I have been working on projects for something (a few of you know what it is) and I’ve been having lots of fun coming up with them! I think I had the most fun with this. I had to make one non-card project and I decided to make an altered composition book. From there, I decided to make it a journal, which became a birding journal.

I LOVE how this turned out!! I was starting to get annoyed because I messed up and had to start over with the title a couple of times. But I think it paid off in the end. My husband is an avid birder, always pointing out birds where we go. So when I see bird stamp sets I run them by him, and if he says they are good I go ahead and purchase them. The hummingbird is from a set from TAC (The Angel Company) and it is called All Things of Nature. There are five different bird images in this set but I chose the hummingbird for this project because I wanted it to be feminine.

I stamped the word “journal” with the Headline Alphabet from Stampin’ Up! using my Stamp-a-ma-jig (SOOOO glad I have that thing!!). I used Cranberry Crisp ink from the new In Color line from Stampin’ Up! for this year. I then stamped the hummingbird with my Palette Noir Black ink pad and then I stamped the flower in the same ink on a scrap piece of paper. By the way, I used Shimmery White paper and it is GORGEOUS in real life!! Shimmery White is hard to photograph but when you see it you can tell how much it adds.

I used my re-inkers, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, uni-ball Signo White Gel Pen and aquapainters to color in the hummingbird and flower. I wanted to make the hummingbird a ruby throated hummingbird to pick up the cranberry color of the paper and ink, so I looked up pictures thru Blingo to use as my reference. I am VERY pleased with the result! Gotta love the resources we have nowadays!! *wink* After the coloring, I trimmed the cardstock, being sure to stop when I got to the hummingbird. I then used my craft knife to cut out the wings and continue the straight line. Next, I used a black marker to write “birding” to complete the title. The flower was then cut out from the scrap piece of paper and I adhered it to the title with one glue dot holding the base of the flower down, and two Stampin’ Dimensionals on the bloom of the flower. I love the subtle raised look this gave the flower.

Then the title was matted on Cranberry Crisp, with Basic Black behind that. I used my Fiskars scallop scissors since I knew I wanted to use my scallop punch for the quote at the bottom. The quote is from the set A Touch of Nature from Stampin’ Up! I stamped it in black on Shimmery White and then used my Mega Oval Punch from Marvy. The black was then punched using my Giga Scallop Oval Punch from Marvy and I then matted the quote on top and adhered it to the bottom.

I dyed the ribbon covering the spine of the notebook and adhered it with Sticky Strip. The inside of the journal is lined with Cranberry Crisp. Before I lined the back cover, I attached a lenght of the narrow grosgrain with some Sticky Strip to act as a bookmark (big thanks to Bunny for that idea – I love it!). The paper I covered the composition book with is from the Chatterbox Scrapbook Walls collection, called Mini Powder Puffs. I loved making this project so much, that I have already started a masculine version to surprise my husband with when he gets home this week!