Travel Journal....The Story Continues

I've been feeling really rough today with a sore throat and really oppressive headache, so I've come to bed early with the laptop and a mug of coffee......I really hope that this cold goes away quickly as I want to be able to enjoy Venice next week.

I haven't got as much crafting done today as I had planned but I have made some progress with my travel journal. You will remember from my last post, that I couldn't decide whether to do Barcelona or Venice first......they will both HAVE to be done eventually....lol......

Well the winner is................... Venice.

The reason being that I found a lovely download of some Carnival Masks and it set me off, after all Venice is famous for its Masked Balls and Carnivals, as well as Canals, Murano glass and its faded opulence...etc. etc.

Here is my Title page.

After choosing an image, resizing it and removing some of the background in Photshop Elements I printed it on to some acetate. Then I dabbed some white acrylic paint over thre light areas of the face, which had the effect of moving some of the ink, giving the image a worn look. On the non inky side I stamped the Stampin Up Baroque swirls a couple of times and then traced over them with some Icy Blue stickles. Finally I added chipboard Thickers lettering for my title.


I have backed the page with some BG Periphery Paper, cut to size, this may get some additional journaling etc later. I think backing it against the browns and blues makes a huge difference to how the page looks.

Then I started on my covers. I found two sheets of Brown 12 x 12 that really needed something adding, Sue (Paper Paradise) Abbott has made me think about my less than loved papers in an entirely different way. An A4 sheet of home made paper (photocopy paper, and moonglow stains, then scrunched) some glimmer mist in turquoise and a broken china distress ink pad.

First I cut the 12x12 to size for the outside of the front and back covers and a third piece for the inside of the wrap around flap. I cut the A4 sheet of paper in half for the insides of the back and front covers. Then I sprayed the 3 pieces of brown with the turquoise glimmer mist. When it was dry I adhered it to my mount board covers, using a spray adhesive. Then added the inner end papers.

At this point I added the distress ink with a piece of cut and dry foam, working in from the edges.

Finally I used the Baroque scroll, versamark ink pad and some Verdegris Embossing powder to add some detail to the front cover.

Well that is as far as I got today..... next I have got to think about the pages to go inside.... Do I start them now ? or wait until after I get back from the trip?

Time to go make another drink I think......see you all in a while

Bee xx