Colorful Cover

Last evening's sky was just gorgeous! And today we nearly reached 70 degrees so our snow piles are shrinking by the minute. We can actually see patches of grass in a few places! 

When I was chatting with Diane about her joy journal...she expressed interest in my process. So I thought I would start by sharing how I made her colorful cover. If it stays on track...she should have it in her hands on Thursday. 

Diane included a lot of magazine cutouts in every color of the rainbow. She also included some of her granddaughter's coloring and printed pages that were meaningful to her. To honor these papers I knew her journal need to be filled with color....for her and her granddaughter. 

When I was in the messy middle I was a little unsure....but I actually ended up loving this cover!

When I work with magazine pages...the best option is to either use just a glue stick or collage them to give them some structure. Collaging them also allows you to knock down the glossy surface....but that is challenging because they wrinkle so easily.

I pulled out the images I wanted to use inside the journal and randomly cut the rest up for collage. The butterfly cutouts are from some wrapping paper that I've had for years and I thought they added a couple of nice focal points. There's a third one on the back.

Using matt medium I overlapped and glued the the papers onto my go to substrate making sure they hung off the edges so I could fold them over to the back. I still wasn't so sure at this point whether I love it. This was a late evening project...and that's always a gamble.

I knew I was going to fuse a strip of fabric along the spine fold...so I didn't worry about overlapping in the middle. That actually makes it fold easier. 

Here's the backside.....doesn't look like much yet. And in case you were wondering.....when I took this photo I got the link from the QR code how to become debt free in as little as 24 months! Will I ever learn?

I glued all the folded edges down and covered the inside with the same bright striped fabric that I added to the spine.

I love the border effect of the collaged papers against the fabric!

I really wasn't sure whether I should stitch over the whole thing. I knew I would go around the edge...but also knew it would be too much to try and go around each image. And what about those butterflies! hmmmm

But stitching changes everything is one of my mottos....so I did a simple line around the edge then worked my way to the middle in concentric squares. I used soft pink thread and it's barely there. But it's still there.....and it changed everything.

 

Now the cover feels more like a paper quilt than a paper collage....and the stitching seemed to pull it all together. 

The ribbon is from my stash and the star is from Diane...and they came together perfectly along with a bright green button for the belly band closure. 

Oh...did I have fun with this colorful cover...and the whole journal for that matter...and I think Diane will be pleased. Most of these images are from an Iowa Magazine...where she and Paul and I went to college.