#Cre8time + Coloring = DIY Mini Composition Journals

I love coloring and I love having notebooks everywhere to jot down Cre8time ideas as they come to me. I have loads of notebooks and mini journals around... many that can certainly use an artsy touch. I've transformed these plain notebooks into something beautiful with a handmade touch! With a few supplies and a little time spent coloring, I have a beautifully colored mini journal and a second that I can be colored on the go. 

Enjoy the creative relaxation of coloring and turn your finished coloring pages into FUN-ctional mini composition journals! 

First select a design from a coloring book of your choice. My particular book is by Leisure Arts and it has perforations in the center for easy tear out. I removed a page and colored in with colored pencils - filling in the patterns and building up layers of color. This is the fun part! I took my time and enjoyed the relaxation of the coloring process. I only colored half of the sheet and left the other half of sheet uncolored.

I take a few minutes to prepare the surface of the store-bought mini composition books. With back-to-school time here, this is a great time to stock up on these.

I gently sand the glossy surface on the front and back covers and wipe away dust with a cloth. Measure size of cover then trim a double-sided adhesive sheet slightly larger than needed using paper trimmer {this step can be skipped if you'd rather use a glue stick - I've done both ways}. I normally use a gluestick, but I happened to have some adhesive sheets on hand {they don't last long in my crafty cave}.

Follow by trimming the colored Kaleidoscope coloring sheet into sections to same size as adhesive sheets. The books I used are approx. 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" so I trimmed everything about 1/8" larger. 

From just one coloring sheet I can cover two (2) mini journals. I will cover one using the top section of the page that is colored; and use the remaining uncolored half for another. I will need four (4) sections of adhesive sheets to cover both books.

Color spine of each book using a Permapaque marker - this is a permanent marker with matte, opaque color. It has nice coverage and dries fast. When ink is dry, remove backing and adhere adhesive sheets to front and back of each book, trimming overlap with scissors.

Burnish adhesive sheets to ensure secure adhesion and to remove air bubbles. Remove backing and place trimmed sections of coloring sheet to front and back covers of book. I like to do the application in two steps by adding adhesive to book, then colored sheet after so that I can be more precise in my placement. Backtrim edges as in previous step. Use Permapaque pen to edge covers and color outside edge of pages. 

*Optional: Add decorative washi tape trim or ribbon to spine edge {I added a thin diamond patterned washi tape to the uncolored book version}.

My mini composition books are complete. They are so cute!! I will add one extra step for the book covered with my hand-colored page. 

I painted on a layer of Mod Podge Outdoor for added durability and to protect the surface coloring from smearing or rubbing off. Make sure to reserve a few days to let the "outdoor" Mod Podge dry completely before using. You'll be able to tell when it's fully dry as it will no longer feel tacky to the touch.

This project can even be bundled together and make a great gift to pass on the Cre8time enjoyment of coloring. Stack a coloring book, colored pencils and both colored and uncolored books and tie with a organza ribbon... and add a nice pen to complete this wonderful gift with handmade flair.

With all the themes and patterns of coloring books available you can customize a gift for anyone... anytime of the year.

What will you embellish

with coloring sheets?

I would love to hear what you create with your hand-colored pages. Thanks for visiting! :) Sb

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Materials Used:

• Tonic Studios Paper Trimmer
• Tonic Studios 5" Mini Snips Scissors
• Mini Blank Composition Journals
• Leisure Arts "Art of Coloring - Kaleidoscopes"
• Leisure Arts Colored Pencils - 24 colors
• Plaid Mod Podge Outdoor
• Scrapbook Adhesives Permanent 4x6 Adhesive Sheets
• Sakura Permaopaque Blue Pigment Marker
• Sakura Micron Archival Pen
• Pencil
• 1/8" diamond washi tape
• Paintbrush
• Ruler
• Square of sandpaper
• Organza Ribbon

Discover #Cre8time Bliss... #MixedMedia with Rebekah Meier Designs and Therm O Web

Hello everyone! Today I am part of a special Cre8time bloghop at Designer Crafts Connection featuring products from Rebekah Meier Designs {Mixed Media} for Therm O Web. If you like to all things mixed media... then you are in for a treat. Last Summer we were introduced to Rebekah Meier with the "Rebekah Meier Fabric Elements™" bloghop {CLICK HERE to visit}, and I am excited to be giving these new products a try. 

For this challenge, Rebekah Meier Designs {Mixed Media} for Therm O Web provided each of the Designer Craft Connection designers with an assortment of products. I received these products which is one of each of all her products with Therm O Web, which consists of mediums, surfaces, and transfer foils. I am a like a kid in a candy store with a new way to adhere, layer and bling things up!

Where to begin... there are so many projects in which I can use these products. I decided to make some new colorful bangles to match a blouse I have. I grabbed a couple recycled packing tape spools, some monoprinted book pages, black gesso, an emory board, a black marker, scissors, a paper trimmer, a cosmetic sponge, a plastic palette knife and a paintbrush from my stash. The Rebekah Meier Designs {Mixed Media} for Therm O Web products will transform these cardboard spools into something blissfully blingy and beautiful!

First a little prep work. I left one spool completely round and the other I removed about a half an inch and rounded the corners with scissors. Using a emory board, I lightly sanded any rough edges.

Using a cosmetic sponge, I applied a light layer of black gesso to the inside of each spool and up and around the edges; covering up the text and a seal off the edges.

Now the fun begins! I opened up the Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Medium and stirred with a palette knife. It has a nice consistency, like pudding. I'm going to apply this medium to the inside of each spool differently and see how things go.

This is a bit messy... but FUN! I spread the medium to the inside of one bangle with the palette knife like spreading cake icing. I put it on very painterly and some areas were thicker and more textured than others. 

The other bangle I brushed the medium on with a cosmetic sponge - giving it a lighter coat, but giving it some texture in the strokes.

I set them both aside to dry. On top of the black gesso, the medium glowed a beautiful blue, but dries completely clear and tacky. The sponged on bangle was dry in about a half hour, but the other that I used a thicker slathering with a palette knife, took quite a while longer to completely dry {which was to be expected}.

With the one dry, I trimmed a square of Rebekah Meier Designs Transfer Foil in Patina in a couple strips so that it was easier to adhere to the inside of the bangle.

I burnished the foil down onto the tacky surface and used a paintbrush to help rub it into the texture. This was fun and EASY! Look at the texture... it's like a faux leather with a beautiful smoky silver color. 

WOW!!! I loved how it looked so much I went back and painted the outside with gesso and repeated the process so that one bangle was completely covered in this gorgeous Patina silver.

Now back to finish the other bangle... I repeated the process applying the Patina foil to the inside. I am so impressed how the texture was transferred to the foil. I just need to add some paper to the outside first.

I trimmed the monoprint book paper to size and also a matching section of Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Adhesive Sheet, then rounded corners to match the edges of the bangle.

I removed the backing and pressed the adhesive sheet in place around the bangle. I burnished this down real good before applying painted paper. 

I rubbed edge of cut paper with a black marker to get rid of the white edge so I don't have to go back and fix that later {you can skip this part, but white edges drive me a little bonkers}. Then I peeled off the adhesive backing and pressed the painted paper in place.

OK here's a close-up of the inside texture. This is really awesome!!! I can't believe how easy this was to make... and there's NO MESS {no foil bits floating all over the place}.

Last thing I pressed the foil all around the edges to finish off any sticky parts that may have seeped around the sides. This is what is left of the two sheets of foil I used. Look at all the delicious texture that remains and I can use this to accent something else later.

I am so impressed at this transformation! 

These babies are ready to wear!! 

Blissful Blingy Bangles!

What would you transform

with decorative foils?

CLICK HERE to jump over to the beginning of the Rebekah Meier Designs and Therm O Web Bloghop at the Designer Crafts Connection blog.

To learn more about Rebekah Meier Designs {Mixed Media} for Therm O Web visit http://www.thermowebonline.com or visit Rebekah's Etsy store (RebekahMeierDesigns).

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Thanks so much for visiting! For more mixed-media inspiration visit the Designer Crafts Connection "Rebekah Meier Designs and Therm O Web Bloghop" bloghop HERE. Sb :)

** This is a sponsored post. Rebekah Meier Designs / Therm O Web has provided product in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions. My ideas and opinions are my own.

It's a #Cre8time Date... SRM Stickers Challenge with Designer Crafts Connection

Hello everyone! Welcome to another Bloghop with the creatives at Designer Crafts Connection... and our newest challenge featuring the new planner and journaling stamps from SRM Stickers and Stamps!!! 

Planners and Bible Journaling are quite popular trends right now... and who doesn't love stickers and stamps??! SRM Stickers and Stamps has a wide range of products for making cards, scrapbooks, party favors, planners - you name it!

SRM Stickers and Stamps provided each of the Designer Craft Connection designers with products to use in our creations - I received a set of planner stamps called "Today, Tomorrow, To Do" that have everything you need to turn any notebook or journal into a planner. To pop over to the beginning of the hop CLICK HERE to see all the stops on the hop!

I gathered up an promo notebook that I've monoprinted the cover to cover up the car images that used to be there along with the SRM Planner Stamps, black Dye ink, a ruler, colored InkJoy pens, an acrylic stamp block, washi tape and some misc. scraps of paper and ephemera from my stash.

I don't know about you, but anything with blank paper is a potential art journal or planner. This book has pictures smattered throughout but is mostly blank grid paper... perfect for transforming into a purse-sized planner!

I'm going to turn this book into a 2018 artsy planner that I can embellish as I fill it up. This spread is going to be for July. I'm starting here as it was easier to keep pages open/flat by starting in the center of the book. 

First I referred to my phone to look ahead to get the dates for next year. Then using a ruler and blue pen, I drew in squares to make my calendar. Five rows down and eight squares across for the days of the week. The grid paper made it easy to divide out the squares without need for measuring. I'm having fun already!!

Now with my squares in place... it's time to get inky. I selected "SUNDAY" from the SRM stamp set, placed onto an acrylic block, tapped gently into black dye ink and pressed into position. The clear stamps are see-through and make stamp placement a breeze.

I repeated with the other days of the week, then set off with the task of numbering each square. The stamp set has multiples of each number so you can set up many on your stamp block at a time. Keep in mind that you might need a smaller acrylic block when you need to stamp close to center of book. I was using a medium sized block, so I just adjusted stamp placement when stamping in the crease.

There are also about a dozen little doodles that you can use to make note of occasions. I added a couple of these as well.

One thing I want to point out about these SRM Stamps... I love that they have the image printed on the clear backing sheet so it makes finding/seeing the word you want easy. I have a lot of clear stamps and I only have a handful of stamps that are this way. This is something that stampers appreciate as I have spent a lot of time wasted looking for something I can't see, or I couldn't remember what set it came from to put it back. 

Here's my July calendar all stamped out! I repeated the month along the top of the pages, made a TO DO list using the leftover column, and stamped a month tab onto yellow cardstock affixed to page with washi tape. 

Once I broke out the washi tape... it was a washi party! I added bits and borders here and there to add a patriotic stars/stripes color scheme.

Now it's time for coloring! I have this stash of InkJoy pens that I carry around in my bag every day, though they don't get much use... UNTIL TODAY!! 

Maybe I will become a planner nerd yet! I'm more of a list maker and doodler - this sort of planner might be just what I need to keep my thoughts in one place. I've got loads of traditional day-timer calendars that get toted about, yet rarely written in and now all reside in the "for collage/arting" bin.

With the addition of colored pens... my calendar has come to life!

There's an annual family picnic for 4th of July... so I had fun making note of this occasion. I marked a place to write birthday's in unused squares at the bottom. 

It's a Cre8time Date!

How fun is this??! Now that I have the calendars blocked out, I'm six months ahead of things! This will be an ongoing project as I add info, doodling and ephemera... now all that's left is the artful planning! This project could be done with the kids and would be great in a blank composition journal too!

CLICK HERE to jump over to the beginning of the "Planners and Bible Journaling with SRM Stickers and Stamps" Bloghop at the Designer Crafts Connection blog and find more inspiration using SRM Stickers and Stamps!

You can find more info and ideas
at the SRM Stickers and Stamps website

www.srmstore.com

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Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you are inspired to turn a notebook into something pretty and a little FUNctional! Sb :)

** This is a sponsored post. SRM Stickers and Stamps has provided products for use in this project in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions. My ideas and opinions are my own.