Hi all, Laura here. Wow, its been a crazy couple of weeks….or rather a crazy year so far! If you are like me you may had a hard time being creative. Sometimes, for me, pushing myself to just dive in is the only way to do it.

For a few weeks I have been playing with adding machine tape on tags and such. I have made roll up fabric strip journals in the past and thought it would be fun to do a journal with the machine tape. To start, I cut a length of tape about 6 feet long. You can make yours longer or shorter as you wish. I then cover one side with TCW9007 Clear Gesso down entire length. Allow to thoroughly dry.

Next, I used a Gelli plate and acrylic paint with stencils to create a layered background. I used the larger sizes of TCW898 Fancy Mandela and TCW899 Striped Mandela along with the Gelli Plate.

Once a had a background I was pleased with, I added some swaths of TCW9001 White Gesso applied with a palette knife. I will stamp sayings an images in these swaths. I also added TCW9004 Light and Fluffy Modeling Paste to add raised detail to the background. Before lifting the stencil, I sprayed the paste/stencil with opaque or transparent spray. This will give color to the white paste with a clean crisp edges. For these raised areas, I used The Small version of TCW899 Striped Mandela and TCW781 Scrollwork.

Once the stenciling was complete and the entire strip was allowed to dry thoroughly, I added stamped images and sayings as well as some splatters of black and a tiny splash of fluorescent color. I love adding that shock of color in tiny amounts to add a pop to a piece.

I used a Graphic 45 ATC Book Box painted with TCW9002 Black Gesso to hold the rolled journal. I added Light and Fluffy Modeling Paste with the stencils and technique used on the journal strip.

Ends of the journal are finished with card stock and fiber similar to a tag.

This was very fun to create and a welcome respite from our new normal. this would be fun to do for an event with small photos and ephemera.

I received several of the products used from The Crafters Workshop though the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Stay safe!