Denim Journal Cover - GDT Finnabair Creative Team

Happy Saturday! Today I’m honored to be guesting at Finnabair’s blog again. For the post I created a cover for the Denim Art Journal and played with some of the newer mediums as well – like the Sculpture Medium and the Art Stones.

Just hinting, that you want to see this post through, all the way to the end. Or I should at least think so that you'd want to. There's a raffle at the end.

The great thing about the journal in my opinion is the material and the way you can add and remove the pages from the journal. The denim material is sturdy but also allows you to treat the surface with various techniques and make the journal really your own. And as the journal is put together with ribbons you can always add and remove pages with ease. Great if you are for example journaling on the go and then want to make the pages into a minialbum or store them in another way.

As my idea for this journal was a traveling sort of thing – easy to take out with you to travel the world, far and wide, the cover also needed to fit the idea. And this time I’m not talking about the design and colors but more from a practical point of view. So that’s where Sculpture Medium comes handy. As you can use it on any porous surface and turn that into rigid and sturdy I chose to cover the whole cover with the medium and also turn those flowers into leather-like or even a bit harder. So even if your journal is having a rough time traveling at the bottom of a suitcase in the middle of jungle, the cover will stay fresh looking! 

What the medium does, is that it absorbs into the material and when drying turns the material rigid. What this also means is, that the surface of the piece is then coated with a plastic-like, a little bit shiny coat. Such a non-porous surface then needs own kind of paint medium to work. Like acrylic paints, which I used here. If you’d like to color the project with mists or watercolors for example, you’d then need a coat of gesso first to little bit help the coloring part. Another way is of course to color the elements beforehand and then adding the Sculpture Medium. (If you happen to be living in Finland, there’s a tutorial on the latest Ihana magazine about this with the cover shot as well)

I created a video to show you my process with the cover and also share a sneak of the inside of the journal and how it’s made. This is my second voice-over video and I do hope you like it and find it inspiring! Now you are like "Second?". That's because the first isn't published yet and it'll stay secret for a number of days still. But I'd really love to hear your comments - do you prefer videos with music or with a voice-over narration,, should I make both, what about adding small texts even to voice-over ones...

Thank you for your time!

Now for the giveaway part! I'm giving away this journal to one of you! What you need to do to be in for the draw is to leave a comment to this post and then check back if you have won. If you want to become a reader, I'd be overjoyed, but that's not required for the raffle. You can find all my social media links as well as a link to FeedBurner in the sidebar.

You'll have until July 10th 11:59 pm to take part. I'll reveal the winner on the 11th. The giveaway is open to everyone around the world. 

Materials: 

Denim Art Journal

Sculpture Medium Clear

3D Matte Gel

Arterable Flowers

Art Alchemy Brass Hardware paint

Art Alchemy Deep Water paint

Art Alchemy Rich Turquoise paint

Doily 2 6x6 Stencil

Soft Matte Gel

Art Stones

Glass Beads Cobalt Blue

Flowers Mini

Pocket Watches

Mini Knobs

Ephemera pack 

Rust and Dust Stamp set

Now is the Right Time Stamp set

Brush Set

Materials: Prima Marketing, Ranger