• Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    Small journal love

    I was recently inspire to create some new journals. These are single signature journals.

    I’ve never thought to create small journals such as these but I realized that these are going to come in very handy.

    I used scraps of heavy fabric for the outside of the cover and recycled posters for the inside of the cover.

    The denim cover is from a pair of jeans that my now college-aged daughter wore as a preschooler.

    Since the embroidery was so cute on it, I saved the leg. Waste not, want not.

    I used about 15 pages of various papers for the signature.

    I wasn’t worried about them all being exactly the same size, in fact, I prefer that there is some variation.

    The rose on the left is a digital creation of mine. I had a group of mine printed at Kinkos to make sure that they would print properly if I were to sell them as digital downloads. I have not taken that step yet but maybe someday. In the meantime, I have some fun and uniquely me pages to play with.

    The right side has one of the tags I have created from the masterboards I’ve been creating with scraps. I like to stitch around them both for interest and to secure the edges.

    Here’s yet another tag slipped in a side tuck on the page. The tuck is from my stash of mini colleges. Also a scrap busting project.

    Both masterboards and mini colleges are things that I tend to do when I’m lacking that creative spark. They are quick, use lots of scraps and are great to have around for later projects.

    Here is yet another example of both being used on one page.

    Attaching an envelope to the edge of a page then folding it to the back creates a fun flip out that can hold a secret note or photo or whatever you want to tuck away for safe keeping.

    I’m really having fun with these journals. They are quick, no pressure of strict theme, multi use and just really darn cute.

     

  • Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    Building a card stash

    As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been sending more cards. This, in turn, depletes my stash. Over the past week, I’ve been having fun creating some new designs using some scraps as well as previously created card bases.

    I have an index card box full of precut layering pieces for cards. This comes in handy for quick card making. I also have a wooden cigar box filled with mini collages for cards or journal pages. Doing some of the mindless prep work ahead of time leaves more time for the creative process and doesn’t interrupt the flow of ideas.

    I am also starting to pre-make some sentiment pieces. I grabbed my tag and mason jar punches to start. The mason jar is so darn cute. The punch itself is a bit finicky. It jams almost every single time. UGH!!!!

    I am willing to put up with it though because…look how cute this is!!!! After I stamped the pale seafoam green I realized that it was beginning to look like an old-fashioned blue mason. I used a cosmetic sponge to shade in two colors of blue dye-based ink. Then rubbed the top of the jar on a gray pigment ink pad to act as the zinc lid.

    I used foam tape to lift it off the page so I could add some sticker flowers to the jar. So fun!

    I can 100% guarantee that you’ll be seeing more cards and postcards. They are really quite addictive to create.

  • Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    T Tuesday: card making edition

    One evening last week, while sitting with Mr. G in front of the TV, I decided to make some cards. I gathered some supplies and set to work.

    (pretend this photo was taken pre-card making) Also imagine there is a glass of water off to the side…

    Between the pre-folded cards from Micheal’s and the stack of mini collage embellishments previously created it was quick work to put together 29 cards.

     

     

    Most of these cards will need a sentiment of some sort such as this one…

    I am so pleased that I now have a plethora of cards to chose from for all kinds of occasions to come.

    What are you doing today?