Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Creating a journal cover in polymer clay that has an embossed leather look was a fun project!  I've  had the  centerpiece polymer parts done for months.  Some of you might remember me asking what I should do with them.  I decided to incorporate them into the cover!   The polymer needed to be conditioned and I made 2 colors a few shades apart so I could interchange parts of the design.  I textured the clay by using a texture plate that reminded me of embossed leather. After placing the decorations on the polymer and texturing, I used powdered copper, bronze an gold to create color movement.  At first it looked too bright but I burnished with a cloth.  It started looking like old leather! I baked the 8 1/2 x 11 journal cover in the oven at 275 degrees for 30 minutes.  Then I painted a burnt umber over everything and wiped it off.  That really helped 'age' the cover.     The cover is sealed with PMII  and glued to the journal.  It has

Last night we returned from a week of camping and driving and exploring some of Utah's monuments and parks.  We celebrated my 65th birthday with this trip and it did take my mind off the number of years.  Something about that number that makes me ... nervous! Camping with Peter is so easy.  We took Peter's incredibly delicious chili and a salad for the first night's adventure.  He is very good about finding lovely secluded places to camp.  Most of the places we landed either had no campgrounds or they were full.  I like to think of it as being 'closer' to nature. Our supplies included lots of water, canned chicken, bread, various kinds of soup, cokes, cereal, milk, bananas and coffee!  We were sure we could find a store and reload supplies. Utah has vast areas where there are very few towns with few stores (at least the part we traveled).  We stopped at Moab and had a wonderful lunch, got gas and continued on.  We explored Monument Valley, Natural Bridges, Wat