Making A Journal Cover Using Susan K. Weckesser Stamps and Sculpey Clay

Hi Folks!  Brooke Bock here with another way to transform a simple purchased journal into something special.  I have long been fascinated by journals that have complex clay designs on the covers.  We are not doing that today.  We are doing something simple that you can even do with your kids to send with them to school.

Gather some Sculpey clay, a purchased journal, and your clay conditioning machine.

I used the Premo Accents with the flakes of large glitter but you can use any color you want.  A light color will show your stamps better.

Run it through the clay conditioning machine several times until the clay is soft and supple.  Fold it in half or fourths each time as you run it through.  As it gets more supple, start to plan how to run it through to have it almost the same size as your journal cover.  For example, you would not want to fold it so you have a very long narrow sheet.

Lay it on your journal cover and gently press it down.

Flip the book over onto a non-stick working surface and use a clay dedicated knife to trim the edges even with the cover.

Get your stamps and stamp pads ready.  I used the Whisper stamp pad, What's up Gnomey?, Going Wild, and Painted Sentiments stamp sets.

Then the fun begins.  Add your stamps.

Keep adding until you are pleased with your design...

For adding color, I used the Perfect Pearls from Ranger to gently paint color where I wanted it.

I flicked a little of the powder on with the paintbrush and wiped it when I was done.

Remove the cover.

Then bake it according to manufacturer's directions in a clay dedicated oven.

Then use a layer of E6000 to glue your cover on.  

How fun is that?

This is easy enough to do with the kids.

You could make personalized ones for everyone on your Christmas list.

Thanks for joining me today.

Brooke Bock, member of the 2016 Susan K. Weckesser Design team.