Howdy and Happy New Year!! It's challenge time again over at Sundays With Crissy and this month we want you to Beat The Mid-Winter Blues!!! That means you can use anything on your card or project that screams beach, seashore, underwater, sunny, tropical...you get the idea.
Now this challenge has special significance for me as I have just returned from a wonderful cruise in the Caribbean. Now I really can't complain because of the snow because, well, here in Ontario, we haven't really had that much and we ended up having a very green Christmas to boot. The snow can stay away as far as I am concerned!! I wouldn't mind a green New Year either...I can dream can't I??
Anyway, back to our challenge...I decided to keep the sea theme alive for this one. Although I didn't see any mermaids at sea (oh I love homonyms) I know they were there. I inked up this little rubber mermaid Crissy did for Whimsy stamps and put her on the front of a travel journal. The image is called "Journey Into The Sea".
The Front
The Art
The Back--I wish I had bought a crate of this paper--one of my life's regrets LOL!!
Now if you're interested, this is how I made my journal. First I went on a hunt for cheap-o (NON SPIRAL) journals at the dollarstore, Staples, & Michael's. I bought a bunch of different ones but the one I used for this project was a "Sustainable Earth" journal from Staples. I liked it because it had a chocolate brown binding (anything chocolate is good) and the lines were brown inside. I then purchased the biggest Xyron machine I could find (Xyron Creative Station). It's a little pricey (not so bad with a 40% off coupon) but necessary for this project as you need a strong and consistent adhesive to stick the paper down. I cut my paper to size leaving a bit of overlap, ran it through the xyron and adhered it to the journal. I then trimmed the overlap with scissors and then sanded the edges with 220 grade sandpaper. This works best if you sand the edges down towards the inside of the journal or along the edges so you are not going against the adhesive. Sand until the edges are flush and smooth. It makes a BIG mess so be prepared for some clean up. The rest is up to you.
Well, now it's your turn!! Show us how you Beat The Mid-Winter Blues!! Click HERE and you will be taken to our post outlining how to enter your own projects!! You can also win our monthly prize of 5 free digi images by our beloved artist Crissy Armstrong--details on the above post as well. Don't forget, our talented design team will be struting their stuff all thoughout the month just to keep you inspired, so don't forget to come back to the SWC blog often to see what they've come up with.
Thanks for popping in today to take a look!!
New Year Blessings,
Sarah ☺
The Rest of The Dirt:
Designer Paper: Magenta--Bon Voyage--Travel Text
Cardstock--Bazzill Papers
Image Printed On: Neenah
Media: Copics
(BV000, BV00, BV02, BG10, BG15, BG23, Y02, Y11, Y15, Y18, G12, G20, YG03, YG23, E0000 E35, E50, R20)
Gems--Zva
