Oh The Pain - Graphic45 Journaling Book

I got an email the other day with instructions for a Graphic45 Journaling Book and how they were going to have a contest by participants sending in a picture of their creation. I have file folders and I have quite a bit of Graphic45 papers in my collection of gorgeous papers so I thought "what the heck, I'll give it a go". After I got my folders cut apart and started adding papers I was like "OMG this is the ugliest thing I have ever made!" but I was too far gone into the project to stop and figured I would finish and toss it in the trash when I was done if I didn't like it. I am glad I kept at it as it turned out a lot better than I expected! I'll let the pictures do the talking!

I am going to try and remember what all Graphic45 collections were used:
Boardwalk
Olde Curiosity Shoppe
Steampunk Debutante
Birdsong (stickers)
Proper Gentleman
Curtain Call

I only had one stamp that I could use for journaling so I had to try and line it up on some spots, which wasn't perfect in many places but I think it added to the overall character of the book.

I really did like the tag page, in the middle of the picture, and I had to make my own out of leftovers of the file folders. I decorated it up a little at the top and since I couldn't find my Cropodile Big Bite *okie still has no idea where that dang thing is* I had to make my own little slit in the top and add the ribbon.

There were two pocket pages in the cuts and those will be nice for loose pictures or mementos. I did find a few little tags and chipboard pieces in my collection of embellishments to add to the book.






I used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to add staples to the tickets for a bit of interest. I also stamped some images on some areas.

I got my pages out of order somewhere but I guess it doesn't really matter too much but I was trying to keep like papers away from each other but I guess it still worked out okay. I hand cut different images out of the different collections to use in the book. 

All the square black mats are 3x3 which will make it easy to crop pictures to add and not have to keep measuring different squares. I made the "File Folder Label" using one of my punches. These two pages open up.

This is with the left page is open.








And here is the right page open.

There was one page in their example that was just decorated. I opted to add a little jouraling space and different images from different collections. I made the flower using some of the punches I have. I spritzed them with water and wadded them up. I let them sit a little while and then I carefully opened them up and kept them scrunched while drying. Once dry I just put the layers together.

The page on the left is the only one with a larger picture area and that mat is 3x6 inches, of course you could always add larger pictures in the pocket page which is on the right.


 

Finally here is the last of the book! I could have added another picture mat to the back page but just decided to decorate it a little and leave it at that. 




I used my Cinch to punch my holes, being careful to line up the pages that were a little off from all the rest and then used 3/4" Bind It All coils to put it all together. I have no idea what I will do with this book but I am thinking it will make a nice prize at my Christmas party this year!