer of thick Golden Gel which makes for a durable finish with a matt surface. I couldn't resist a cheeky little bit of glitter Mod Podge on the pebbles too. Lastly, I painted some old chipboard letters white and stuck them on the horizon part of the design. As usual, there's plenty of scraps of material and ribbons to decorate the book rings that hold it all together.

The honeycomb background and FUN arrow are diecut from my Silhouette

 

 




Finally, the last page holds a little pocket for tickets, receipts etc. It did take a while to put together but is was worth it as it really does capture the essence of our holiday and the girls love looking at it. It's even been passed round the family when asked how are holiday was and its so much more interesting than a showing standard photo album!!
    The papers are a mix of American Crafts Neapolitan (great summery icecream colours!) and a mega pack by Recollections called The Sweetest Thing as they worked well together. I designed and printed off the little journalling labels along with some digital elements from the American Crafts Neapolitan range that match the papers.
   I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my minibook!
Leave me a comment if there is anything you would like more details about...
Thanks for popping in!
Happy crafting,
Jak xxx

I've started my holiday minibook!

I really wanted to get stuck into this before the memories fade... so I made a start this weekend. I wanted the cover to have a seaside/beach theme as we spent so much time there - the weather was so beautiful we just had to make the most of our sunny days. It felt right to get a bit arty with the gel pastels so I've put together a seascape that goes over both the front and back covers. I'm actually waiting on it to dry as I do this quick post. I'm not sure what else is going to happen on the cover in regard to the title - I haven't thought too much about that yet but I'm sure something will evolve as I put together the photos and pages of the book. Speaking of which, they are at the top of this pic. I've gone for sweet, ice-cream colours mixed up with some neutrals inside and those AC Dear Lizzy Neopolitan papers came in handy again for this. As usual, this mini will hopefully have an eclectic mix and match feel to it. I've deliberately made sure none of the pages inside are the same size, some of which have apertures or fold outs or pockets in them. Here's the pic as a taster of what's to come...

Pop by again soon for an update on how things are progressing!
Thanks
Jak! xxx

Hi! It's me!

   Well hello! Apologies for not posting anything recently - life just got a bit busy and I let things slip a bit here! I'm here now tho and I have two pieces of mixed media art to share with you this morning. These were made as gifts for two of my lovely friends who thankfully really liked them - phew! It's always a worry when you give a homemade gift. Family members are always supportive of my creative endeavours but sometimes they can be a bit biased in their opinions which is by no means a bad thing - creativity should always be encouraged - no matter what the media is - it could be crafting, painting, putting the shelves up or just making the tea! I'm a firm believer that if it comes from the heart then it will usually be a thing of beauty, integrity or sometimes both! So I was really relieved when the girls opened their pressies and saw what I'd made them! They were genuinely delighted! I'm sure neither of them will mind me sharing the images here with you all - it's all about inspiring and sharing here...
This first one is Angie's pressie...

Happy birthday Ange!!

And this one is Elaine's

   As you can see I seem to have a bird thing happening at the moment - it must be spring or something! We don't get as many little birdies in our garden as we used to - having three cats kinda puts them off naturally, but we do get families of house martins nesting above the bay window of our living room. They drive the cats insane with their darting and weaving and comings and goings all day long heehee! I'm pretty sure it won't be long till they arrive for their summer holiday here in Sunny Dundee.
  So, back to the creative stuff - the collages were put together in a similar way as the Dwell With Your Kind one in the previous post. These ones are a bit smaller - A5, and are on canvasses instead of board this time. Both incorporate vintage bird images printed from a laser printer - very important this bit as prints from an inkjet printer don't like coming into contact with any water based paints, inks glues etc. and end up a blurry mess. There's old book text layered in the background but it's the layer of gesso on top that enables the colours to slide about and play with each other. Those gel crayons are so vibrant and creamy that I'd be happy just to look at that on my wall! I always finish off my art with a layer of Golden Gel Medium. I prefer to use the one that dries with a bit of texture so you can see brush strokes and uneven bits - I feel it just gives a bit more tactility too.
   Anyways, I hope you like them too and if you're having a lazy day, why not indulge yourself in something creative. It's good for the soul dontcha know!
Go on, you know you want to!
Love Jak
xxx