Sheer Heaven Moleskine Art Journal Cover

 

So far, my continuing quest for the perfect art journal always leads me back to the Moleskine Large Sketchbook. Heaven knows I try to fall in love with another, but something is always missing. Not that the Moleskine is perfect, but it does the best over all.

I keep my journals on a bookshelf, and in this drawer in my garden room.

Obviously, they all look alike, and when I want to find something in a particular volume, I have to go through each one until I come across it. Not so efficient.

I know that many folks paint on their covers, but I don’t  like the look, and there is something I do like a lot about these plain black covers hiding all the brightly colored stories of my life.

So, I came up with a slip cover template, which I am giving all you journalers as a Holiday Gift (See the link below).

I wanted the slipcover to be indestructible because it would be handled so much. Also easy to fold, and illustrate.

The perfect answer was Sheer Heaven, of course, but my template would not fit on a letter size sheet. So, as I mentioned last time, I had some Legal size Sheer Heaven cut.

In all the transfer hoopla, we often forget that Sheer Heaven is an awesome art paper for any and all media, so this cover is a great blank canvas for art and lettering.

Since the template is already a digital file, however, I illustrated my first one right in Photoshop.

The template is outlined in light blue so the fold lines are visible, but not obnoxious in the finished piece.

With the template open in Photoshop, I opened a scan of my favorite page from my first Art Journal in another window, and dragged it into the template window, where I resized it to fit the front cover . . .

Next, I used the Type Tool to add the Volume Number and Date the volume was begun . . .

I created a table of contents, also using the Type tool, for the back cover. This will tell me at a glance which life events are in this volume. . .

Once the table of contents was done, I knew how much room was left on the back cover to add a couple of my other favorite illustrations from this journal. . .

The next step is to print the illustrated template onto the right side of a legal sheet of Sheer Heaven . . . and cut it out, using the light blue lines as a guide. You can cut the lines off the edges, and they are really inconspicuous on the folds.

If you score the fold lines, do so on the back side (you can see the lines through the translucent Sheer Heaven of course).

However, I find it much easier and more accurate to simple fold along the lines using my fingers. Sheer Heaven does not have grain and is really friendly and forgiving to the folding process. I use both hands, but my right hand was taking this picture and couldn’t be in it at the same time. Just work along the folds with both index fingers and thumbs and you will get flawless folds.

Final folded piece . . .

Apply double-stick adhesive to the flap at the bottom of the front panel . . .

And to the flap on the left of the back cover . . .

Attach the side panels first. The one with the tab is inside, obviously. Stick your fingers inside to press the two panels together.

Put the Moleskine into the sleeve and press the bottom panels closed. Stand the book upright in the slipcover and press against the table to stick the panels well.

This gives you an art journal volume you can truly judge by its cover!

So, here is your gift template:

http://cre8it.com/moleskinecovertemplate.zip

And, here is where you can get the Legal Size Sheer Heaven (until I run out).

http://www.dotcalmvillage.net/sheerheaven.html

Sale Alert-

The 2 for 1 Whenever Workshop Sale lasts only through Sunday!! Buy two and the least expensive one is free! (Discount will be applied before your charge is put through.)

Enjoy this project, and see you for coffee on Sunday!

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