Hello everyone!  Stacy Cohen here today with an altered journal to share with you.

My wonderful mother has been lucky enough to find love again later in life, and she married her sweet beau in a beautiful wedding ceremony recently.Their closest relatives and longtime friends traveled from near and far to celebrate the special day.  I decided to make a wedding journal for the event so all the guests could write a message of good wishes for my mom and her new husband.

I bought a basic journal with blank pages inside.  The writing on the cover didn’t matter because I planned to cover it completely.  Here is the “before” view.

I selected a piece of patterned paper and trimmed it down to the size of the journal.  I used a decoupage medium to adhere the piece of paper to the front of the journal.  I painted the second layer of decoupage medium over the top of the paper to provide a protective coating.

 

Once it was dry, I decorated the front with ribbon, flowers, and gems.  I made the large satin flower by hand.  To do this, I freehand-cut varying sizes of 5-petal flowers from hot pink satin fabric, then I singed the edges over a candle flame to curl the petals.  I used fabric adhesive to adhere the flower layers one on top of the other in order of size.

Finally, I added a rhinestone button to the center.

I printed out the wedding date and added it to an ornate metal frame.  I also adhered a copy of the wedding invitation to the inside cover (not pictured)

All the guests enthusiastically wrote a heartfelt note to the happy couple inside the journal.  So now they have a very special keepsake of their wedding day!

~ Stacy Cohen