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.

 

ATCs - A New Addiction

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you decided to drop by.

I'm sharing something new with you today.  Well, at least it's new for me.  I have been busy creating some ATCs and, I have had so much fun with it,  I think I have a new addiction!  

Like everyone else, I have seen these around for a long time but never really felt the need to try my hand until now.  I've been watching a few videos, which is not unusual in itself but, I've been watching videos about ATCs.  I think I can blame Anne Redfern for this.  LOL!!  She mentioned her love of ATCs a few times recently and it got my curiosity aroused.

So, I watched a few videos and thought I would give it a go, and these are the result.

  I must tell you that these are not my own design.  Quite a few of the videos I watched used these techniques and I simply followed them.
The inspiration for my version came mostly from Shira Manor so these look very much like hers.  Here is the link to her video.

 So, basically, I made a Masterboard, and then cut it up into ATC sized pieces.  I ended up with 6 ATCs and the scrap was used for the collage.
I didn't take any photos of the process because, if you're interested, you can see it all on Shira's video.

 The substrate is watercolour canvas paper.   The layers started with a few papers from Simple Stories 'Documented' paper pad.  These were torn into strips and adhered to the canvas paper.

The next step was to add masking tape and washi tape.  Unfortunately I couldn't find the masking tape.  It has disapeared into our domestic black hole I think, so I used plaster tape instead.

Next came some stenciling with two different stencils and texture paste.  Before the paste dried I applied white embossing powder and heat set it.
Unfortunately, embossing powder is not my friend.  I can never apply it cleanly.  It just seems to stick to everything.  Even when I have rubbed the area with a resist pad, it still sticks and it is really hard to get it off the places I didn't want it to go.  Hence you can see it scattered everywhere.  Still, I don't really mind the look of it here.

So, once the embossing was finished it was time to add the colour.

I used a mix of Lindy's Stamp gang Sprays and Magicals. 

 The colours used in the Sprays was Sea Grass Green and Cape Cod Coral and

 in the magicals I used Tears on my Pillow Tangerine and TiffanyLou's Blue.

Once all the colour was dry it was time to chop up my Masterboard and, as stated before I ended up with six ATCs but, so far, have only completed these three.

The scrap was cut into smaller pieces for the collage and, once I got the arrangements to my liking they were simply stapled together but, before glueing them to the bases, I added some twine underneath.  I added a metal button to each ATC and then went round all the edges with a Sharpie pen.

Found some quotes on the net, printed them, cut them out and also edged them with the Sharpie.

The final step was to glue the quotes to the base.

A final look at all three together.

This was so much fun!  I loved getting messy preparing the Masterboard.  Should say, I was not really impressed when it was done but, once I got it all cut up and once my ATCs were assembled, I am really loving these.  Also, putting that black edging all around made a big difference to the look.  I love them!!! And I'm definitely making more of these.

Thank you so much for stopping by.   I really appreciate your visit and hope I have inspired you to try making some ATCs for yourself, if you haven't already.  Check out all the amazing videos, I'm sure you'll find something you haven't tried before!!

Have yourself a wonderful day!
Take care, stay safe and God Bless.

In the Watercolour Garden - for Megs Garden

Hello everyone and welcome!!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!

I'm here to share two cards made with some stunning papers by Megs Garden.  The collection is called In the Watercolour Garden (hence my post Title) and it is absolutely gorgeous!!  The papers I have used here are from the A4 digital version but you can also purchase these papers in different sizes in both digital and printed format.
All of Meg's papers are fabulous to use as backgrounds but they also have some lovely images as well so, whatever you wish to create, from cards to layouts to mini books, there is a size and design to suit your needs.

I printed out two copies of the paper and cut one to size to be used as my base layer. 

I fussy cut the butterfly and two flowers from the second sheet and layered them over the original image.  I used some double sided foam tape to give it dimension.

The flower petals below were all from my stash and were all originally white.  Some of them were coloured with Lindy's Stamp Gang spray and others with watered down acrylic paint.  I then simply layered them to fill the chipboard frame and added some seed beads for the centers.

For my second card I printed a single sheet of my selected paper and added a bit of stenciling with texture paste in the top corner.

Some pretty lace from my stash was adhered down the center of the card.  I also added a piece of gauze and a couple of straws before attaching the flowers.

The blue flower is from my stash.  The smaller flowers are from the Garden.   All of them (except for the white one of course) were coloured with sprays.

The chippie is by Scrapmatts and I simply left it raw.  To create a bit more interest and texture, I added some prills and microbeads.

Instead of twine, I created the bow with some knitting cotton.  I find this best to use when I want a soft, floppy bow.

Meg's Garden products used
In the Watercolour Garden A4 digital papers
Cherry Blossoms
Small White Paper Flowers

Although the laces I used on these cards came from my stash, Meg has some beautiful laces in her shop.  Some are similar to the ones shown here but there are many more as well.

Thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look.
To see all the fabulous products Meg has in store HERE is the link.  Why not also take a look at the fabulous creations by the rest of the Team.  I am sure you will find some wonderful inspiration HERE.

Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg