Altered Journal

I'm feeling a little less holiday stress...I finished my Christmas cards and got them in the mail yesterday...woo hoo! I want to pass on something that happened to me at the post office. I had a few cards that I made using some wide ribbon which I layered with some metallic ribbon and knotted on the side. These cards can be seen here. I figured they would need extra postage since they were a little thick, but...it cost $1.17 each to mail them! They told me they were no longer considered a letter because they did not fit in the slot, but they are instead treated as a parcel. They were not that thick...I was stunned! Oh well...it could have been worse...I could have made all 50 cards like those few! I just wanted you to be aware of the postage increase when you are designing future cards to mail.

Today I thought I would share a notebook I altered as a gift for my upline. Here is what it looked like before:

You can find these notebooks at Target. They have elastic cord at the bottom to keep it closed when not in use and a pen with an elastic holder on the side. These just beg to be covered with some pretty papers and embellishments!

I chose Artichoke Designer prints for this one with a bit of the River Rock print from the Dashing collection. I applied the papers with Royal Coat Decoupage medium. The monogram is stamped in Artichoke Craft ink and embossed with clear EP. I used my soon to be retired, much used and loved alphabet set Letterpress.

For embellishments I used some double stitched Pomegranate, Artichoke grosgrain and some black polka-dot I have in my stash. I also used a couple flowers and a pearl from my new Pretties kit. The flowers are really easy to dye to match any project. This is the first time I had tried this. All I did was lay the flower on top of my ink pad and used my aqua painter to add some color. I smooshed it down it the center a bit with my bone folder and then kind of blended the color outwards to the tip of the petals so they are a little shaded.

I really like the way this turned out...I almost traded the "K" for an "L" so I could keep it! ;-) Guess I need to make another one for myself.

Enjoy your weekend!!!