Garden Journal

This is something I wanted to make last summer but never got around to. I have found that my problem with getting things DONE, is simply getting it STARTED! Once I got started on this garden journal, it hardly took me any time at all to finish. So many ideas, so little time.

The front and back covers are 5 x 7 pieces of cardboard. For the front, I tore off the top layer of paper, to show the corrugated inside of the cardboard. I then distressed with a cream color acrylic paint, let that dry then swiped it with my Chocolate ink pad.

The piece that is stamped on is a piece of Colonial White cardstock. Direct to paper, I took the Honey ink pad and swiped it back and forth. I then sprayed Peach Delight Glimmer Mist over it and rubbed it in with a paper towel. Let that dry and stamped images from Treasure Life (still love that stamp set) in Chocolate ink. I distressed the edges with the handy dandy Close to My Heart Edge Distresser and then lightly sponged those edges with Chocolate ink. This piece is matted on Chocolate cardstock that also has it's edges distressed.

The flower is made from old Just Blooms paper flowers. I learned this technique from Connie McFarlane, check out her video tutorial here.

The word "garden" is stamped with the Hodge Podge Alphabet stamp. The butterfly is from the Celebrate Life stamp set.


For the inside pages, I just used an old (kid's) sketch book that my son only used a few pages out of. After all--that is what this journal if for; to sketch my garden layout, and record ideas or changes for the following year. I'm also planning on adding pictures of the garden and favorite flowers!

I also used a 6x9 kraft envelope for pockets to hold seed packets that were used. I trimmed the kraft envelope 4" from the bottom for one pocket, then closed and sealed the flap of the envelope and trimmed to 4" for another pocket. To keep with the rustic look, I used twine for the binding.
I have room for five years of garden notes in this journal!

Close to My Heart products:
My Acrylix Stamp Sets: Treasure Life, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Celebrate Life (retired)
Exclusive Inks: Chocolate, Black, Honey
Cardstock: Colonial White, Chocolate
Edge Distresser

Hoping you find some joy today!
Cheers,
Lisa