Hello there fellow crafters, I'm Lizzie! I am so excited to be a guest designer for Craft Warehouse! This is such an honor and wow, I was completely gushing with joy when I was chosen! I have a super fun project for you using some Echo Park Paper, Lawn Fawn Stamps, and the totally amazing Chormatix Markers from American Crafts! 
We are going to be making a fun journal using the items above plus our sewing machine. If you don't have a sewing machine, that's fine! You can use a needle and thread! I promise you, it's not as scary as it sounds.
We need 7 sheets of white card stock (or any color card stock that you want to use)
Cut all of the card stock down to 10 x 7 inches. Our journal is going to be 5x7 inches.
Take one sheet of the cut card stock and score (on the 10 inch side) at 5 inches and then again at 5 1/4.
I don't have a fancy smancy scoring board. Instead I use my trimmer and a pair of scissors. I lightly press along the guide so I'm careful not to cut the paper, but it will still leave a nice line that is easy to fold.
Take your card stock and fold along the scored line. You should end up with something like I have in the above the photo. This is going to be the cover to your journal. Start to plan out and decorate your cover.
Do not worry about scoring the other sheets.
Now it's STAMPING TIME! I know that the Chromatix markers are alcohol based, but I wasn't too sure on what ink would work the best. I do love my StazOn as it just produces such a nice dark solid image. But my Versafine makes clear stamps so crisp! I was torn to say the least. So off I went to stamp with both inks!
You might be able to see that with the StazOn the colors seemed to bleed a little bit when using the markers. I had an idea that this would happen, but wanted to make sure. The Versafine worked great!
Another tip when using the Chormatix, the blender is more of an eraser. It does blend, but I found if using a color lighter then one I'm working with, the blending effects pop out a bit more.
With the flat elements to my cover added, I began the sewing of the binding. There are many binding tutorials you can find all around the interwebz. I like to sew the binding. It's easy and I don't have to wait hours for glue to dry. I'm an instant gratification kind of a girl, what can I say?
Take all 7 sheets of your paper, with your cover on the outside and sew down the center of your scored lines.
Once sewn together, fold the journal in half.
What's that? You see a few uneven pages? This happens here and there. Take your trimmer or handy dandy scissors and just trim away the naughty edges.
Finish decorating your cover and VIOLA!
A very lovely, one of a kind journal!
By using the card stock, this journal is nice and sturdy and can withstand tons of doodles and coloring! Even if you just need a fun play to practice your coloring techniques! You could substitute the inner pages with regular weight paper and have a fun writing journal. It's up to you!
So happy to be a GDT!!! Go CW!!
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