Kraaft Shaak Design Team Kall

     Over on Google Plus, I belong to this amazing community called Kraafters Kommunity comprised of some very talented artists and kraafters. They are always inspiring and challenging the eachother with helpful hints, suggestions and quirky challenges. Have a look, I'm sure you will want to become a member also.

     A few weeks ago, Heather announced the first ever Kraaft Shakk Design Team Kall open to all members of the kommunity and Kraaft Shaak customers.

     This is my submission to the Kall. Anyone who knows me, knows I love to make journals and booklets. They are by far my most favorite multi-media item to make.  I have a collection of Jamie Dougherty Faces stamps, called the Bloom Collection, that I love/adore/cherish, and I have been meaning to make a journal just for them. I have used other journals but the papers just have not held up to the abuse I give them with the sprays, the watetcolors, the inks and paints. I decided with the DT Kall, I WOULD make that journal!

    I had some white foam board that I thought would be perfect for the covers because of it's thickness and the smooth white surface. I knew I was going to use Lindy Stamp Gang Magicals to "color" the front and backs -- I LOVE that shimmer and tonal effects of these pigments!!! But I did not know HOW the surface would react to water and the LSG Magicals, but "nothing ventured, nothing gained". I did NOT want to prep the surface with gesso, or paper, because I WANTED that smoothness, so I winged it!!! And I must say, it handled it beautifully!!! The LSG Magicals I choose floated on the surface just right, and dried to a smooth finish, which is exactly what I was going for!!! Yeah!!!

     I chose "Jing" to grace the cover and back of my journal. I love Oriental Art and She played to this muse nicely. Isn't she beautiful!!!

I cut the foam board to 9 by 6 1/2 inches -- my favorite size -- why? because you can fold pages from a 9x12 Mixed Media Strathmore Journal in half for the signatures!!! Easy!

I wanted the edge of the pages in my Girls Journal to be uneven - torn or deckled. And as luck would have it I HAVE a Deckle Edge Trimmer, so I cut all the edges of the pages. I love how this looks!!

I used LSG Frolic In the Forest Black to "paint" her hair by taking just a smidgen of powder and a tad of water, mixing it well, very well to get all those "Magicals" mixed and blended. I added LSG Afternoon Delight Denim streaks in her ebony hair. Don't ya love that effect??!!!

For her beautiful face I used a mixture of LSG Cotton Candy Pink, Heliotrope Purple and Cocoa Bean Copper. I mixed each separate, then blended tiny, tiny amounts to make her skin tone. I concentrated more of the Cocoa Bean Copper on her lips and eye shadow. The blue of her eyes in LSG Tiffany's Blue.

On both girls, I painted the flowers in her hair using LSG Rambling Rose Pink, Grab A Guy Gold, Green with Envy Green, Saxifrage Olive Copper and Love at First Sight Lavendar. You just can't see the flowers on the front because of the embellies.

When this was all dry, I cut a mask from some acrylic I had. I needed to mask off her face while I sprayed the background. I knew I wanted to use Prima Color Bloom Peony Spray Mist for a couple of reasons. I LOVE the peachy color with all those shimmery gold tones and glimmer. It is incredible!! And peach/coral is prominent color in Japanese art. I stamped "Jing" into the acrylic with Stazon Black Ink. I then cut her out, using an exacto knife then sissors. I wanted a clean mask and a negative mask of her shape for another project.

To assemble and bind the journal, I made 5 signatures of 3 folded sheets of the Strathmore 9x12 Mixed Media Journal. I love the smooth texture of this paper and it is 140#, which holds up well to water and inks. To bind, I knew I wanted to use Coptic Stitching, which I have never used before -- thus challenging myself. And, I also wanted to add a ribbon to tie My Girls Journal together, AND I wanted some dimension on the binding with some twine. I have never added these elements and found it quite challenging. But there are great videos on YouTube that demo these techniques, so I combined them in my head to come up with this binding. I love this pattern!!

But, before I could bind, I needed to finish the edges. I found some ribbon that matched some of the colors I had used to "paint" "Jing", so I glued it on both the front and back pages. I wanted to add some more color to the front, so I used a beautiful turquoise embroidery thread and did a slip-stitch using the break in color on the ribbon for even spacing. 

Once I had my binding pattern figured out, I marked the signatures, punched the holes and aligned on both covers for the Coptic Stitch. I used Pink Bakers Twine to bind with. I wanted to stay in the same color family I had chosen for the cover colors. Once it was all bound, I then glued the jute twine into curly circles as a means to finish of the jute and for dimension on both covers. I chose the rose organza ribbon to close the journal with, due to it's see-thru properties and that gorgeous color!

Once all this was done, I started adding some flowers to the front I had made using various dies or freehand. All are my handmade flowers except the 2 ribbon roses on the bottom. When all was situated the way I wanted, I removed them to spray with Prima Color Bloom Peony, Soft Teal and Gold Foil. I used LSG Magicals to color the leaves and the roses using the colors mentioned above.

I love my Girls Journal!! Thanks for sticking with me thru this long explanation-- phew -- she's done!!! I just want to mention all highlighted words are links to Heather's OnLine store for each of the products she carries that I used here. Please visit by clicking on the links, thank you!!

One more last look...

Thank you for stopping by... Blessings