Bohemian Beauties Junk Journal by Julie Rohrer!

Bohemian Beauties Junk Journal

Hey, everyone! Julie Rohrer of August Birdsong, one of our amazing Junk Journal Design Team Members, created a fabulous Bohemian Beauties Junk Journal for us this week. As you know, we feature one new Junk Journal project each week created by one of our creative team of artists. Our Design Team Members select from the 100’s of Vintage Image Bundles on our Premium Membership Site, for their creations, in order to show you beautiful ways to use those images. We hope you will be totally inspired by this series!

Therefore, please make sure you check out the video tour at the bottom of the page…please scroll all the way down to see it. Are you ready to be inspired? I will step out of the way and let Julie tell you all about her lovely project…

Hello Everyone! Today I’m bringing you a collection of beautiful bohemian women and exotic birds. I’m calling this collection, “Bohemian Beauties.” Over time, the term “bohemian” has come to refer to individuals living an unconventional life, often creative souls, like artists, musicians, and actors.

Many bohemians have been inspired by nature, so I brought a lot of the natural world into this journal. On the front and back covers, I used coffee-dyed stamped papers and vintage book pages to create very natural colors and tones that would pop against the teal blue acrylic inked cover of the binder. I also framed the images with some torn gelli print scraps I had in my stash.

I used upcycled book binding from a book I gutted to create a bark-like texture on the pages (See pieces of this material framing the images on the front and back covers). I found the two images of the bohemian women in the archives at The Graphics Fairy along with many other photos.

This visual journal grew out of an idea of mine that birds and women have a lot in common. We “preen” our hair and make-up. Generally, we like pretty clothes and jewelry. At times, we strut and pose. Many of us even “feather” our nests and “coo” over flowers and babies. Furthermore,  I was intrigued by the decorative headdresses and jewelry on vintage pictures of bohemian women, and thought they looked similar to some exotic birds with flamboyant and colorful feathers. I found the exotic birds in various bundles at The Graphics Fairy and just enlarged them on my google document.

The larger pages are made from 6” x 9 1/2” upcycled dividers in The Better Homes and Gardens binder I used for the journal; smaller pages were made on upcycled dividers from canned cat food boxes and envelopes. I collaged a variety of scrap papers left over from my earlier journals onto the bases, stitched the edges, and then added the focal points as well as ephemera from nature, like flowers, leaves, birds, and dragonflies. Finally, I added some Perfect Pearls to accent the focal points.

I attached the smaller pages to the larger pages with muslin and sari silk remnants to create flip-pages.

The nest in the center of the page has burlap ribbon I found at the craft store layered beneath it to suggest twigs and grasses used to make the nest. Notice how I cut apart the leaves from the branch with apples to add more greenery around the tail of the peacock. I also put the image of the bride with the long veil near the peacock to mirror its long tail.

In “See the World” and “Let’s Go Exploring”, I included birds that felt more exotic in appearance just as the women on those two pages are wearing more exotic clothes and jewelry.

In “Rebel” and “Irresistible”, I altered a lot of my ephemera by cutting it in half and tucking it in various ways around the birds, sometimes putting it on dimensional squares to create more depth.

I created the grasses surrounding the toucan by enlarging a pineapple I found on an image search at The Graphics Fairy. The pineapple has those large grasses with it, so I just used them without the pineapple. I added the two orange slices to pick up the orange in the toucan’s bill but cut the original slice in half because it would have looked bulky and out of place on the page. So when you look at ephemera, like flowers, leaves, and fruit, consider how altering it may give you more options for using it in your art.

BOHEMIAN BEAUTIES JUNK JOURNAL SHOW & TELL VIDEO TOUR

Let’s take a tour of it together:

• A Forest Stroll
• Australian Animals
• Berries & Cherries
• Botanical Fruit
• Favorite French Things
• Fruit & Nuts
• Holiday Fruit & Flowers
• Marsh Song
• Shore Birds
• Snow Birds
• Spring Meadows
• The Typesetter
• Tropical Finches
• Tropical Leaves
• Tropical Paradise
• Vibrant Birds
• Winter Birds
• Woodland Wonders

Julie’s Instagram

 Julie’s YouTube Channel

I hope you come away with some new ideas for your own journals and cards.

Happy Crafting!

Julie

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