Sea Fever Maritime Journal

Here is our third ‘7 Gypsies Favorite Collections’ featuring Kathy Clement.  We have our eye on the Maritime Collection this week, our vintage take on nautical that is a perfect choice when vintage, neutral is the color palette you are going for. Along with the neutral tones, the collection also features amazing corals, blues, teals and other vintage nautical colors and icons.

Because we live fairly close to the beautiful North Carolina beaches, we visit as often as we can, to walk along the sand, soak up the sun, listen to the surf and let our spirits be refreshed and revived. We find all kinds of treasures along the way, and I thought it would be nice to create a little journal to write down memories and a poem about the sea. The cover is decorated with some of our favorite treasures: wood, shells, sand, bits of sea grass…all the things we love about the shore. I hope you’ll feel the serenity and freedom of the sea as you peruse the pages of this hand bound journal. Come walk with me beside the sea….

Here is what you will need to create this book.

• Canvas Corp 10oz. Canvas Fabric 30×36
• Canvas Corp Ivory Burlap Fabric Sheet
• Canvas Corp 80# kraft Cardstock – 6 sheets
• Canvas Corp 80# White Cardstock
• Tattered Angels Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist
• Tattered Angels Rusty Bare Metal Paint System
• 7 Gypsies 8×8 Maritime Paper Pad
• Tattered Angels High Impact Metallic White
• 7 Gypsies Under the Sea Stamp Set
• Maritime Mini Ephemera
• Maritime 3″x5″ Journal Pages
• B&W Maritime Tags
• Maritime Charms
• Maritime 5″x7″ Journal Pages
• Jute Rope Natural – 14′ hank
• White Pigment Ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Distress Inks
• White Sharpie Paint Pen
• Spellbinders M-Bossabilities 3-D folder
• Tim Holtz metal corners
• Binder Clips
• plus your basic crafty tools

I started with a 14″ x 6″ piece of medium weight chipboard that came in some packaging I had.  After scoring at 6″ and 7″, I creased the chipboard to form the book cover, then trimmed away any excess so that the front and back covers were even in size.  Next, I cut a piece of canvas that was 1″ larger than the chipboard cover on all sides.  I misted this with Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist and stitched it directly to the chipboard base using my “messy stitching” technique.  I cut a 4″ square of ivory burlap, misted it with Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist, fringed the sides and adhered it to the front cover using Scor-Tape.  I trimmed the corners of the canvas, covered the inside edges of my album with Scor-tape and then folded the canvas onto the inside of the cover.

The white cardstock was embossed with Spellbinder’s “Shell Beauty” 3-D M-bossabilities folder.  I inked the debossed side of the folder with the Distress Inks, one color at a time, then spritzed the paper with Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist to add that “fresh from the ocean” shine. I used the mini ephemera, rope trim, Maritime Charms, and found items to embellish the cover. The turtle charm from the Maritime Charms was painted with White High Impact Metallic Paint.

This rusty clip was created with the TA Rusty Bare Metals Paint System.  It was originally bright green, so I just love the total transformation that occurred when I added layer after layer of mist.

The inside cover liner was created with the 8×8 Maritime Paper Pad.  I added Maritime Journal pages, journal cards, ephemera and stamped lots of beachy images using the Under the Sea Stamp set from 7 Gypsies. The page edges were inked, and the pages themselves were spritzed, painted or drawn on with Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist.

I cut 6 sheets of kraft cardstock in half, scored them at 6″ on the long side then stitched them together up the middle to create the journal pages.  These were glued into the spine, then tied with natural white twisted hemp rope. I hand wrote lines from John Masefield’s beautiful poem, “Sea Fever” throughout the book, leaving lots of room for photos and journaling.

The small stamps and torn edges make this book feel like it just came out of an old sea chest.

The white pigment ink stamped onto the natural kraft paper let’s the stamp designs stand out beautifully.

Adding mini ephemera pieces to various pages gives just the right touch.

Create a pocket using the 5″x7″ journal pages and slip in ephemera and the smaller journal pages in place.

Adding touches of nature to your book like this found leaf.

The B&W Maritime Tags are the perfect starting place to add color, distress or mist to make them match your project.  The vintage nautical art pieces are transformed to match the neutral colors in the book.

Creating a tattered, worn album like this is easy when you have such inspirational products to work with. I think I used just about every item in the Maritime collection from 7 Gypsies in putting this together.  And I can’t wait to add our family memories to the pages.

Wishing you sand between your toes and a shell in your pocket!

Kathy Clement

Sign up to Receive Inspiring Content, Exclusive Offers and More!

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.