Faux Leather notebooks - Tuesday 22nd April 2014

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you a had a wonderful Easter weekend! We had a lovely few days and I have the rest of the week off to try and catch up with crafty projects.

 I didn't do any crafts over the weekend, when we are both home together we like to do things together and this weekend in particular was quite a family weekend. Yesterday we mostly spent in the garden with the 'girls' - I'm not sure that they were totally happy about having their garden 'invaded' by both of us at the same time though! Tom did some jobs around the garden and I carried on with my work on the Summer House in preparation for making it into a little art studio. We went to B&Q and picked a basic wooden bookcase, to match the one already inside and I painted it with chalk paint...I will have some photos for WOYWW tomorrow! I am hoping to get out there and carry on with the work today, so I can get all my paints etc out there, but at the moment it's pouring with rain.

Now to today's post...those faux leather notebooks! I must say these took a little while to make, only because you really need to leave to dry for a few hours between stages. Of course, you can get on with other things, so it's not a problem unless, like me, you are an impatient crafter! But they are fun and the results are worth it. I won't explain how it's done, you are far better checking out Sheena Douglass's two videos, which can be found -here- on Youtube.

This was the first one I made: apart from the embossing and a charm on the spine (sorry I should have photographed that more closely), it's just a plain cover. I have been carrying this in my bag for weeks and it's still totally intact, so they are very durable!

I gave the second one a purple colour - the photo makes it look a bit patchy, but that's mostly the sun shining on it. This one also tore a little, my fault as I was a bit over zealous  with the inking, but actually it adds to it's aged look. I decided to make this one a ring binder and added ribbons to the rings to soften it a little.

These two were the last two  I made, so I had the technique refined by now and above that, I had managed to curb my enthusiasm and become more patient - hence the embossing is more pronounced. 

I covered the inside  of the notebooks with fabric:

Finally, here they all are together: this is a fun and very effective technique. I have some ideas for actual covers for notebooks, so I will be revisiting as soon as I get the chance.

Have a good day everyone and before I go, don't forget there are still a few days left to enter the Emergency Crafters challenge; this month's theme is polka dots and there are prizes! 

Love and Hugs,
Carole X