Mixed Media Bird Watching Journal With Rebekah Meier Designs

Hello and welcome to another Mix it Up Monday with Rebekah Meier Designs.  It’s Deb Riddell here to share a little journal I made with Rebekah’s Mixed Media Art Paper, Mixed Media Transfer Foil, Mixed Media Adhesive Sheets and Mixed Media Medium.

Mixed Media Bird Watching Journal With Rebekah Meier Designs

My hubby and I love the outdoors and trying to identify wild birds are one of our favorite pastimes.  But we’ve never really kept track of the birds we’ve seen so I decided to make this little bird watching journal to keep track of our finds.

Therm O Web Supplies Used:

Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Paper 9″ x 12″ (4 sheets per pack)
Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Adhesive Sheets 9″ x 12″ (3 sheets per pack)
Rebekah Meier Designs Transfer Foil 6″ x 6″ (12 sheets per pack) • Antique Pearl (Satin)
Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Medium Jar 4 fl oz
SuperTape™ Roll • 1/4 in

Other supplies used:

Passport Book die; Birds die; Bird Branch die; Little Sizzles Mat Board – Sizzix
Media Fluid Acrylic paint (Primary Cyan, Cobalt Teal Hue, Green Gold, Yellow Green Light, Titanium White, Interference Gold) – DecoArt
Mini Layering stencils (Grid Dot, Splash, Floral, Plus); Flourish Layering stencil – Stampers Anonymous
Crinkle Ribbon; Quote Chip – Advantus
Home Sweet Home Digital Journal kit – Ephemera’s Vintage Garden
Color Shine spray (White, Chartreuse) – Heidi Swap
Distress Archival ink (Vintage Photo) – Ranger Ink
Miscellaneous – twine, scissors, paper trimmer, sequin waste, computer and printer, die cutting machine

Bird Watching Journal Instructions:

Cut a strip of Rebekah Meier Designs Art Paper approximately 4″ wide by 12″ long.  Make several puddles of diluted acrylic paint on your craft mat in shades of blue and green and dip the Art Paper into the puddles repeatedly, drying in between each layer of color.  Continue until you are happy with the coverage and dry the Art Paper thoroughly.  If the color is a little too intense, add a wash of diluted white paint with a touch of DecoArt Media Interference Gold for a bit of shimmer

Select several stencils and randomly stencil the painted Art Paper, repeating the patterns up and down the entire length of the paper.  Stamp over the stenciling with a fine script stamp and permanent brown ink and then spatter the Art Paper with white and green permanent ink or spray.

Cut two pieces of mat board large enough for the covers of your journal, peel off the backing paper on the prepared Art Paper and adhere to the mat board.  Die cut two journal covers with the Passport Book die.

Cut another piece of Mixed Media Art Paper large enough to cover the spine of your journal (about 4″ x 6″) and remove the adhesive backing paper.  Adhere the Art Paper to the back of a floral design stencil with the adhesive side up.  Apply acrylic paint through the stencil in a couple of shades of green.

Remove the stencil from the Art Paper and let dry thoroughly.

Once the paint has dried, apply a sheet of Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Transfer Foil over top of the stenciled Art Paper (this is Antique Pearl) and burnish well with a soft cloth to transfer the foil.  Peel off the Transfer Foil to reveal the foiled and stenciled design.

Adhere a piece of Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Adhesive Sheets to the back of the foiled Art Paper and attach it to another piece of mat board.  Die cut the spine for your journal with the Passport Book die (important: make sure that the foiled side of the mat board is against the die to make sure the correct side of the spine is scored – ask me how I know!!).

Ink the edges of your two journal covers and the spine with a permanent brown ink if desired.

Die cut a bird image from Mixed Media Adhesive Sheets (this is the Sizzix Bigz Birds die).  Remove one side of the backing paper from the Adhesive Sheet die cut and apply the die cuts to the front cover of your journal.

Carefully remove the top backing sheet from the Adhesive Sheet die cut on the cover and lay a piece of Mixed Media Transfer Foil over top (this is Antique Pearl).  Burnish the foil onto the Adhesive Sheet with a soft cloth and remove the Transfer Foil sheet to reveal the foiled images.

Repeat the process for the back cover, this time die cutting the Bird Branch die from the Mixed Media Adhesive Sheets.  Add a messy outline around the foiled die cuts on the front and back covers with permanent black and white inks if desired.

Adhere a length of Crinkle ribbon (dyed green with some water-based ink if desired) to the back side of the front and back covers with iCraft SuperTape for a closure.  Cut some patterned paper with the Passport Book die and adhere it to the backside of the covers with Mixed Media Medium, sandwiching the ribbon in between the patterned paper and the mat board covers.  Add a tuck pocket to the front and back covers if desired.

Apply more iCraft SuperTape to the inside of the foiled spine as shown.

Remove the backing paper from the Super Tape and adhere the front and back covers to the spine, time to fill your journal!

Die cut several inner pages with the Passport Book die from a patterned paper of your choice (this is from the Home Sweet Home Digital Journal kit).  I cut 5 pages for each of the three signatures in my journal.

If desired, print out some journaling cards to tuck into your journal here and there.

Add a few pockets onto the inner pages of your journal to house more of the journaling cards if desired and then sew the signatures into the cover with some twine or bookbinding thread.

And with that, your journal is complete.  Here are a few more pictures of the finished Mixed Media Bird Watching journal, as you can see I added a Tim Holtz Quote Chip to the front of mine.

Hope that you have enjoyed seeing how my journal came together, there are so many possibilities with these techniques to make one of your own, hope that you will give it a try!  Thanks as always for stopping by today and happy creating,

Deb xo