BoHo Tunnel Journal

If your anything like me, you’ve got a cache of treasures squirreled away in cigar boxes and file cabinet drawers just waiting for the perfect project to come along.  Well recently I got my hands on a few jars of the new BoHo Bits, semi-precious gemstone, crystal, and mica embellishments for mixed media from Gwen Lafleur and Emerald Creek, and inspiration struck!  In no time, the idea for creating a BoHo Tunnel Journal out of an altered book came to be.  Sometimes you just need a new art supply to get you to put old treasures to good use.

I ended up using lots of things from my growing collection of odds and ends for this project including an old book rescued from the trash, a vintage metal frame, plastic buttons, lace, sari scraps, and some tea stained rice paper left over from another project.   I pulled out my acrylic paints, alcohol inks, and ink pads; paint pens, fine liners, and Shrinky Dink’s too.  Nothing in my stash was off limits for this project.

A metal frame from my stash made the perfect structure to fit into the space I’d cut out of an old book.  Although the book was missing a few pages when I rescued it from the trash, the spine was strong and the signatures were sewed in rather than glued making it a good candidate to alter for my project.

I aged the frame with acrylic paints.

And glued Gwen’s African Amethyst and Crystal Embers BoHo Bits onto the back lip of the metal frame with Tacky Glue.  I loved working with the gems and can’t wait to try them with Encaustics.  Ohh the possibilities!

I let the first layer of the stones dry and then added a few of the smaller pieces on the front to add dimension.  Arranged like this, they look like rock candy!

I wanted the base of the cover to have lots of texture and got it going using light molding paste through my Wild Ginger Plant Crest Stencil from StencilGirl Products®️.  I laid down some color with acrylic paints.  Then I took a risk and covered up two thirds of the cover with some pretty lace.  

Afterwards I tore up a piece of tea stained rice paper and adhered the pieces on top of the lace with matte medium.

I cut a tunnel through previously glued together layers of pages.

Time to put my plan to use my Torii Gate Crest Stencil by StencilGirl Products®️as the focal point into action.  First I used a 0.1 black Graphik Line Marker to trace the outline of the Torii Gate onto a piece of crystal clear Shrinky Dink’s Plastic.  I gave it a few seconds to dry, flipped my design over, and then colored it in from the back with Posca Markers and inks from ink pads.  I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch four holes in the plastic so that I could suspend my charm in between the pages.  This is a really forgiving technique; if you make a mistake, just wipe it off with a Q-Tip and redraw/color the area.  

Working on a craft mat, I used my heat gun to shrink the plastic, pressing with an acrylic block at the very end to flatten the charm.  Then I played with string, weaving it in and around the piece, making knots and fiddling until I was happy with the design.  I topped it off with more BoHo Bits.  I added a few Apatite Geode Chips to coordinate with the patina on the frame.

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I tied the string coming from the right side of the charm directly into the page and then punched a hole in the spine of the book to thread the string from the left side of the charm through.  I used a small crochet needle to help me pull the thread since I didn’t have a large eye needle.   Then I punched a return hole on the other side of the spine and passed the string back through to the inside of the book and where I tied it off in between the pages.

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A BoHo Tunnel Journal just wouldn’t be complete without Sari Ribbon.  So I tied a piece to the string on the outside if the spine.  That brightened it up.  

I thought A little BoHo Bling Dangle would be fun.  So I used one of the ideas Gwen shared in her BoHo Bits and BoHo Blends Tutorials .  (If you haven’t watched them yet, they are definitely worth the time.  She has a gift for finding new and exciting ways to use art supplies that you probably already have.)  I made this Dangle with a vintage plastic button and alcohol inks, my Wild Cherry Blossom Crest Stencil. And Gwen’s new BoHo Blends Embossing Powder in Paprika.

LOL.  Embossing a button....  Who but Gwen would ever think to emboss a button?

  Here’s the back of my BoHo Tunnel Journal.

Well the cover of my BoHo Tunnel Journal is complete and I’ve been using it as a working journal.  Working in it is helping me whittle through many of the pieces in my stash, (and if you’d seen my stash you’d know that that’s a very good thing).  I’ll be sharing some of the journal pages soon so stay tuned.  Maybe I can even entice you to create your own BoHo Tunnel Journal and put some of your treasures to good use.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Hugs until next time,  Jill