Eileen Hull Designs Sizzix Chapter 4 Full Size Journal and Heart Mandala

Hi everyone and welcome. This month Eileen Hull's Teams are sharing projects using Eileen's new Sizzix Chapter 4 dies as part of the launch celebrations this month. For my second project of the month I have combined two of the new dies, the Sizzix Scoreboards Plus Die 'Full Size Journal' and the Thinlits Die 'Heart Mandala' to bring you a really useful Journal that holds A5 notebooks inside.

The journal cover was cut from mountboard and I removed the spine pieces before re-attaching one of them with Architape® leaving a 1/4 inch gap between the cover and spine pieces to afford the cover more flexibility and durability when completed. The holes in the spine were re-punched in the same places as those cut by the die (now hidden by the tape) using a Crop-a-dile.

I then created some decorative paper using various shades of mauve/lilac Fresco Finish Paint by PaperArtsy. Having cut a Heart Mandala from thin kraft card I was able to use it repeatedly as a stencil through which was applied texture paste and then Gold Paint. Once dry I glued pieces of the paper to the front and back covers. The tape on the spine was also painted with a mix of the same paints to match and I took this opportunity to fix eyelets through the holes when the inside was decorated.

The plaque piece of the front cover can also be cut from the Full Size Journal Die and after painting it with the Gold Paint I added the word, cut using one of Eileen's older Thinlits Dies. To protect the corners some decorative filigree brass pieces to the front and back covers.

To hold three A5 notebooks securely in place inside the covers I strung three separate pieces of old gold coloured elastic cord through the top and bottom holes in the spine in the same way as has been shown many times for other Eileen journals and notebooks. Make sure to use a strong elastic as the covers are tall and don't pull them really taught so the notebooks can be slipped in and out of the covers more easily.

Just before threading the elastic cord through the spine I took the opportunity to decorate the inside of the covers by applying some contrasting fabric (Basic Grey 'Metallic Grunge') using a soft gel medium to hold it in place. Once dry it can be trimmed to fit exactly with the layer of glue preventing the edges from fraying.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing how Eileen's dies have been used to create this large journal. Make sure to check out the other Chapter 4 release projects and tutorials from the other Inspiration and Educator Team members - links to their posts can be found on Eileen's blog throughout the month.

For now thanks for visiting,
Jenny xxx