Dragon Themed Journal

My second post this week, following along the dragon theme is a journal that has been created using The Dragon Within Breathing Courage & Creativity Collage & Mixed Media Mystical Dragons digital download Kit from Opulence by Design Crafts.

It has 40 pages of backing papers (10 x 8 PDF)  - including textured prints, beautiful prints and panels for your projects, toppers and embellishments, mystical affirmations and dragon inspired greetings, quotes and sayings.

I also used the Presscut living hinge multi media from John Next Door to form the base of my journal. John Lockwood has some really handy YouTube videos demonstrating how to put together a journal using these dies and suggestions for inserts too. This is the first time I have used mine and I love the living hinge spine, which I believe can be extended.

I printed out a few of the papers that I intended to use, I do this as I go along. I used the last few sheets of a cream textured paper that I had in my craft stash. It has a suede feel to it so I thought that this would be good to use on the spine with the golden dragon skin paper but reprinted the front page for my journal cover because I preferred the crisper image from the bold 300gsm Navigator white card rather than the suede textured print in the image above.

 

I also printed the wording onto one of the textured papers. some of these I cut around but most of these I just tore out for a more rustic effect.

The two greyboard panels for the my journal measure 6 x 8 inches, with a textured spine and the die cut end pieces on the left will be used as mini pockets for my tags to slide into.

The papers ink up really well to add more dimension to your projects and hide any white edges too.

After putting my journal together with red liner tape, I've added a little more inside for ribbon to tidy up the edges.

I then started to create some tags. I used more of the rice paper loosely over a die cut tag from kraft card  and then created an embellishment for the tag using one of the Celtic symbols, heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and then mounted it on greyboard to create a disc.

For more texture, I used a piece of brown packaging, which has been swiped over with a gold ink pad and I've also added one of the sentiments.

For my second tag I used one of these glorious dragon embellishments and tags, with a sentiment. I have also used one of my go to Sakura stardust sparkle pens in gold to trace along the white outline on the dragon. I leave a white outline when cutting out small detail as it makes fussy cutting easier for me.

These papers are great to cut into for your journaling too. I have printed this sheet out twice and then fussy cut  around the dragons. Any white edges are easily covered with ink and I've always found my dinky inky sparkle inks from the Dreamees have been really handy for this job as they come in a great range of colours and I have had these for years.

I have added a quote to the top of the page  and used my sparkle pens and glossy accents to the dragon eyes.

For this page I've stamped and embossed a dream catcher and added a dragon with a sentiment.

My pages are 6 x 6.5 inches, including the  0.5 inch folded hem to thread my twine through. I've also printed both sides of all my pages using the textured print and for this one I've added a printed dragon vellum background.

For this page I have printed the image four times and decoupaged it, creating a disc for the centre.  The centre dragon disc has been heat embossed with clear embossing powder a few times, to add dimension and then placed back into the centre.  I have also added a custom sentiment.

For my final large page, I've added a pocket to keep the dragon postcards that I made. I've also added glossy accents to their eyes and some shimmer along that scaly neck.  This one also has a custom sentiment.

My smaller pages are about 4 x 4 inches and I've added a little film and fibres to accompany the dragon and sentiment.

Inside I've created another disc which has been heat embossed with clear embossing powder and added a strip of material with pieces of rice paper and another sentiment.

I've created a similar idea on the back too.

For my second small page, I have used one of these beautiful Celtic images and decoupaged it for a bit of dimension. I have also added the leather border from one of the designs and reduced it in size  to fit the project.

Inside my page I've added another custom sentiment and some stamped images which I've cut out and added a little more rice paper in the background.

I've taken part of the image from the alternate colourway print used for the front page of my journal and reduced it to fit on my page, I've also added some mica flakes to the edges of the page and a sentiment.

I used twine to attach my pages, 4 x the length of my longer page (the piece in front for some reason was cut too short).

Once all the pages had been threaded, I tied all the threads together over the spine.

I can always easily add to my journal this way too.

I added a few wooden orient beads from my stash to create a tassel and also some glossy accent to the faux studs on the cover, along with a few metal gemstones too.

I have made a collage of pictures to show how my pages look once all threaded into the journal.

The last page is printed on vellum.

My journal also fits into the dragon box that I made.

Thanks for taking the time to view my post, I appreciate that there's quite a bit to scroll through on this project.  This has been a fun make .

If you want more inspiration and demos from Opulence by Design, follow the links below. Amanda is a very talented designer and has a wide selection of kits and crafting sheets that can be mixed and matched with your own crafty stash.

 opulencebydesign - YouTube

or Instagram Opulence ByDesigns

Have a great day, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges:

Love to Scrap - AG

613 Ave Create - AG

A Perfect time to craft -AG

Mix it up - AG

CD Sunday Plus - AG  - Winner