Saturday Showcase - Eileen Hull Designs 'Fabulous Fall' Pocket Notebook

Hi everyone and welcome to another Saturday Showcase, the Design Team's chance to share tutorials and products available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique with you. Our latest challenge is called Fabulous Fall - my Design Team project for this one is an Eileen Hull Designs Pocket Notebook featuring a Prima Marketing Finnabair moulded piece and an Autumnal floral bundle altered with Ranger Alcohol Ink.

With a number of techniques and products being used to create this Fall Pocket Notebook I've put together a tutorial to show you how to recreate it, so here goes!

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Start with the cover - I've shown in previous posts on my blog how to use the Pocket Notebook die cut pieces to create a cover with a flexible spine (see HERE if you've missed it). Cut away the spine pieces from the covers, place one of the spines in the centre separated from the covers by about 1/4 inch each side, and stick together with adhesive backed tape. I then covered the outside of the cover with cotton calico fabric, painting over it with White Gesso and Apricot Acrylic Paint from Dina Wakley Media. To darken the edges try blending them with Watering Can Archival Ink from Wendy Vecchi.

You'll see by clicking on the photo below to enlarge it that I've punched two extra holes in the centre of the spine so that there are three holes at the top, middle and bottom. To add age to the cover spritz over with water and brush on diluted Umber Acrylic Paint. By letting it dry a little and dabbing off the excess you get this watermarked look.

To finish the cover stick patterned paper of your choice onto the inside and re-punch the holes through the fabric and paper layers.

Now for the embellishments; I love using Ranger Alcohol Inks to alter embellishments as they will work on pretty much any surface, dry fast and add a lot of colour with just a drop of ink. First up these adorable silver acorn charms were given a warm brown glow by adding a little Latte Alcohol Ink.

Next a small sprig of Tim Holtz Bouquet Findings needed just a little Lemonade Alcohol Ink to make it pop with a beautiful yellow-orange hue.

Tim Holtz Beaded Berries were transformed for Fall by applying Cranberry and Shell Pink Alcohol Inks to the tips. With a little Espresso Alcohol Ink on the stems they were ready to bend into shape.

These Antique Bronze Leaf Charms are incredibly detailed - after being given a coat of White Gesso a little Lettuce Alcohol Ink was added to make them more lifelike.

A much larger Bronze Leaf Embellishment needed to contrast with the vibrant Fall colours used for the rest of the floral bundle. Again, White Gesso was applied, followed by Gunmetal Mixative Alcohol Ink.

Now for the moulding; I pushed air drying clay into one side of the Prima Marketing Finnabair Kingsbury Medallion, ensuring the surface was smoothed over to make it flat and remove any excess clay. Linda now stocks the new tubs of Prima Marketing Redesign Air Dry Modeling Material which will be ideal for this. You don't always need to use the whole of a design to get a dramatic impact.

Whilst wet turn out the moulded piece onto a stamping block (or similar) and add a little wet glue to the upturned surface.

Flip the stamping block over onto the front cover to apply the moulded piece to it - as everything is still wet at this stage there's time to wiggle it all into the desired position. I left the clay to air dry as required and waited for the colour to change to a crisper white.

Once dry it's time to start adding the altered embellishments. I glued a piece of muslin next to the moulded piece to disguise the unfinished edges and added the large leaf to the top; you'll see from the photo below that you can shape the leaf easily by bending it with your fingers. Carry on adding the other bits and pieces that you've coloured into an arrangement you're happy with.

Creating the signatures inside is easy as Eileen Hull's Pocket Notebook die cuts the pages as well as the covers. Fold your choice of papers in half, lay the folded edge along the blank side of the die and cut! I chose to use tea stained old scrapbook papers and copier paper to coordinate with the cover.

Use a sharp tool to stab a hole into the centre of each set of signatures. I chose a coordinating colour of jute string to secure them in place. Start by threading the string from one of the centre holes on the outside of the spine through to the inside and through the corresponding hole in the signature. Then take the string to the top of the signature and push the string through one of the top holes in the spine.

Now thread the string back through the centre hole in the spine to the middle of the signature before pushing it through one of the holes in the bottom of the spine.

The photo below shows where the string has gone through the spine, into the signature, back out to the top, back through the middle, down to the bottom and out. Finish each one by tying the string off in the centre.

When finished you'll end up with three sets of knotted jute string on the outside of the spine. These can be embellished further with beads and charms, but I chose to tie them together and untwist the jute to create a tassle.

When finished you'll have a Fall themed Pocket Notebook with three signatures inside. Here are some close ups;

Thanks for visiting to catch today's Saturday Showcase tutorial - I hope you've found it helpful. There's still plenty of time to enter the current Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog challenge 'Fabulous Fall' to be in with the chance of being a Guest Designer here. We look forward to seeing your amazing creations.

Jenny
Products used to create this Faux Finish Pocket Notebook are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and are listed/linked below.

Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix Scoreboards XL Die - Pocket Notebook
Prima Marketing Finnabair Mould - Kingsbury Medallion
Prima Marketing Redesign Air Dry Modeling Material
Ranger Alcohol Inks
Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paints and Gesso
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Bouquet Findings
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Beaded Berries
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Jute String
Antique Silver Acorn Charms
Antique Bronze Leaf Charms
Bronze Leaf Embellishments