Bible Study Journals

Our church ladies' new Bible study will be based on One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and we will be asked to start journaling. Several of us got together to make our own journals.  

Here is the first one I made as a trial piece.  I covered some chipboard with white gesso and used ModPodge to attach tissue paper that I had stamped and colored with Distress Inks.  I added some rustic embellishments to complete the cover.  Later I cut pages to fit and added a back.  They all stay together using book rings.

The rest of the journals were made using composition books.

Tricia's journal has a travel theme using stamping, tickets, rosette, vintage photo,
and some Tim Holtz Idea-ology elements. She also stamped travel images on some of the pages.

Mary used cardstock from TPC Granny's Attic for her cover plus assorted bought and made embellishments.   She added coordinating fabric edging (also from Granny's Attic).

Marcia used some other cardstock from the Granny's Attic collection. 
I love the framed vintage photo of the little island girl listening to her sea shell!

Bonnie actually used some of her Christmas cardstock (minus the reindeer), American Girl embellishments, a fan she created, and a small flower. I love the grosgrain ribbon and bow.

I had fun making this journal for Patti.  The cover is Tim Holtz's Melange tissue wrap glued to pale blue cardstock and a second large butterfly was colored and cut to give a 3D effect.  

I finished my journal just in time for Bible study this Tuesday. The vintage photo is my very favorite and the boys' faces in the filmstrip are my own Gouwens guys!

Let the journaling begin!

February 2014 Tim Holtz Tag

This February tag used embossed stenciled hearts in shades of spun sugar, worn lipstick, and barn door over a tag aged with DI in pumice stone, milled lavender, and frayed burlap. I went with a color coordinated vintage valentine as its centerpiece and embellished it with an alcohol inked acrylic heart, voile bow, antique tatting, and two pale pink paper roses I made. 

I decided to ditch the sentiment and go with the vintage image instead. 

Even though I was quite pleased with my vintage tag, I wasn't very satisfied with the embossing powders I had when I made my first tag. These are my first chalkboard attempts using the supplies I had on hand. You can see why I abandoned them.

My disastrous first attempts using clear EP

Here I tried white EP (left) - clear EP (center) - and pink Distress Powder (right)

I was frustrated that I couldn't master Tim's chalkboard technique so I finally broke down and ordered both EPs used in Tim's tag as well as his Distress Embossing Ink (these tags are getting pretty expensive :)

For this second tag I chose pink background tones (spun sugar, tattered rose, and victorian velvet), but used a big, sparkly red heart as the focal point. The Valentine ticket used what I term 'chalk relief' since the chalk rubbed off the clear embossed print yet made the ticket much easier to read! 

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the all-time best valentine I ever received!!! A few years ago when I got home from work, I found this carved out in our backyard. You can see how gigantic is was in relation to the swing at the top of the picture. It still makes me smile:)

Although I will never top that one, this is the valentine I made for my husband this year. The card has a band to keep it closed. When the band is removed, the entire valentine is revealed.

The valentine gift I made for my DH was inspired by a Pinterest post by Olga using Graphic45 papers. I used an assortment from my cardstock stash.

These are individual mini books to be used as a desk organizer.
I think they will look better when they are filled.

Even though I made a lot of other valentines this year, I neglected to take pictures of them all. I took photos of a few.

For some reason this card looks orange in the photo. The true colors were shades of pink and red.

An idea for the inside of a card is often more difficult for me to come up with, 
but using doilies is a no-brainer for a valentine!

I love vintage valentines. There are many royalty-free images online to help create an antique look.
(Please excuse my blurry iPhone photo.)