Gwen's Gems: File Folder Mini Art Journal

Hi everyone, it's Gwen back with January's installment of Gwen's Gems! This month I was inspired by a type of project I've seen floating around the web - a file folder mini art journal. I got an email from Cloth Paper Scissors that featured one of these and I thought it was time to make one! (If you have or download the CPS Jan / Feb 2011 issue, you can see their full tutorial.)

Since I don't have that issue (yet!) I made up my own version and I thought I'd share it here, along with the steps for you to make your own if you'd like.

Here's a view of my finished album:

Now for a tutorial! I took lots of photos, and I hope you enjoy it!

First up, take a plain manila file folder and gesso the whole thing front and back. When it's dry you'll want to fold it as shown below:

You can make it whatever height you want; I folded up the bottom of mine so that the horizontal fold line would match up with the part of the folder where there was a dip, if that makes sense.

Next, I took a sheet of book paper and tore out pieces and randomly collaged them around the inside of my journal with matte medium.

Then I took a few shades of blue paint plus Titanium White and painted it - I did both sides of the folder with these colors.

Next it was time to embellish! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Winter Art Bento Box, so I decided that I wanted to use my little box of tools, paper, and ephemera to do a lot of the embellishing.

My box came with one of the new mini Gelli plates, and I knew I wanted to use that to create some color fields on my background, so I rolled on some aqua paints and used it like a stamp.

Now it's time for stenciling! I took out my Ornamental Circle Cluster 4x4 stencil and the Ornamental Circle Cluster Screen along with some Archival Ink and added stenciling just within the Gelli printed squares.

I doodled around the edges of the squares a bit and added some paint splatters, but I knew I still needed something to give the whole thing more depth and better unify the elements. I decided to go with a glaze - specifically a "dirty glaze" which I made with Micaceous Iron Oxide and Van Dyke Brown. I added some interference gold and used Polymer Medium to make the glaze. I was thrilled with the results!

I just painted my glaze over most of the background - I pulled it back a bit here and there with baby wipes, but I loved the transformation! You could do a different glaze or go with a different color scheme, or skip it all together if you like it better without. Whatever works with your style :)

My Art Bento Box also came with a fun little Stabilo Woody pencil in purple - I used this to go around my printed squares and add some scribbling. I also went through using the Basket stencil by Daniella Woolf to add texture throughout the background.

Next up, the cover! You could decorate each of the sections of the outside as well, but I decided to do a continuous pattern all along that side. 

I used my Ornamental Circle Cluster Screen stencil again for that - I love the way it lines up so you can make a repeating pattern! You can also see some of the elements I picked out from my box to use on the cover. I coated some of them with more of my "dirty glaze" and then painted the entire cover with more of it (again, you could leave off the glaze.)

I added my paper and ephemera and adhered it to the cover along with a fabulous sequined sari applique.

In between waiting for layers of paint to dry, I worked on the shipping tags that I wanted to put in each of the four pockets. I used papers and ephemera from my Art Bento Box to make the backgrounds and then stenciled and embellished on top.

I used the Ornamental Circle Cluster 4x4 stencil again, along with my Ornamental Embroidery Stencil and the Ornamental Petals Screen. Of course being me, there also needed to be some gold glitter tape on each tag.

I added some rubons and Liquid Pearls and did some distressing; here you can see all of the tags outside and then in their pockets:

Below are each of the tags individually as well...

Voila! A finished file folder mini art journal, all decorated and ready for me to add some more journaling, and maybe a little more embellishing too :)

That's it for this month's post... I hope you enjoyed it! 

Have you ever made an art journal from a file folder and your StencilGirl stencils? We'd love to see!

Until next time, happy stenciling!

Gwen