ROUND 5 : JOURNAL MADE AND READY TO ROLL!! Wendy Mason:

I have spent the past five days getting my round 5 journal ready to send out for another exciting adventure. While deciding what I wanted to make, I came across the lace covered envelope that was sent to me by Faye in a recent flowish journal swap and I knew I really wanted to use this as my cover. It is sturdy and flexible and light wieght, and would be great for traveling around our beautiful country to other artists.

 This is what the fabric covered envelope from Faye looked like on the outside.

This is the inside of the cover also showing the cardboard strips for the spine

I cut the size I wanted, 7inches by 9 inches which to me is a comfortable size to use. Then I grabbed my bronze acrylic paint and brushed it over the outside cover...I was in a 'bronze' coloured mood...LOL

 I had to strengthen the spine so I cut two rounghly 1 inch strips that I used to place on the inside and outside of the spine. It wasn't staying glued with the wet glue I had on hand so I ended up sewing the strips together using my old but working sewing machine and even though a little crooked, it turned out fine. I also painted the strips in bronze to match the patch painting I had on the cover.

 Sewing the two strips on for the spine wasn't as hard as I first thought it would be. I just took my time and went slow so I didn't break the needle.

 I was very happy with the way the outside cover of my journal was looking but for the inside I wanted something a bit different, so I glued down a heap of magazing words onto a piece of paper and then photocopied the word covered paper in black and white.

This is the sheet of paper I used to glue down the magazine words then photocopy

I then used black paint to paint around the edges of the inside cover.

And then used double sided tape and a glue stick to glue down the photocopies on the inside front and back cover of my journal...I liked it a lot and it was different.

Once happy with my cover I ripped the 130gsm pages, 7x9 in,  for the journal and used a basic phamphlet stitch with three holes and using organza ribbon to sew them in to the cover.  As you can see in the picture above.

I am very happy with the look and feel of my journal for Round 5 in our Australian Art Journal Swap and I look forward to seeing and working in all the other journal in this round. Thank you xox