Steampunk Garden Journal

I'm in Steampunk Journal Round Robin over at Amusing Muses. There are 8 mixed media artists who will each create a journal and every 3 weeks their journal will get shipped to the next artist who will create a 2 page collage and then send it to the next artist on the list. It's going to be a lot of fun and should take about 8 months to complete.
The exciting part is seeing what spin other artists will take on the "Steampunk" theme. Because I'm an avid gardener (veggie and flowers) I'm created a Steampunk Garden Journal. Can you image the crazy things a Steampunker would have in their garden?

This is the cover of my journal. It hasn't been bound yet which I'll do with wire binding. The cover has two parts, the bottom part flips open to reveal a suprise on the lower half of the blue cover. The key is part of a mechanism to keep the journal closed.

I tried to make the flower name placards look rusted. First I cut small rectangles of foam core board, painted it with copper Pearl Ex paint. After the paint dried I gobbed gel medium on the edges of the rectangle and then sprinkled it with fine craft sand. When the glue with the sand was dried I mixed small amounts of blue, copper and green Pearl Ex powder with a little water until it is thick and creamy and daubed it on the sand to create a patina. When it dried, I then sealed it with Ranger Glossy Accents. Antiqued furniture nail heads were cut down and stuck into the foamcore. Lastly I collaged on the blue paper and then the names of the flowers on top of it on the rectangle. I also sprayed stamped and distressed all other papers on the covers. It took me about 6.5 hours to get this much done!

I'll post more of the progress tomorrow!

Garden Journal

There's a certain kind of light that comes with the very early spring.....it's pale and high and makes the tree branches cast long shadows like twisted strands of yarn on the greening grass. There's also that certain smell that starts stirring in the air. I caught a whiff if it the other day for the briefest of moments and then it was gone.....but I know for sure, it was the smell of spring.

The subtle sights and smells of spring make me begin to think about gardening, both flowers and veggies. I love to garden....there's almost somthing spiritual about gardening for me.

Inspired by the stirrings of spring I decided to create a Garden Journal. My friend Tracy created a "ruler binding" book and I loved it so much I decided to make the Garden Journal in the same fashion. You can find the tutorial by Agnes the Red Art at: http://www.freewebs.com/agnestheredtutorials/alteredart.htm

This journal measures 7 inches by 7 and 3/8 inches. The binding was created with a wooden ruler, metal washers and wing nuts. The little chipboard key is for the garden gate......

5 mini tags are tied to the wing nut for journaling...........

These are the handstamped 7 cardstock pages that are inside the journal.........

Always remember.........bloom where you are planted, wherever that may be.....

A tiny metal fence is infront of the vintage image of the little boy with the wheelbarrow.....

Time to think all things spring and gardening!