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Sunday, October 30, 2011

More Journal Covers

In September, I posted a Journal Cover Tutorial for a swap I was organizing on Craftster.  The swap is winding down now, which means the gallery is filling up with some really great and inspiring journal covers!  You can see them all if you click here.

For my partner who loves "Hello Kitty", I made this journal cover:

The great thing is, my daughter is also a Hello Kitty fan, so I already had this fabric in my stash!  Using wool felt, black embroidery thread, and Heat n Bond, I made the large kitty-face applique for the front.  Hello Kitty always wears a bow in her hair, so I sewed a 3-D bow onto her head.  It will probably become flattened with use, but I don't think it will detract from it too much.  I also added a ribbon bookmark with a flower charm.

My other partner is an art student who loves bright colors.  I was inspired by the cover of this magazine


to create this journal cover



I gathered up all my bright-colored scraps and ironed on a lot of Heat n Bond!  Then I made a leaf-shaped template and cut out all the fabrics.  I printed the words on the computer, and traced them onto the fabric using a light box.  After the leaves and the oval with the words were ironed in place, I thought it still needed something, so I embroidered around the oval with bright blue thread...and it STILL needed something.  I always have buttons handy, and they seemed to fit well above the oval to balance the design.  This one also has a ribbon bookmark.  I am thrilled with how it turned out!

See the white cover with fruit on it, underneith the orange one?  I use that journal EVERY DAY, to plan my day, make to-do lists, and write down random thoughts.  I love how pretty it is; it's so much better than using a plain composition book.  So, if you didn't get one in our swap, I strongly recommend that you make one for yourself!
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6 comments:

  1. LaurenOctober 31, 2011 at 4:26 AM

    I love the happiness journal cover....great work!
    Can I ask, what did you use to trace the words onto the fabric?
    Also, did you sew around the leaves once you appliqued them on or did you leave them? Whatever you did, they look great! xo

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  2. Leslie AndersenOctober 31, 2011 at 2:01 PM

    Lauren,the marker I used to trace the words was a Staedtler pigment liner, size 0.1 for the smaller words and 0.3 for the larger word. The markers are available at office supply stores. For the leaves, I used the heavy-duty Heat n Bond, which is difficult to sew through, so no, I didn't sew around the leaves. I spent some time debating that--which Heat n Bond to use (the "lite" one is for positioning your shapes and then sewing them)--but decided not to sew because the leaf area was already so "busy" that it would probably look better without stitching lines.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 31, 2011 at 8:51 PM

    Hey Leslie,
    so did you just use Heat n' Bond for all the appliques? I've never used it before. Does it come in sheets or by the metre at the fabric store?

    THanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leslie AndersenNovember 1, 2011 at 9:32 AM

    Yes, I used the Heat n Bond for everything except the felt Hello Kitty face--that, I just pinned in place and stitched. I will have to do a post about it, because it really is good! It comes packaged in a roll, and I've seen it in fabric stores and Wal-Mart (but I know you are in Canada, Kat, so I guess you don't have Wal-Mart there!)

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  5. KimberleyNovember 10, 2011 at 8:15 AM

    hey hey,
    wow that hello kitty cover is Amazing!
    if i am interesting to buy it, could/would you make another one and for howmany do you sell it?
    (if you do)
    love,
    kimberley

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leslie AndersenNovember 10, 2011 at 9:08 PM

    Juliettejet, I can see that you are a big fan of Hello Kitty! I am sending you an email regarding your question. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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