INTRODUCING: Crafty Kit Club with an Altered Journal: Steampunk themed

I am so uber excited to share today's project.  

Literally, I am almost busting at the seams.....

<<<running to put comfy jammies on before I go any further>>>

When I started the NEW Pinque Peacock Venture, Crafty Kit Club, I had a feeling I was going to thoroughly enjoy creating samples for fans and friends to oogle over.  The Design Team is just as excited to play with the Monthly Kits, too.  

I didn't anticipate how much fun the first kit was going to be to play with though!!!  Yes, I know, you are probably thinking, "Wow!  Doesn't take much to get Jessica in a good mood".  You would be right!!!  Things tend to get a little hectic around the homestead and crafting time for personal enjoyment has become scarce.  

My days are filled with Mom Taxi trips to and from the schools for the 4 kids who are school-age (K, 1st, 4th, and 12th).  The Bright Side?  We live close to the school.  The Down Side?  We live less than a mile from the school which leaves us ineligible to allow the kids to ride the bus.   Four separate start and end times for each grade means lots of trips to and from.  I am hopeful that when our youngest is in 1st grade, which is still 2 years away, some extra time will be freed up for me to do more.  But for now, when I get some extra time to go to my craft room and get messy, I am excited!  And, the finished project is always a delightful reminder of the time I used wisely!

So, what about this kit, right?

The April Kit is an Altered Journal/Notebook Kit.  

It is available in two styles for you to select from.  

The first style is a Girly/Bling/Shabby kit with lots of sparkle and bling, and papers and cardstock in shades of pinks, blacks, and whites.  

The second style is a Masculine/Steampunk style kit, with lots of bronze, brown, copper, and gold tones accented with some black and kraft cardstock.

There are some extras that you get to select to make your kit more personalized to your design taste as well.  

If you senses are intrigued and you would like to play with one of the April Kits, be sure to SWING OVER to the Crafty Kit Club {CLICK HERE} and order one today!  They are super reasonable in price and there is a flat shipping charge on all the Monthly Kits.  You can select to order Month to Month, or get a discounted price on the kits for being a 2 month, 3 month, or more than 3 month subscriber!

NOW, ONTO THE FUN PART OF THIS POST!!!!  

Sorry to leave you in suspense....

AND get ready for some cool step by step instructions (lots and lots of pictures)

I worked with Kit B, the Steampunk styled kit for my project.  

I started out by first tracing the outside of the book onto the cardstock I was using for the covers.....

.....then moved on to measuring and cutting.

I used my corner punch to round them to fit the composition notebook edges.

I adhered the inner covers (kraft card stock) first and let the book rest overnight to be certain the pages wouldn't stick together from the Mod Podge.

psssssttt.....The brayer tool by Mod Podge is really neat to have and worth the small cost in my opinion!

I opted to select my additional sheets (kit extras I mentioned earlier) from the Prima Engraver stack since there were a lot of clocks and a few map images at my disposal.

I adhered the back cover just as I did with the inner covers.....using Mod Podge and the brayer to smooth out any bubbles.  Before applying the front cover though, I decided to do some stamping and embossing first.  Here I used the map image from the Unity Stamp set called Travel Notes.  I used a gold metallic embossing powder to bring more metallic shine to the book.  I love how it looks against the Core'dinations Black Pearl card stock, don't you?

I moved on to my 6x6 squares of the Graphic45/Core Timeless squares.  

The clocks on the paper are raised and a nice slight bit of sanding brings them to life.

Now for GETTING MESSY & SOME DISTRESSING ACTION!!!

I painted the cardboard arrow from the kit with some Crackle Paint - Antiqued Bronze.

It was a bit too shiny, so I dulled it down by adding some TH Embossing Powder - Antique Linen and zapping it with my heat gun.

Much better now!

I tore the gray square to fit in the lower corner and upper corner of the front cover.  

(I also used the corner punch for the top piece to again, match the composition book)

I then grabbed my sponge dabber box and inked it up with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink - black soot.....

then Dew Drop in a Copper.....

then Dew Drop in Gold.....

And this is what they look like all mingled together against the Journal ....

During the whole process, I changed my mind about a dozen times when it came to placement of the pieces and embellishments.  But, that is the norm with me when designing.  Do you do that with your projects?

I stamped a few of the clock images from the Unity Stamp set called "the TIME is NOW" and embossed it with a white embossing powder and then just a dash of some TH Distress Powder-Vintage Photo.  

It was time to go ahead and adhere the cover to the book.  Again using my Mod Podge and brayer!  <<< I really love that thing....lol.

The stamping created a connection in the middle of the journal that joined the two corner pieces together.

(I ultimately opted to ink the top corner piece in the same way as I described the way I did the bottom corner up above in this post)

I had in mind that I would use the sentiment "Take Note" from the For the Record stamp set and decided to stamp it directly onto one of the clocks on my cream colored 6x6 square (Timeless Collection).  I just fussy cut the "half-clock" out for my sentiment "tag"

To play more with my fun crackle paints, I first lightly sanded my chipboard square from the kit (to hold the paint well) and then

I painted a coat of Tarnished Brass over it and left it to dry.  Once it was dry, I went around the edge with the Copper Dew Drop.

I fussy cut a few clocks from the Prima sheets I selected and used my corner punch on them.

Now it was time to lay it all out until I could get it "Baby Bear" aka Just Right!

Here is where I changed my mind a few dozen times....

I will spare you the agony of showing pictures of all the options I tried before committing to one design!

I did commit once I placed the gears down and used some Glossy Accents to hold them in place.  No turning back now!!!

For a finishing touch, earlier in the process, I had bent the metal oval embellishment from the kit to fit the bind of the journal .  These are from Miriam's Crafting Supplies and she has a wide selection to choose from.  You will see these, along with other Partner products, in the kits often!

and added some 3 Girl JAM (another Product Partner) Tuxedo Black Crinkle Ribbon to the bind (tied in a bow) as well as at the bottom (pleated).

....and this is what I came up with as the Finished Design!!!!

Here is a close up of the sentiment (by the way, I also dabbed some Dew Drop Copper to the clock after cutting it out)

A side view to show off the gorgeous hat pin I created with the supplies that were in the Kit as well!  Buttons and Paper Roses too!  The Paper Roses are from another Product Partner, Adele at Glimpz of Memories!

So there you have it folks!  I am happy to read your comments on my tutorial and how well you like the Kits.  And, again, here is the link to the Crafty Kit Club if you want to get one for yourself!

Crafty Kit Club {CLICK HERE} 

Remember to 

Keep Crafting, 

Because 

♫ CRAFTING ♫ 

♫ ROCKS ♫ 

\m/-_-\m/ 

:O) Jessica