Be Brave Art Journal With Deco Foil Metallix Gel And Brutus Monroe

Hello everyone and welcome to another Mix It Up Monday!  Deb Riddell here and I have a handmade art journal to share with you today created with Deco Foil Metallix Gel,  Brutus Monroe Designer Toner Sheets and Brutus Monroe Transfer Sheets.

Be Brave Art Journal

Therm O Web Supplies Used:

Brutus Monroe Designer Toner Sheets – Double Dots
Brutus Monroe Designer Toner Sheets – Static
Brutus Monroe Foil Transfer Sheets – Purple Sketch
Brutus Monroe Foil Transfer Sheets – Green Sketch
Deco Foil Metallix Gel – Pure Gold
Deco Foil Metallix Gel – Aged Copper
Deco Foil Metallix Gel – White Pearl
Deco Foil Transfer Sheets – Turquoise (Satin)
Deco Foil™ Adhesive Pen .34floz
Deco Foil Pinwheels Stencil
Deco Foil Stencil Pal
Purple Tape – 1/2″
Memory Tape Runner XL™
iCraft Ultra Bond Adhesive 6 fl oz
Gina K. Designs Terrific Tape 1/2 in x 27 yds

Other supplies used:

Foil Laminator • 12 inch
Brutus Monroe – Butterfly Sentiments 2.0 stamp; Heart Lace Background stamp; Suede Surface Ink
Sizzix – Eileen Hull Card Box, Planner & Storage Organizer Scoreboards XL die
Spellbinders – Seth Apter Coffee Ring die
Stampers Anonymous – Ringer stamp; Mixed Media 101 stamp; Documented stamp; Ledger Script stamp; French Market stamp; Code Layering stencil; Thatched Layering stencil
Ranger Ink – Distress Ink; Archival Ink; Alcohol Ink
Advantus – Quote Chips; Small Talk Stickers
DecoArt Media – White Gesso; Fluid Acrylic paint
Ephermera Vintage Garden – Cabbage Patch Whimsy Digital Journal Kit
Miscellaneous – cardstock; velcro dots; paper trimmer; small alphabet stamps; black marker; white gel pen; paint comb; bottle cap for mark making

Be Brave Art Journal Instructions

Let’s start with the holder for your art journal; make puddles of Distress Inks (Iced Spruce and Wilted Violet) on your craft sheet and dip two pieces of cardstock into them, drying in between layers of colour and continuing until you are happy with the coverage.

Stencil Pure Gold Deco Foil Metallix Gel onto each piece of inked cardstock through the Deco Foil Pinwheel stencil with your Stencil Pal, holding everything securely in place with iCraft Purple Tape.  Let dry completely, I left mine for about 2 hours.

Die cut the holder with Eileen Hull’s Card Box XL die and assemble as instructed.

Stamp the word ‘create’ onto the spine of your journal holder with a small alphabet stamp set and frame it with the label frame that was die cut with the Card Box die.  Set the holder aside.

Brutus Monrow Toner Sheets

Preheat your foil laminator and foil two pieces of Brutus Monroe Double Dots White Designer Toner Sheet with his Green Sketch Transfer Sheets.  You will need one piece for the front cover of your art journal and one for the back, my finished art journal was approximately 6 1/4″ tall by 4 3/4″ wide.  Ink the foiled Designer Toner Sheets with Iced Spruce Distress Ink.

Foil a piece of Brutus Monroe Static White Designer Toner Sheet with his Purple Sketch Transfer Sheets.  This piece will become the spine of your art journal so you’ll need a piece about 7″ long by 4″ wide.  Ink the foiled Designer Toner Sheet with Wilted Violet Distress Ink.

Ink, stamp and stencil two pieces of cardstock to cover the inside of your art journal covers however you desire (see above in the supplies list for the stamps and stencils that I used).  Attach the prepared cardstock to the backside of your foiled journal covers with Gina K. Designs Terrific Tape and your Memory XL Tape Runner.

Attach the covers to the journal spine with more Gina K. designs Terrific Tape.  I made my spine about 7/8″ wide to accommodate two signature inserts but make yours as wide as you like.

The outside of the art journal cover when assembled.

The inside of the art journal cover, I added a strip of cardstock to the center of the foiled spine for strength.

Make a closure for your art journal from remnants of the foiled Designer Toner Sheets.  Attach the closure to the back cover with iCraft Ultra Bond Adhesive and add a velcro dot to the front.

Apply Aged Copper Deco Foil Metallix Gel to a piece of cardstock in a smooth layer with your Stencil Pal.  Let dry thoroughly and then cut three Coffee Ring die cuts from it (I kept the negative piece of Metallix covered cardstock left after die cutting the Coffee Rings for another project!).

Arrange the Metallix Coffee Rings onto the front cover of your art journal and adhere in place with iCraft Ultra Bond Adhesive.  Add a Quote Chip in the center of the largest ring and some Small Talk Stickers inside the other two rings.  Add a decorative charm to the journal closure as well if desired (I coloured this question mark charm with Copper Alcohol Ink Mixative to coordinate it with the Aged Copper Metallix Gel Coffee Ring die cuts).

Create signatures for your art journal from a combination of mixed media and watercolour papers.  I made two 10 page signatures that measured about 5 3/4″ tall by 4 1/2″ wide but your measurements will be dependent upon the size of your journal cover.

Deco Foil Metallix Gel

This mixed media art journal is going to be an experimentation journal for my Therm O Web products so I decided to have a play with more Deco Foil Metallix Gel on this first page.  I covered the mixed media paper with gesso, slip slapped on some DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic paint in shades of green and added some torn collage fragments and stamping.  I then applied Deco Foil Pearl White Metallix Gel with a palette knife and combed through it with a paint comb and stamped it here and there with a bottle cap, loving the textures and translucence and can’t wait to play with it more!

Once the first experimentation page had dried, I sewed the two signatures onto the cover with a 3-hole pamphlet stitch (click here for a video tutorial on how to do a pamphlet stitch).

If desired, add a few charms to the spine of your art journal by threading them onto the thread or twine that you used to sew your signatures in place.

And with that your art journal is done!  Here are a few closeups of the finished piece.

Thanks as always for stopping by today and I hope that you’ve been inspired to create your own art journal and have a play with Therm O Web’s wonderful Metallix Gel’s and Brutus Monroe Deco Foil products.

Have a great week everyone and happy creating,

Deb xo