Saturday, July 16, 2016

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Hi all! Welcome to the StencilGirl and Imagine Crafts Christmas in July Blog Hop! :)



I have had an amazing time with making my project for this fun hop. I have never participated in a Christmas in July project, so it was bit of a learning curve. But can it get any better? I get to play with my favorite stencils (from StencilGirl, of course!!) and some great products by Imagine Crafts! I am so excited to show you what I've made. 


Three things:

1. I love gelliprinting.
2. I love creating handmade books.
3. I have attempted a December Daily journal but I overthink my design every time, and so I don't get one ever finished during December, as it is a busy month!

So....this blog hop gave me the opportunity to pre-make one, and that's what I've done.

So the first pic is how my book looked originally. Then I got more ideas. And more ideas. So, it looks different now. I created more contrast and added some additional funky texture. Read on. :)




Step 1: Gelliprinted 15 sheets of white cardstock, BOTH sides. For this step, I did not spend much time thinking about the design of each print, I just got lovely textures, patterns and colours down.

 I used many different stencils (You will see them listed below.), using various colours of Golden paints including: Golden brand Primary Magenta, Teal and Turquois (Phthalo) and at least three crafts paints: Americana Bahama Blue, Americana Neon and Apple Barrel Fushia, plus white paint.


Decorative Folk Screen stencil by Gwen LaFleur.








Many more stencils and pages of course. 



Step 2: With metallic thread, I messily stitched each edge, somewhat along the paint lines on the edges of each print. (The 8"x10" Gelliplate is slightly smaller than the cardstock.)


Step 3: I folded each gelliprint in half, making signatures. Signatures are usually made up of several sheets of paper, but I pretended that each single sheet was one signature.



Step 3:Using the coptic stitch method, I stitched all the pages together with teal metallic thread. 



Now it is ready for my December Daily entries and the decorating!

You already saw the cover:



I added more detail to the initial gelliprint with paint and white gel pen. My favorite part: the puffy shapes you see!! THAT, my friends, was made with this fabulous magic puffy stuff called Amplify Neon by Imagine Crafts! I made a little video to show you how it works. See 

HERE

You doodle with it like you would a normal small-tipped bottle, and then you apply a heat gun to it until it puffs up. You stop heating it when it doesn't move anymore. So cool and so fun! See the product here: 


When cool, I added golden metallic paint to it. Yummy!

After finishing the cover, I was fully into Christmas themed mixed media and had to actually work on the inside of my book. 

I have always loved white Christmas trees with pink and turquoise decorations, but hubby prefers Charlie Brown trees, so that's what we always have. So why not use pink and turquoise to my heart's content on my journaling pages? I say YES!! So here are some in process pages:



See the yummy puff balls? That's the Amplify product. 

Well, I had more pages and photos to show you, but my phone is being glitchy tonight! I will blog more about this project soon.

Thanks for visiting and do not forget to enter the giveaway! ;) :)


Blog Hop Order

July 9:

July 16:

July 23:

What would a Blog Hop be without a GIVEAWAY??!!!

We'll be picking one lucky winner
to receive $100 in Gift Certificates – a $50 Gift Certificate for StencilGirl Products and
a $50 Gift Certificate for Imagine Crafts!
Take your time and visit each blog showcased July 9, 16, & 23 and leave your comments.
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
One comment per blog please.

You will have until Saturday, July 30th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
The winner will be notified by email and announced on
StencilGirl's Facebook page on Sunday, July 31st.

Best of luck, faithful followers and new visitors! 

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥


83 comments:

  1. What a sweet holidsy journal. I like that it's mixed media.

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    1. Hi, Melody! It's my first December Daily journal using mixed media, and it is a nice change up.:)

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  2. Oh my goodness Anna, I have never tried gelliprinting but I DO love to make handmade books, THIS is beautiful! So fun! NOW your book IS ready for December! LOL Great job and a fantastic tutorial!

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    1. Teresa, thanks so much! :) Once you start gelliprinting, you will not want to stop. LOL! I love how it is a great jumping off point when you're staring at a blank page. Often I feel like creating something, but don't know where to start. A print usually does the trick for me. :)

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  3. I really like how you left the folded edges of the papers exposed on the spine. Very colorful and makes you want to look inside right away! I've not seen this technique before!

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    1. That's why I love the coptic stitch! I tried it the first time with my DLP journal in 2014. https://artfulstories.blogspot.ca/2014/12/my-coptic-stitch-bound-dlp-journal.html :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Beautiful! I like the colors!

    (Annie)

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  5. I love this idea and planning one now and having fun with the gelli plate sounds terrific right now.
    Thanks for sharing this beautiful book

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    1. Thanks, Diane! I would love to see yours! Feel free to show me! I love seeing how others are inspired! :)

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  6. What a gorgeous book Anna - love all the gelli printing, and than you so much for using some of my stencils! Love what you did with them!

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    1. Thank you, Gwen! It's never hard coming up with something pretty with such spectacular stencils. You're amazing. ♥♥♥

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  7. I love your yummy puff balls. What will you put inside your new artsy book?

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    1. That stuff is so fun to use! I want every colour now. :) I will art journal, perhaps add photos, inside. See my new blog post and videos of how I've been decorating some of the pages. :) https://artfulstories.blogspot.ca/2016/07/december-daily-album-part-2.html

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  8. Great ideas for gelli printing!

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    1. Thanks, Pam! I'm always looking for reasons to gelliprint. LOL!

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  9. Totally love this, and those lucious colors too!! :)

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  10. Really nice project and I love the gelli prints you made!

    Evadotgronroosatcrickdotacdottuk

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    1. Thanks so much! Making books can be addicting!

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  11. I love the gelli-print pages and the way you sewed them together to make the journal!

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    1. Thank you, Catherine! Using up gelliprints are rewarding. I have such a huge stack of them (and growing!), so it's nice to use some up! :)

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  12. I love the colors in your gelli prints.

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  13. You tackled a difficult project and came thru with flying colors (pun intended!)

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  14. Love this so much. Your color combo is stunning. I did not see how you attached your covers...or did I just skip over that part? Thanks for sharing your beautiful ideas.

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    1. Hi, Rita! I thought I had answered your question already, but scrolling down, it appears there was a glitch. See my newer blog post https://artfulstories.blogspot.ca/2016/07/december-daily-album-part-2.html?m=1 where I have linked to the video tutorials on book binding I gleaned from. :) Thanks so much for leaving a comment! It is super nice to know that someone has visited. An encouragement to me!:)

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  15. Wow, this book is beautiful - you always seem to add your own twist to your artwork, I love it

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    1. Rachel, that is an amazing comment! Thank you! :)

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  16. Beautiful journal.....love the colors and the stitching around the pages.

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    1. I love the texture stitching brings to a project! Thanks! :)

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  17. Wow! That is awesome and so beautiful! Love it !!

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  18. I really like the book and the color scheme too.

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  19. Replies
    1. Hi Marilyn! I had fun with it. Thank you. :)

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  20. I'm really into journaling and will have to create a new journal with your idea!

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  21. Very nice! I am wanting to try this.

    Judy Neubert

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    1. Thanks Judy! The best of luck to you in the giveaway! :)

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  22. I love you book. You and I have the same taste in stencils - I have Gwen and ateaci's too. Love how you made them pop.

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    1. Thanks, Jill! :)I definitely favour some over others. ;)

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  23. Just wow! You will enjoy using this in December, it is lovely!

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    1. Hi Neva! I hope I don't forget to use it, haha! Thanks!

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  24. Love the colors. I'm looking up the puffy paint...b

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  25. Soooo, puff paint is "IN" again. Lovely colourful pages.

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  26. This project has my fingers itching to jump in and do! I love the colors and books are my favorite thing. I've been intrigued by using stitching on the pages themselves - and this project adds to my desire to give it a try. Thank you!

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  27. Absolute fantacy...what a wonderful contribution to the Christmas in July theme, your work on this project certainly shows what can be done. Wonderful. mrsjetjr at yahoo dot com

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    1. Mary, thank you!Good luck in the giveaway! :)

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  28. Beautiful. I love the stencils and the colors.

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  29. Beautiful book with great colors and textures!

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  30. Amazing colors luv your journal so cool.

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  31. Thanks for the detailed instructions.
    It's always great to be ready for something
    before it happens.
    Merry Christmas
    thanks for sharing.

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  32. Forgot my e-mail
    txmlhl(at)yahoo (dot com)

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  33. What a fun variety of designs ... so awesome for the holidays.

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  34. I know this was made for you to use for yourself to journal in December, I also think it would make a cool gift! Thanks for the beautiful idea. cbfigiel(at)gmail(dotcom)

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  35. I love your project! Such a great idea to use it for December, too! Great idea.

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  36. Anna! It's wonderful to meet you! Seriously, we could be sisters...made from the 'nearly' same mold. Your art looks like my art and we both are Christians! Gelli printing? My favorite! I will be a regu
    lar on your blog girl...so happy we 'met'! (there are no accidents:-))
    susan.chesley(at)yahoo(dot com)

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    1. Hi, Sue! Nice to meet you too! I will always welcome new sisters to my art tribe! :) Maybe we'll see more of each other! :) :)

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  37. This is simply (but not so simply to make) gorgeous! I'd like to make something like this for my journal cover which is currently plain ol' black. What a super gift this would make to encourage someone to doodle, journal or collect their lists. Amazing!

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    1. I like what you're thinking, Kathy!! Thanks for visiting and good luck with the giveaway!! :) :)

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  38. Your book is amazing. The colors are fabulous!! mcsuetexas(at)yahoo(dotcom)

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  39. Such a cool project! I can see making one for each Christmas to place mementos and photos in for later generations.

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  40. Great Job!!....your book it''s amazing, very beautiful stencils and colours.

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  41. What an awesome creation. Love your work.

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  42. I love making books, this is so cool!

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  43. I haven't used stencils very much but am feeling very inspired. Thanks for sharing!

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  44. What a great project BHaig3553(at)gmail(dotcom)

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  45. What a super cool book! The cover is fab... love Amplify!!

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  46. What a beautiful journal. I love making books!

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  47. Whoa......FABULOSSITY DELUXE!!! Love how you used your Gelli prints and stencils. What a wonderful and festive December Daily. LOVE this!!!
    <3 J

    jwoolbright at gmail dot com
    HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com

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