My Junk Journal Journey - Part 1

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  

So pleased that you decided to pay me a visit.

So, here I am to share something I have been working on for a while now .. My first Junk Journal.

Actually, I have two of them on the go at the moment.   The one I'm showing today is fairly simple.  The other one I'm working on is more on the shabby side and will have some photos in it but I am nowhere near to showing that one yet.

I do love making books and I started this particular one a long, long time ago!!  Months ago in fact!!  Yes, I know!!  Why is it taking such a long time??  I can't even remember exactly when I started it.  I do know I made the cover before I was lucky enough to win Eileen Hull's Journal Die from Anne Redfern so this cover was made late last year!!!
When I first made this journal it was quite basic.  I had some leftover papers from a couple of A4 Prima pads that had been sitting in my stash for ages and decided to use them up.  So, I made the cover from cardstock and then 4 signatures from the papers.  I sewed the signatures to the spine and then the whole thing was left on a shelf until about a month ago.  When I picked it up again, I was not happy with it, so I actually took it apart and made a heap of changes.  Now, because of all the additions, it will only have two signatures so I have another two with which I can make another book!!  Win! Win!

In this post I will show you the cover and the first signature.  I should warn you though, there are a lot of photos. 
This is the original cover I created.  I was quite happy with it so didn't change it at all. 

The papers are quite busy so I simply did a little stenciling and collage work on the front cover using strips of the papers, some pretty lace and a flower by Little Birdie which was altered with watered down acrylic paint.

On the inside cover, I added strips of washi tape and a quote tag by Kaisercraft.

The signature.
The flower is attached to an altered paper clip.  All of the Prima papers have been sewn around the edges.  I have also used a stitches stamp here and there.

 A pocket for a tag and small booklet on the inside front cover and I have added tea stained paper to the book.

 Used Distress Ink and a Tim Holtz stencil on most of the tea stained pages.

A collaged tuck spot on the left side and a flip up tag on the right.  The flip up is an idea I saw in a Journal created by Jenny Marples.  She has made some wonderful books and, if you'd like to take a look, you can find her blog HERE. 

A great spot for some secret journaling underneath the tag.  Think I might pop some lined paper there just to make it easier.

The next page has another pocket.  This one is edged with a bit of lace.  You will see that there are also small bits of lace added to the sides of some of the pages.  More tea stained paper with that sweet little stencil.

The page on the left folds out and the paper on the right is tea stained tracing paper.  I love how the staining makes it more transparent.

 Just the papers here with a tiny bit of washi tape added on the right side.

 Side pocket on the left with a little envelope inside and on the right you can see another of my altered paper clips. 

I will show this envelope in more detail in another post ..

 .. and, if anyone's interested, I might explain how I altered my paper clips as well.

The centre of the first signature.  At this stage, all the pages are still loose.  I will actually sew them onto the spine once I have finished the second signature.

 Another side pocket for tags and a small bulldog clip to hold the word strip.

Well, we are past the half way mark!  Hope you are still with me!!
Washi tape and a heart on the left and more of the tracing paper on the right.

 A very simple embellishment.

 On the home stretch!!! LOL!!

Another pocket and more tags.

Another Tim Holtz stencil.  Love this one .. I think it's called Shatter.

 The flower is another paper clip and the right side page folds out.

 The flower is by Little Birdie.

 Another pocket.  This one is an envelope.

 The back cover of the signature.

WoW!!  Did you really stick it out to the end??!!  Awesome!!  Sorry it is such a long post but I did want to show all the pages and I am stoked that you are still here.  Thank you. 

I'm not really sure if I am done with this signature yet.  While I was flicking through it taking these photos, I thought of a few more things I can do and, as it's not attached to the spine yet, I can still make some changes.  We shall see.
When this book finally does get finished it will be used for collaging some lovely quotes I have found. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you will come back to join me on the next leg of my Junk Journal Journey!!  Goodness only knows when that will be, LOL!!

Enjoy the rest of your day!!
 Take care and God Bless.

 

Girls' Day Out Folios # 2

Hello again everyone and welcome to my blog.  So happy to have you visit and hope you are having a fabulous day!

In a previous post I explained about a fabulous day out I had recently with some wonderful scrapping friends of mine .. Adriana Bolzon, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and Helen Wallace.    We all exchanged handmade gifts on the day.  I shared the gifts I received in this post HERE and the first of the photo folios I made HERE and now I would like to share the second of my folios.  This one was made for Astrid Maclean.

The papers used are from Kaisercraft's Heirloom 6.5 x6.5 Paper Pad.

The design is similar to the Tim Holtz Collection Folios but my version is smaller.  The outside measurement is 6.75" x 5". 

 As in the first folio I shared, I only added some stamping, stenciling, washi tape and a few chipboard pieces from Scrapmatts.
The pocket on the inside front cover holds a photo mat ..
 

.. and the first page is a pocket that holds a small folded card ..

.. which was ideal for all of us to write a personal message.  The paper on the inside of the card is from Prima.

Next are two small half pockets ..

.. each holds a journaling card which, I thought, would be ideal for recording the details of the day.

The next page is a full sized pocket.  The flap is held down with a magnet ..

 
.. and there is another photo mat inside.

The last page folds out ..

.. once ..

.. twice, so there is plenty of room on both sides for photos.

The last page ..

 .. and the back cover.

Not much in the way of embellishment in these booklets as I feel it is much easier to add them after the photos are in and, besides, the ladies know what they themselves prefer and can decide whether they want to embellish, or not.

So, this was the second of my folios.  I will share the other in the next week or so and then, hopefully, soon after that I will share the final ones and the step by step instructions.  Hope you will return to take a look.

Thank you so much for dropping by and, if you would like to take a look at the work done by these fabulous ladies here, in alphabetical order, are the links.

Adriana Bolzon - AB Inspirations
Astrid Maclean - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
Heather Jacob - Art and Life
Helen Wallace - Textures and Tales

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

A Christmas Day Album for Megs Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, so lovely to have you drop by.

I'm here to share a Christmas Album with you.  A lot of people are making December Dailies and Christmas Planners but this Album is specifically for the photos I will be taking on Christmas Day!  I made one last year, which (for whatever reason!!??!!) never got finished and so it was never shared but this year I was determined to get one done, and here it is!!

As this is an album, albeit a small one, there are a lot of photos.  Might I suggest you grab a comfy chair and a nice cuppa and here we go!!

The papers used are, of course, exclusively available from Megs Garden.  I have used ..

.. 'A Musical Christmas' and ..

.. 'T'is Christmas Time' Mini Paper Packs. 

The flowers are also from Megs Garden.  The red one was actually a lavender colour.  I simply sprayed it with Cherry Pie Dylusions Spray. 

The labels were taken from a Kaisercraft collection.

Just for something different, I styled this album on Tim Holtz's file folder albums (minus the top and bottom flaps), so the pages are adhered to the side of the spine.  I find they sit really nice and flat that way.  Not something I would do all the time, but it was nice just for a bit of a change.

 The first two pages.

Page 1 (The inside front cover) has a belly band  ..

 .. which holds a small booklet.

I attached a plain paper journal spot in the center ..

.. which could be used for small photos as well if needed.

Page 2 has a pocket which holds a photo mat.

 I have only added paper to the front of the mat as I am not sure if I will wish to place another photo on the back or, I may use it for journaling.

Pages three and four.

Page 3 is simply a photo mat. 

I have not decorated the inside pages very much at all.  I feel that the papers themselves are the decoration but, on a couple  of them I have done a little stenciling as you can see here.  Using translucent stenciling paste still allows the patterns to shine through.

This is another design feature from TH File Folder.  I love this idea of having two small mats side by side.  One for journaling and one for smaller photos.  It just appealed to me, so I incorporated it into this album.  They are both attached to the same binding leaf so, if you turn one, the other turns as well.

Pages five and six.

This is, of course the back of page 4 so again, it is the double mat feature ..

.. as is page 6.  Can't wait to fill this album with photos to see how well this design feature actually works!!

Pages seven and eight.

Page 7 being the back of page 6!!  (Just thought I'd mention that in case you hadn't noticed!!  LOL!!)

Page 8 has another little pocket for another photo mat.

This is the page with the mat removed.  

Hope you are still with me folks!!  Not much further to go now!!

Pages nine and ten!!

Page 9 is just another photo mat.

.. as is page ten which has been stenciled (this time I added a little paint to the texture paste) and is also the inside back cover!!  Yayy!!

Ah!! Wait a minute .... there's more!! 

So, I was really happy I had finished the booklet, and then I took all the photos but .. I just felt there was something missing with the front cover.  Not that I wasn't happy with it, but there was just something ...

.. so I went back and I added some snow ..

.. and some glitter (which, unfortunately doesn't show up very well on the photos)!!

 And now, I am happy with it!!  What do you think???

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this very looong post (I really hope you were able to stay the distance  LOL!!) and I hope I have given some inspiration to obtain some of these gorgeous papers for your own Christmas projects.  Maybe get some now and start on next years Christmas crafts!!  Awesome!!  If you do, please let us know so we can take a look, would love to see what you create with Meg's wonderful goodies!!   

Megs Garden Products used

A Musical Christmas Mini Paper Pack

'T'is Christmas Time Mini Paper Pack

Cherry Blossoms

Fantasy Blooms

Thank you so much for visiting and, please, take a stroll around Megs Garden Blog and have a look at all the wonderful creations by my Teamies!!  They are awesome!!

Take care and God Bless.

Happy Christmas crafting!!

oxox Marg