Steampunk Journal

It all started a few weeks ago... I was watching my favorite paper crafter on YouTube:  sweet Anne from Anne's Paper Creations, and was intrigued with how she was making the spine of a book in her "How To Make A Mini-Album From Start To Finish".

So I took down some notes and before I knew it, I was making my very own journal along with this fabulous teacher. Even though I only had 2 of the 5 sheets of 12 x 12 black cardstock she recommends for the pages (isn't that always the way), I still had a few 12 x 12 sheets and a 6 x 6 pad of Graphic 45's "Steampunk Spells" left over from Halloween, a 12 x 12 pad of Recollections "Steampunk Botanica" and an 8 x 8 pad of "Typography" paper from Graphic 45 so I could try it with those... hmm...

I decided to create a Steampunk-themed journal / tag book just for fun. I also still had a bunch of metal charms from my Steampunk Carnival project, so I began. Two weeks later, I can finally say I am finished. The book measures about 5" x 7". Here's the cover - the spine of which was embossed in my Cuttlebug and covered with a few coats of Claudine Hellmuth's Multi-Matte Medium to make it strong but flexible. The chipboard covers were painted black and black lace is layered underneath the image. Click to biggify all the images.

Such a great image from Steampunk Spells by Graphic 45.
Metal gears and a chain of charms were added to the chipboard book cover

Even though the spine has binding flaps for a mere five pages, with Anne's ingenious paper folding and cutting, you end up with 46 pages (48 if you include the inside covers. Which I do.)  Needless to say, with all my embellishments this book is bursting and can barely close even with a chain to hold it somewhat shut.

More charms added to the closure chain.
That's an earring part I used for a clip

A closer look at some of the pages:

A mixture of the different paper lines; fussy cut and attached with a variety of Multi-Matte, Glossy Accents and ScorTape.

Punches, Cricut, Cuttlebug... I used them all in this project! Some flaps have thin magnets to snap them closed. Tim Holtz gears, attachers, Distress Inks, stamps and charms were also used.

The really thin gears are by "Bead Landing" in the jewelry section at Michaels - a set of 90 gears were less than $3 on sale. So yeah, I picked up a few packages of those!

That orange strip was black cardstock and using my fingers, I rubbed it with copper paste (Inka Gold Metallic Rub) and ran it through my Cuttlebug to create an embossed "riveted" look. Metal frames were popped up on foam dimensionals to hold tags too.

Well, since it's hard to show you exactly how the pages fold and tags are stored, I decided to make a video. It's my very first attempt; so please don't laugh too hard. You can biggify full screen to see better, and the sound is quite low so you may need to increase the volume:




Thank you so much Anne, for your wonderful tutorials and inspiration! I hope I did you proud.

I know I loved making it!