Mixed Media Altered Journal

Happy Friday everyone! I have been doing a lot of cards for my other crafty obligations lately and just needed to get painty and misty! There is a group of crafters making altered journals for soldiers and while THIS journal is not for that, I did want to practice doing some journals in this style in preparation for a future soldier journal. THIS journal is for a friend of mine. They are super fun to do--collect your trinkets and trims, collage glue and dimensional glue, gesso, and mists.

I began by crumpling up some packing paper that came with my most recent AlteredPages.com order and gluing it to a composition journal with some Beacon Fast Finish Decoupage. I then added some doilies [both paper and fabric] to the cover with a dimensional glue to hold the heavier objects. I continued adding my flatter embellishments to the cover of the journal--chipboard, metal, bling. I coated this first layer with Gesso.

Next I added more!! I clustered dollar store flowers and felt coasters along with some butterflies using a dimensional glue to hold. 

....and then i coated the WHOLE THING with Gesso again. You can see here that the gold from the doilies is still trying to show through and that the flowers and butterflies still have a hint of color bleeding through...do not worry...the layers of mists will take care of that! 

Next I grabbed my favorite Dylusions Inks and my heat tool and began misting...There is no rhyme or reason to why I misted here or didn't mist there...I just followed the art until I liked the effect of the dripping and mixing of the colors--I used the white ink along with a variety of blues and greens. Once I was happy with the base colors, I grabbed my mica mists in Maya Road Gunmetal, Iridescent and Copper Metal to add that shimmer and shine. Again drying with heat tool as I worked.

For a final touch I added gold mica powder to areas of the cover that were still a little damp to touch and set with the heat tool. Now my altered journal is ready for my friend to write her wishes hopes and dreams. 

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