Wonderlust Kate Crane Journal Book

I finally finished the Journal I made from Kate Crane's class at Wanderlust - the year long weekly classes I've signed up for.   Kate made hers a travel journal but since Kent and I haven't traveled anywhere lately - I made mine a Nature Journal!  I have lots of photos to share - but won't share the exact details since it's from a class.  The journal is called a Concertina Journal - it opens like a fan fold - with covers on each end.

Here's the front cover all tied up with the wrap around ribbon that is attached behind the back cover to accommodate extra width as you add things to the pages.  I used a beautiful Stencil Girl stencil called Bird in Window on my front cover.

I used another Stencil Girl stencil, Speckled Bird, on the back cover.

You can see the stencils a little more clearly here.

So the covers are black and rather subdued - but when you open the journal - there's a burst of color!  We used acrylic paints, various markers, and some stamps on the pages.  I don't usually use colors like these so I had to move outside my comfort zone!

There are smaller pages sewn into the base fan fold in two sections.

Two of the panels are sewn together at the bottom to form a pocket where you can put photos, or notes etc.

There are two pages on the back side - with a plain page sewn in for extra journaling or notes.

Here are some photos of the process - I actually had to set up a table in our finished basement room as my craft room didn't have enough open table space to work on with all the paints, inks, tools and stamps I needed at hand!   Kate taught us how to do doodling (mark making and pattern building),  scribbly writing, scratching with a credit card and palette knife and lots more!  I really learned a lot!  At the bottom of the photo below, you see some of my panels with just the paint on them -  I was thinking they really weren't coming out too well - but once I added the doodling and scribbling, especially the touches of black paint  - the pages started to look more like Kate's and I was excited!

I got so involved in stamping, doodling and scribbling on my panels -  I forgot that I should have left empty space in the middle of the panels to journal on!  Oh well - I may just keep this as a pretty book to look at!   - or I might stick in some photos from hikes and birdwatching that Kent and I like to do.

Here are the smaller pages that were sewn in on the folds of some of the base fan fold.

I love my pretty little Nature Journal - it measures 5" x 5" closed up.  I'm happy just opening it up and looking at it!

This project was really so very different from what I usually do when I craft - I'm really learning to stretch myself with these classes! 

Just a reminder that you can still check out the Wanderlust classes -  they are all on video - so you can start at anytime.  There's a new lesson or project every Friday - plus some extra activities to join in on if you want to!