I made this boxed journal for a swap. I had decided to make a journal based on a pin from my partner’s Pinterest and used my Sizzix Big Shot to emboss the papers used to cover the front and back covers. The paper is a black sort of shimmery black paper that I inked with copper to highlight the textures.
While looking for cool end papers I found this fun old-timey advertisement print that mentioned “costumes and millinery” which was perfect for my partner! I stamped some cool steampunk-y images on there with some Distress Ink (walnut, I think). The front page has some old stamps that I got in a little bag of such at an antique mall a couple years ago.
Then I went through the same pad that the endpapers came from to find paper for the pages that I inserted randomly front- and back-facing so the white pages wouldn’t all be one direction. Here are a few of the “spreads.”
The whole thing is bound using my Bind-it-all. I love that thing!
Before I started this, as I was looking though my abundant stash, I came upon this cool old-fashioned laboratory paper which I thought was perfect for my partner - who made this super cool diorama of Dr Morrison Hedwith’s basement lab. And I had been itching to make this nifty box svg file with my Cricut Explore. Eureka! The box determined the size of the journal.
There’s also panel on the lid flap that looks like old Victorian ceiling tile. This green ribbon matched nicely with the green on the journal’s endpapers and was a good size, so YEY stash! Then I added the little vintage-style key for a little pizzazz.
I tried to leave plenty of room for the book to expand with glued-in bits or photos or whatever my partner would want to do, but also include lots of papers that would be easily written directly on, too. Secrets, of course.
