I’m happy to have another opportunity in this BLOG HOP to preview a fun Crafter’s Workshop stencil designed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.
Again, the design of the 12″x 12″ LEAF GRID stencil was screaming to me to become ANOTHER mini-journal!! This time an accordion book.
I love books! And i tend to “think outside the box” when making my little inspirational lettering journals and books. Using the square leaf edged boxes of the stencil made for perfect lettering space.
This is a great example of the colorful pages we’ll be making in my
starting June 11th. Bright, bold, vibrant, delicious color and art.
To make this mini accordion journal, I started with some sheets of smooth bristol paper and my spray inks, making assorted color combinations with the stencil.
For the panels and pages, i cut 5 strips out of the stencil design keeping the leaf pattern on all four sides of the panels….
…then glued them together so the accordion is double sided. When glued, i free form cut around the leaf patterns on one side, and “winged it” hoping the pattern repeated on the other side. It pretty much did match, and looked great, in my favorite style, “perfectly imperfect’!
Bold white lettering on the cover and inside pages was created with a correction pen. I also cut out one of the “leaf sprigs” and glued it on the left edge adding a 3-D element.
The fine white lettering was done with the Uniball Signo UM-153, my favorite.
After all the lettering is done, i folded each one of the leaf squares back and forth, in an accordion pattern. The stenciled squares became the pages!
Have fun with your stencils and thinking “outside the art box”!
Oh! And come back to my blog tomorrow for BIG NEWS #2.
HOP ON OVER to see what my other art friends have created with this stencil:
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2012/05/stencil-hop-leaf-grid.html
Wilna Furstenberg
http://www.wilnaf.com/
Tammy Tutterow
http://tammytutterow.typepad.com/
Dion Dior
http://diondior.blogspot.com/
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2012/05/stencil-hop-leaf-grid.html
Wilna Furstenberg
http://www.wilnaf.com/
Tammy Tutterow
http://tammytutterow.typepad.com/
Dion Dior
http://diondior.blogspot.com/
Joanne Sharpe Arts 
gorgeous accordion booklet!
Fantastic mini book, love the way you did the shape!
Great way to use Julie's stencil! Thanks for the inspiration.
Beautiful!
your work is very inspiring, thanks love your post and gonna try a mini album soon. thanks for a chance to win Julie's leaf stencil…love it also…..
wow ! thank you for this tutorial, this is such a crazy album !!! I really love it !!!
What a Great Idea!!! We are having a Surprise 50th WEDDING anniversary for my parents in a couple of weeks….I am going to make one similar, that everyone can sign….thanks for sharing,once again.♥Blessings,Cindy♥
Gorgeous use of this stencil…and I can't wait for Color workshop to start 😉
Oh gosh – how am I ever going to get any work done. Have to go play now. Thanks for the ideas. Lori W at Art Camp for Women
What a fabulous stencil!! I love your sample!!
Lovely colors! Fabulous project.
Gorgeous colors and what a great way to use the stencils!
Wonderful! Thankyou for the great pictures too!Tammy
Totally creative and beautiful…love the colors and just everything!!!
I am impatient to be tomorrow to havé more good news
Beautiful and so inspiring! I love it Joanne.
Very inspiring. I may have to make a mini like yours. 🙂
What a fun little book! What a great idea for that stencil!KimMJbast830@comcast.net
Love your book. I need to shake the dust off my stencils!
What a wonderful way to use this stencil! Love it!
Beautiful! I want to make one!!
Very cool. I love it!
Love your lil book! All that gorgeous color! Wondering if previous lettering experience is required for your new class?
not at all, join us!!
god lord woman you are good….
An awesome out of the box idea!
This is fabulous!
Very cute mini. Love how it looks. Thanks for sharing. Johanne L.
Simply beautiful Jo! But then again…nothing ever comes out of that creative mind of yours that isn't! Muwahhhh!
What a gorgeous, happy little book!!! Love what everyone's doing with this stencil!
Absolutely stunning book! Thank you so much for being a part of the hop and congratulations on the book and DVD with Interweave! 🙂
Love, love, love this. The colors are wonderful and what you wrote is inspirational.
Your album is splendid, the colors magnificent