Decorating the covered File Folders

So now you are faced with fair few strip covered folders.  What to do with them? Well I have a few ideas:

1) – Gesso – spread some gesso over the brightest strips use your fingers to spread it around – you want the result to be semi transparent in some places and opaque in others. See before and after pic below. Set aside to dry.

Before

After

2) Watercolour/Gouache wash – Add some water to your colour and spread around with a brush or a baby wipe - keep in mind that water-colour will re-activate if you put any wet media over the wash. One way to stop the colour moving is by using some clear gesso over the top of the wash. – Set aside to dry.

Before 

After 

As you can see - I've added quite a bit of gouache to my palette - I had a lot of wash left over - so coloured some printer paper and old book pages - as well as a journal I had on my desk. This is the result - 

Old book paper

Journal and a sheet of watercolour paper

 

Cheap printer paper

You can use all the above in later projects - keep it near your desk so anytime you have excess paint or colour just slap it onto these papers and you will have a really unique background to glue into your art journal.

Next time, I will go through mixing up an acrylic wash and adding texture to your file folders.

Until then,

Happy crafting.

Fae x

File Folder Journal

Being a scrapbooker as well as crafter - I'm often left with enormous amounts of paper strips. I've been scrapping for 12 years now, and have accumulated an horrendous amount of scraps - once you cut the 12 x 12 sheet up, you're left with scraps.  Most people would discard this - but I reason that if I paid for the entire sheet I should use the ENTIRE sheet. The miser in me, just won't let me scrunch it up and send it to the bin!

Not forgetting that mountain of gelli prints that was made in a frenzy, and the kitchen roll used to wipe up any spills. Save them all - things you would have discarded or not sure what to do with. Just cut them up and use them.

I was forced to come up with a way to re-use the scraps - as was in danger of ending up on some hoarding programme. I bought 100 file folders from The Works online - Guildhall Square Cut Folder in Buff.

I got a pack of kiddie glue stick - 10 for a £1 at the pound shop and started gluing the strips on in random colours/order.

I put double-sided tape on ribbon and re-enforced the crease - I didn't want the seams to split after covering it with paint and all sorts.

I bound the whole thing with a coptic stitch (this is so the book can lay flat when in use) - I treated each file as a signature and it was sewn individually.  Poster boards was used for the covers. Here is the completed journal - only using 19 of the file folders.

This is the spine - it's all reinforced with ribbon.

If the colours are just too crazy and you want to tone it down - a light rubbing of gesso - with fingers or credit card will tone it down a little. If you find the strips lifting up - you can give it a coat of clear gesso or if the texture is too rough for you - some matte medium or decoupage glue.

I love the size of the journal - it is a massive 34 x 22.5 cm surface on a single page.

Here are some of the works I created on the pages.

Just a note on substitutes - I love freebies.

Replace the following and your project will be virtually free or very cheap!

File Folder - Use old cereal, food boxes as a base instead.
Patterned paper - Most shops will give you free wallpaper samples and you can find some beautiful patterns out there - old magazines - wrapping paper that was just too lovely to throw away. Junk mail (if the surface is very glossy - a light sanding will allow for a better gluing result).

Give it a go - see how many things you can cover with all those unused scraps.

Happy crafting,
Fae x

My first post

Ok - not used to this blogging malarkey but will give it my best shot!

I'm trying to complete my very first Art Journal - started last year in July. Its really hard going as I just want to bind books!

Here is my first page - I'm rather embarrassed about it - but .... warts an all.

The one below was completed a few months down the line - after countless youtube tutorials and google image searches.

I am in the process of sorting out all my art journal pictures and will post them as I go along - perhaps in the near future I will have a go at a photo tutorial if its of use to anyone.

That's it from me - for now. I will definitely try and keep this blog going - even if it's only my family reading it.

Fae x