This is my project for the Lovin' Lindy Blog Hop - I love the way this turned out, it really is one of my favourite projects EVER!  I think what helps to make it so special for me is that I've incorporated part of my heart into this one, the images of the beautiful little boy, the soldier and the steampunk man - are all images of my much loved Grandpa, Les Swaby.  He's been gone for a while now, but is never far away from my thoughts.

PRIZE DETAILS

Before I go into detail about the Journal, I'll explain what the prize is for this Blog Hop post - each DT member has a different prize on their blogs.  You will find links to the other blogs below - but it will only be visible on Jan 31st in the USA - so Aussie ladies you may need to wait just a bit!  If you are the lucky random winner, you will receive the following gorgeous products from Lindy's Stamp Gang which I consider to be my current favourites and would be some of the products I would recommend to begin building your Lindy's collection  (this changes each week for me lol!) so at this time I'm absolutely loving the:

• Caesar's Gold Embossing Powder,
• Carpathian Bluebells Magical Mica,
• Hottie Patottie Pink Starburst spray and
• Dark Chocolate Truffle Starburst stain

Three of these products have been used in my Journal cover below.....    To qualify to be in the draw for this sparkly prize, you need to leave a comment on THIS POST before 6pm Feb 2nd 2011 (Eastern Standard Time).  The winner will be drawn randomly and announced on Feb 2nd at 7pm (Eastern Standard Time).

OK so now for the details about my journal cover.....

Materials:

• Starburst Stains in Cadbury Milk Chocolate Brown, Dark Chocolate Truffle, Carpathian Bluebells
• Embossing Powder in Caesar's Gold
• Magicals (aka Magical Micas) in Carpathian Bluebells
• Bookboard aka Matt board (used in picture framing)
• Chipboard squares from Collections
• Krylon metallic Gold Leafing pen
• Chipboard vines from Dusty Attic
• Brilliance Ink Pad - Coffee Bean
• Gold & White (Snow Cap) Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber
• Brass charms, vintage watch parts, vintage earings (disassembled)
• Collections word tiles
• Fine Gold braid
• Kally Panacci Cardstock Stickers: Time
• Copic Marker: B24
• Vintage book page
• Open weave cotton gause bandage
• Clear adhesive crystals, black adhesive crystals
• Versamark Watermark ink pad or pen
• Chipboard word 'love'
• Gold micro beads
• Gold Rub 'n' Buff
• Stamps: Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) Paint Splatter K5-1430  & Tim Holtz 'Flights of Fancy' clear stamp set
• Krylon Gloss Varnish
• Vintage photos
• Glossy Accents from Ranger
• Crackle Accents from Ranger
• Perfect Paper Adhesive (Gloss)
• Texture Paste (Jo Sonjas brand)

There are so many elements to this journal that it would take far too long to explain everything, so I'll give you all the highlights.  If you have any questions about how any specific thing was done please email me directly, happy to answer any queries :O)

How the Journal Background (Front Cover) was created..

1. Trim matt board to required size, check to see if it has a paper cover layer - if it does, carefully peel this off.  The easiest way to tell is to give the matt board a blast on each side with your heat gun, if there, the paper cover layer will seperate from the body of the board.  This needs to be done so all of your artwork doesn't just peel off when heated, glued, wet or sprayed etc.  Punch holes for binding into clean dry matt board - must do this before you start applying the texture paste (you won't be able to cut holes through it afterwards).
2. Spritz 50% the front with Cadbury Milk Chocolate Starburst spray/stain and the other half with Dark Chocolate Truffle.  Let these mingle a little while wet to slightly blend the colours.  You may choose to flip the cover and colour both sides, this is up to you - just make sure you let each side dry first!  Dry with heat gun to make sure cover is completely dry before next step.
3. Grab your jar/tube of texture paste, I like to dollop this directly onto the corners my project with a ice-cream stick (small trowel if you have one - or a finger also works).  Once on the matt board (I placed mine on the top right and lower left), using the ice-cream stick spread the texture paste around, sort of like icing a cake - but in this case you are tyring to end up with texture, peaks and swirls.  Once in a pleasing shape and texture leave to harden - this may take up to 24 hours depending on the weather.
4. Mix together 1 teaspoon of Perfect Paper Adhesive and 2 mini-scoops (1/3 teaspoon) of Magicals in colour Carpathian Bluebells.  Mix well so that colour is activated and all lumps are removed.
5. Using a paintbrush, paint the Magical mixture directly onto the hardened texture paste, paint some areas more thickly and leave others barely coated for added colour variation.  Leave to dry.
6. Apply a very small amount of Gold Rub 'n' Buff metallic wax to ridges of texture paste to highlight.  Leave a few hours and then buff with soft cloth to enhance the metallic sheen.
7. Once completely dry spray entire cover with Krylon gloss varnish, this will not only seal all the colours and prevent any of the sparkle from transferring to the rest of your project, it also provides a fabulous base for rub-ons and other embellishments to adhere to.  Sometimes things don't stick to the shimmery sprays very well!

So there you have it - that is how I created the base for my journal!  If you would prefer to 'SEE' how I did this, please watch the clip below. 

 You can read on to find out how I created the base colour for the inchies.  To view the individual inchies close up - please look at my Copic Album Photo Gallery

How the Inchie Tile Backgrounds were created...

1. Begin with 9 chipboard inchie tiles from Collections.
2. Use the Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Dabber to coat the tiles with a later of paint.  I covered 3 completely with a heavy coat, 3 half covered and the final 3 only partially covered with a light swipe of the paint.  Having this variation in coverage will make sure that there will be some colour variation on the tiles.  Dry the paint with a heat gun (if in a hurry) or air dry if you prefer.
3. Once dry apply a generous amount of Starburst Stain (I used Carpathian Bluebells) dab or spray it on and then leave to dry.
4. Using Gold Adirondack Paint dabber as ink, coat tim Holtz Paint Splatter stamp and stamp splatter pattern over 3 tiles.
5. Using Brilliance Coffee Bean ink, stamp floral border (Tim Holtz - Flights of Fancy set) over edges of 4 tiles.
6. Tear vintage book page into small pieces and apply gold Rub 'n' Buff to edges and randomly over surface. Rub 'n' Buff is a metallic wax, which you can apply and burnish with a soft cloth.  Apply left over product to edges of about half the tiles.
7. Using Perfect Paper Adhesive randomly apply vintage text to 6 of the 9 tiles (I places smaller pieces towards the edges and larger pieces towards middle, or covering half of tile).
8. The tiles are now ready to embellish - add vintage photos, micro beads, mini-text, vintage watch pieces, charms, frames, adhesive crystals, time stickers, pearls, button and chipboard embellishments.  Once glue has partially dried and embellishments are held in place, cover each tile with Glossy Accents and Crackle Accents as desired.  I used these to add to the designs and enhance the vintage look of some of the items.
9. While Glossy accents is drying (and this will be overnight at least!), put the final touches on journal base.  Begin by trimming a cotton gause bandage to about the size you want, stretch it a little and shape it to fit the journal cover (I like to arrange mine from one corner to the opposite side with a few wispy bits hanging around the edges).  Lay flat on scrap paper and coat with Carpathian Bluebells Starburst Stain, make sure all areas are wet and that some get more colour than others.  Set aside to dry. 
10. Apply Design adhesives randomly over plain brown area of pre-prepared journal cover (do not go onto the texture paste) and then cover with Gold Foilz (this is a metallic gold craft foil that clings to the adhesive design).  The krylon spray I applied to the journal cover ensures this works like a dream!
11. Using Glossy Accents, glue the dry cotton gause to the journal cover, I usually just sort of add the glue (Glossy Accents) in spots and along the edges - so it's held nice and tight onto the matt board.
12. Again using Glossy Accents as the glue, adhere the individual tiles to the journal cover (I measured mine really well so all would align!).  Leave to dry overnight at least more if you can wait.
13. Colour some white Prima 'Say it with Pearls' with Copic Marker B34 and apply to top and bottom of inchie tile design, coat lightly with glossy accents for durability.
14. Add book corner to lower right corner of cover (helps with wear and tear as this will be the most knocked about corner).
15. Lastly, use Caesar's Gold embossing powder from Lindy's Stamp Gang to emboss chipboard word 'love' and glue to bottom right corner.  I used 4 coats of embossing powder to get the beautiful raised finish.

If you would prefer to watch the background being created, plus get a really close up view of all the inchie tiles, then you can see it in the clip below: 

OK WOW - was that a marathon post or what!   To view the individual inchies close up - please look at my Copic Album Photo Gallery    I haven't gone over every detail of every tile here so if you have any questions please just email me, always happy to help if I can.