Playing in my kraft junk journal - page 4

Hi everyone! I made some time to create another double sided page for my kraft, cream. and black junk journal. It seems that my mojo is alive and well when it comes to this kind of play, even though it's playing hide and seek for others :) To see the other pages for this same jj, click on the junk journal label in the sidebar.

First, I inked the edges of the kraft page with Coffee Archival Ink. I like the Archival Ink rather than the Distress Ink for this because it is permanent so it won't react to any wet glues or gel medium I might use and if it accidentally gets wet once finished, it won't run. I used the same ink to stencil in a few places with TCW Mini Tile Mania template. For this page, I decided to create a tuck spot along the right side and also the hole reinforcements using more of that fabulous Carabelle Studio black and white packaging paper. I folded in half a 3 inch wide piece which was cut to fit the length of the page and die cut a 3.5 x 1 inch piece of speckled tan packaging to layer over that. As I was stitching around the outside edges of the kraft page, I stitched through the two additional layers on the right side, creating a tuck spot on a tuck spot :)

I had seen various layered butterfly embellishments on Pinterest and had also used the idea on cards and mixed media projects. A gorgeous digital black and white butterfly image was purchased from Etsy and I sized it to 3.75 x 2.5 inches, then printed it on kraft, text, and white card stock. These were fussy cut and stitched together only on the bodies. In order to help the three layers show more distinctly, I used clear dimensional tape between the layers, placing it as close to the bodies as I could. This keeps the wings popped up even after the book has been closed. A tiny Idea-ology paper clip was placed over the heads to create a fun detail, and then the body of the top butterfly was filled with Black Diamond Stickles...oh, the shimmer! Before adhering the layered butterfly to the background, a length of cheesecloth topped by a scrap of mixed media paper torn from a pad were stitched onto the page vertically. This grounded the butterfly and added more texture to the page. When I glued down the butterfly, I made sure to leave the bottom right wing unglued so that my bingo card could tuck underneath, helping it to stay put.

To tuck into the larger pocket, I inked the edges of a Bingo card as well as a library card. Both were free digital images. Both were then stitched around the edges. The backs of both were also inked around the edges. Lines were stamped on the Bingo card and a simple vine design at the the top of the library card. 

I needed something small to tuck into the small flap and noticed a house shaped off cut from a book page which had been made into a fishtail flag. It was already folded in three which I thought would be perfect for a little hidden journalling so I inked up all the edges with Coffee Archival Ink and then adhered the middle section to a piece of black card stock cut slightly larger than the house. This gives strength to the fragile paper and helps the house shape pop. A Stampotique Heart stamp was applied to decorate the blank space on the front. A knotted piece of lace finished off the flap.

The reverse side of this page was initially treated the same as the front. The edges were inked with Coffee Archival and the edges were already stitched. Stencilling was applied here and there with the same ink and Kaisercraft Dots and Dashes stencil.

A #8 manila tag (3 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches) had previously been coffee dyed so it became the base for the layering. A piece of corrugated card stock was cut smaller than the tag and a rectangle of black and white toile paper was cut smaller than the corrugated layer. A strip of black and white ticking striped paper was adhered to the bottom of the toile rectangle and then the three layers were glued together. Where the stripe met the toile, a length of lace was adhered and two buttons which had been sewn together one on top of the other were adhered to the left end of the crocheted trim. A length of music paper, which had been folded in a wonky zigzag and inked, was stitched and then adhered at the bottom of the tag. The tiny tag had been stamped with Coffee Archival and a text stamp, inked around the edges, and then butterfly rub-ons were added. A small piece of the same lace trim was folded and adhered as a tag topper before the tag was adhered to the flat lace trim.

The top portion of the tag has a wooden frame from Gorjuss Girls which was inked with Coffee Archival and then faux stitched with black pen. A sweet image from Paper Whimsy was adhered to the back of the frame before it was glued to the tag. To finish off the tag, a length of sari silk was used for the topper.

Now the page needed a pocket to hold the tag, so a 3.5 x 6 ish  rectangle was cut from the striped paper, scored on the sides and bottom at .5 inches, and folded in. This allows the pocket to have a little more room to accommodate the embellies on the tag. A doily and a scalloped circle were sliced in half and layered onto the top edge. Stitching was done all around the edges, keeping the extra 1/2 flat so that the stitching didn't catch it. All edges were inked with Coffee Archival as was the heart die cut from old book paper. Once the heart was adhered to the black scalloped circle, a vintage threaded button from Gram's sewing box was added. The final touch, which I didn't capture in a photo was to add the music paper reinforcements to surround the holes on this side.

Thanks so much for popping by today. I really appreciate you doing that :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Sweet Junk Journal Tags

Hi everyone! This is a quick little post to share some sweet little tags I created for use in my junk journal...either the kraft one I'm presently working on or a future one because I know that I am now totally hooked and won't stop at one :) The tags are three sizes ( 7/8 wide x 1.5 inches long; 1 3/8 x 2 5/8; 1 3/4 x 2 5/8) and began life as white tags with white strings. They had previously been coffee dyed, mostly as an experiment to see how they held up to the process. All of the tags were baked to dry and then ironed to get them as flat as possible.

I had purchased some sweet children images which came in 3 sizes from an Etsy shop which seems to have disappeared. The images came with a digital mixed media background. I printed the 1.5 inch size and fussy cut the kids because the background didn't fit the colour scheme I wanted and I also like the look of fussy cut images. All of the images were edged with a black Pitt brush marker.

Using torn scraps of French text and music paper, as well as scraps of packaging, ephemera, and washi tape, tiny collages were constructed on the two larger sets of tags. Some background stamping  was done first before anything was adhered to the tags themselves and the edges of the papers were inked with Coffee Archival ink or in some cases black Big Brush pen. Words were added either with Idea-ology rub-ons or Chit Chat Stickers. which were then outlines in black.

Embellishments were added to finish each tag. In some cases, it was cheesecloth, burlap, or a die cut envelope placed behind the children's heads. In others, lace or burlap trim, punched hearts, stars, and flowers were added. In all cases, string, ribbon, or raffia were used as the tag toppers. The outside edges were inked with both Coffee and Jet Black Archival ink and three were given doodled borders just to change them up...and because I am a mixed media type :) Simple Coffee Archival Ink stamping and the same edging took away the plainness of the backs.

The four smallest tags were not given any images although I did have some that would fit. Instead, the paper was adhered (I used gel medium) and embellies were added. Things such as a coffee dyed mulberry flower with a button center, hearts punched from book paper or corrugated coffee sleeves, a punched card stock star, or a bit of cheesecloth with an Idea-ology brad were used to become the focals. Faux stitching or doodling was done as a border on three and the original coffee dyed strings were used as toppers...although that can easily be changes. The same inking was done to the edges of these tags as was done with the larger ones.

Thanks for popping by today. You know I love that!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure ~ Week 34 Sneak Peek

Hi everyone. Once again it's my week to choose the weekly prompt for the Joggles Art Journal Adventure. For Week 34, I'm asking participants to create or reference a mosaic or patchwork design for their page. I have a ton of scraps from previous projects...off-cuts, mop-up pieces, pieces where I changes my mind, or scraps from play sessions. I wanted to create a mosaic tying these pieces together into a cohesive design and playing with details as I went along. I love this kind of process and the challenge it presents.

Above is a sneak peek of part of the page. To see the rest of the page and also see the step-out photos and explanation of my process, be sure to pop over to the Joggles blog. I cannot wait to see what everyone in the AJA Facebook group creates.

Thanks for popping by!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Kraft Junk Journal Page 3

Hi everyone. I have another double sided page to share which I created for my kraft, black, and cream junk journal. Each page has holes on one edge and fits into a binder type system. To see the first two pages you can look here (pg.1) and here (pg.2). I am playing with different types of paper, pockets, and tuck spaces, learning as I go and having a blast! For this 5.25 x 7.5 inch page, I chose to double a coffee stained sheet of copy paper and stitch it together along the edges to create a pocket. I punched the holes on the left side first so that I could stitch inside them, thereby preventing the tags inside from blocking the holes. A 1 inch half circle was punched from the open end on both sides and then all outside edges on both sides were aged with Coffee Archival Ink.

To make the tuck spot on the front, a page of old book text was folded in half. Two triangles were cut from another page of the same book paper, taking one section from the top and another from the bottom so that the text from all three parts run in the same direction. All edges of the triangles and the folded background were inked with Coffee Archival Ink and then the edges of the background topped with the triangles were stitched by machine, fastening it all together and creating two tuck spots. To dress up the triangles, a scrap of cheesecloth topped with a star punched from packaging were adhered on each.

Now came the fun part of choosing what would tuck in there :) I had an adorable trading card image of a little girl but I wanted it to tuck into both triangles. It was a little too small so I backed it at an angle on a larger rectangle of black card stock. Problem solved. The other piece of ephemera is a Monopoly card from an old game. Both the image and the card were inked around the edges.

The back of the pocket page had these awesome coffee stains which I was reluctant to cover. A length of crocheted lace was adhered over the stitching beside the holes. A tiny post card tag from an ephemera pack was inked and then adhered only on the half containing the hole. This created another tuck spot.

A 3.75 x 6 inch rectangle of designer paper was corner-rounded, inked, and folded in half to create a journalling spot inside. It was held shut with an Idea-ology paper clip decorated with a length of tiny coffee dyed rickrack. Also tucked under the tag was a row of vintage tickets, inked front and back on the edges. To add a little something extra to the page, a wooden word spelling love was inked and adhered to the post card tag.

All that was left was to fill the inside of the pocket. I decided to keep it simple, adding a double sided page torn from an old teacher's math book as well as a piece of  an old map which was blank on the other side, leaving lots of room for writing. It was edged with Coffee Archival ink on both sides. To add a little interest to the peekaboo cut out circle, two circles (one 1.5 inch and the other 1 inch) were punched from the black and white checked packaging paper. These were folded in half and adhered to the tops of the two insert pages so that they showed in the half circle openings on both sides of the pocket. I also like how it brings that same black and white detail from the stars to the other side of the page. Repetition lends continuity.

Thanks for stopping by today to check out my latest junk journal page. If you haven't already discovered this group, I highly recommend that you check out the Junk Journal Junkies Facebook group and JJJ Chat group. There are amazingly talented people there who very generously share their knowledge as well as their talent. I am so inspired by their projects and regularly follow the links to their YT videos. So much fabulous inspiration!

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

My Kraft Junk Journal - Page 2

Hi everyone! I'm here to share another Junk Journal page which I created for the JJ I started here. For this page, I decided to use a 5.5 x 8.25 glassine bag which I purchased with some other fabulous ephemera from an Etsy seller called J9Scraps. I can't say enough great things about Jeannine's products and customer service. She sent my treasures, all carefully and beautifully packaged, the morning after I ordered. She's awesome! Anyway, I started by punching the holes in the sealed ends of the bag and then cutting and adhering book printed reinforcements. That gave me the line where I wanted to machine stitch, both to add the detail and also to prevent the tag from blocking the hole openings.

I adhered strips of TH ruler stickers to the top of the front section of the bag and both the front and back of the back section. I did this to strengthen the glassine so that it would stand up to the tag being pulled in and out. It also looks fun :)

The tag created to fit inside the glassine bag was cut from the same kraft paper that came with the book. It was cut to 7.25 x 5.25 inches with the upper corners sliced off at an angle to create the tag shape. All sides were machine stitched and then inked with Coffee Archival Ink using a mini ink blending tool. Stencilling and stamping were done on the tag with Coffee Archival Ink using  Carabelle Studio Weft Fabric and Numbers template and a TH spatter stamp. A stack of layers was created with a piece of handmade text printed paper, a ripped strip of music paper, two torn pieces of corrugated coffee sleeve, and an Etsy image which had been stitched around. All pieces were inked around with Coffee Archival Ink before anything was adhered. A corner from a coffee dyed paper was tucked under the right side of the focal image and a vintage threaded button was added to that. Overlapping the image and layers of the background, was a strip of striped and frayed fabric with a black Big Chat Sticker adhered on top of that. A little extra stitching design was added with a VLV stamp to tie the music paper to the background on the right side.

The back of the tag was stencilled with TCW Harlequin Stencil and the same spatter stamp using Coffee Archival Ink. A journal spot from Bo Bunny was cut to fit the tag as a tuck spot. Both the journal paper and the tag were inked around the edges with Coffee Archival and the journal page was adhered to the tag only along the flat edge. The butterfly, another TH sticker (which I've had for years and never used) was glued to the flap.To create a topper for the tag, a length of measuring tape twill ribbon was folded in half and stapled to the top. To disguise the loop where the ribbon was folded, a threaded vintage button (thank you, Gram) was adhered on top of it.

Two pieces of ephemera, from an Art-C package, were edged and stamped with Coffee Ink and attached to the tag with an Idea-ology tiny paper clip. The back of the Toys tag was stencilled with the same Harlequin stamp and a scrap from the journal spot was added to the top edge. The music paper has another song on the back of it.

So not only am I loving the creativity which is tapped (and challenged) by the Junk Journalling process as well as all that I am learning as I go, but I also am totally loving using things that have been in my stash for ages and mostly ignored. It's amazing when you change your focus, how you can see uses for things that you didn't bother with before. Anyway, thanks for joining me today. I appreciate your company :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

1691 Snow Cutie - A Sandra Caldwell new release

Hi everyone! I'm here with my second project of the day with another new release from Sandra Caldwell's Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs. We took a couple of weeks off so we will have double release days this Friday and next to catch up on all the new and fabulous images. For this one, I decided to beat the heat of August by playing with a winter themed image called 1691 Snow Cutie, She has the sweetest face and a positive attitude to match even with the major brain freeze from the snow on her head.

I coloured Snow Cutie with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils.  She was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border  and then matted with black cardstock. After fussy cutting her again leaving a narrow black border, foam tape was applied to the back  to add dimension and create natural shadow.

The background began as a piece of white cardstock which I had used as a mask on another project. It caught all of this wonderful blue sprayed ink along the top and bottom of the sheet, leaving the middle considerably lighter. I cut it into a 5.5 x 8 inch rectangle to serve as the start of a wintry background for Cutie. I pulled out two different size snowflake punches and went to town creating snowflakes from blue marbled paper. These were adhered toward the top of the background. Two strips of blue and white washi tape were adhered to white cardstock so they were no longer translucent and then cut into flags to ground Cutie. The one triangle which was cut away was also adhered to the top of the page to create flow.

The sentiment was printed on white cardstock, cut apart, and matted with black. Foam tape was added to the back of each word. They were then adhered to the background. At this point, I felt that the snowflakes didn't stand out against the background enough so black pen was used to draw circles in the middle of each. The same pen was used to doodle the border and outline the washi tape before Cutie was adhered in place. To continue the circle and snowflake details, a black .5 inch circle was punched from cardstock and added to each of the washi bands. Sparkly snowflake buttons with their shanks removed were adherde to those circles. Black Big Brush Pen was used to edge the card before it was matted with black cardstock.

Thanks for joining Snow Cutie and me today. To see the rest of this awesome release and the wonderful DT projects featuring them, be sure to pop by the Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook group where they will be posted along with the first set of new releases. You will find all of them along with a plethora of other inspirational images in Sandra's Etsy shop later today.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

1703 Crazy Birdies ~ A Sandra Caldwell New Release

Hi everyone! With Sandra's return from holidays, we have two sets of new releases today in her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs. The DT had a couple of weeks off but will do double release days for the next two Fridays. The first image I chose to play with is called 1703 Crazy Birdies. I am a huge fan of Sandra's chicks...there is an entire collection of them in the shop so these babies called to me immediately.

I coloured them with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Although they both come on the same image, I fussy cut them leaving a narrow white border so that I could change the arrangement to suit the size of my art journal background. They were then each matted with black cardstock, and fussy cut again leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was applied to the back of each.

The background began as a sheet of mop up white cardstock which was used to pick up the over spray from three Lindy's Starburst colours: Yellow Rose of Texas, Marigold Yellow orange, and California Poppy Gold. I cut a 6 x 8 inch piece from this sheet  and then stencilled circles on it using Tiger Lily Archival Ink and TCW Mini Beaded Curtain stencil. To give both birdies a place to dance, grass was die cut (Joy Crafts die) from green and white dotty paper which was edged with Viridian Archival Ink along the bottom. Orange dotty washi tape was applied to white cardstock and then torn and added beneath the grass. Black Bokeh Dots were added with Jet Black Archival Ink and an Ellen Hutson stamp.

The sentiment, printed on white cardstock, was cut into individual words and matted with black. Foam tape was added to the back of each. A simple border was doodled around the outside edges of the background and black Big Brush Pen was used to darken the same edges. A black cardstock mat was adhered to the back of the page to serve as a frame and add contrast.

Thanks for joining my Crazy Birdies and me today. To see the other wonderful images from this set of new releases, as well as the fabulous DT projects which feature them, be sure to pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook group where they will be posted throughout the day. And stay tuned for the next post today where I will be showing you my project with the image I chose from the second of today's new release sets. Inspiration galore today in Sandra's Etsy shop!

Life is good: so is art.
Bonnie

Week 32 -Joggles Art Journal Adventure Sneak Peek

Hi everyone. Once again it's my week to choose the weekly prompt for the Joggles Art Journal Adventure. For Week 32, I chose the prompt of  Water. It seems that in the summer more than any other season, water becomes a topic of conversation. Will it ever rain? Have we had enough rain? Will it ever stop raining? Do we need to water the flower beds? You get the idea. And then there are all the water activities like swimming, going to the beach, boating, etc. The other thing that brought the prompt of water to mind for this week's AJA was a video I watched from Jennifer McGuire about using water with Distress Oxide Inks. She demoed many cool techniques which I was excited to try...so Water it is! Whether it influences your colour palette, your choice of focal or scenery, a steamy bath, or how you play with your media...let water be your inspiration.

Above is an mid-process photo. To discover where it goes from here and also see the step-out photos and explanation of my process, be sure to pop over to the Joggles blog. I cannot wait to see what everyone in the AJA Facebook group creates.

Thanks for popping by!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Junk journalling ~ a beginning

Hi everyone! So I have been watching tons of YT videos and visiting blogs (thanks to Pinterest) on creating junk journals. Not the kind of junk journal where I would create my art journal pages with layers and layers of mixed media goodness. These journals are constructed from a combination of old and new papers, vintage and digital ephemera, and leave lots of space for writing or sketching. I love the engineering that occurs on each page with the tuck spots and hidden spaces as well as the opportunity to create tags and smaller art. I also love that there is opportunity to include fabrics, textures, and sewing. The final bonus...it gives me a creative way to use things in my stash that have been waiting their turn for absolutely ages.

There are many different styles of bindings and formats. At first, I was all set to sew signatures into a vintage book cover but I became totally bogged down with choosing the "right" papers and order, etc. because once it's sewn together, it's permanent. My perfectionism, which at this point normally takes a backseat in my art process, reared its ugly little head and I was stuck. That's when I decided to create loose pages and bind them with rings...flexible and no need to commit...LOL Or is that, be committed :) I have long had this art journal kit thingy in my stash. I bought it ages ago on clearance. It has a hard cover with printed canvas on it and uses a heavy duty shoelace to fasten in the tons of kraft paper pages. The pages themselves are 5.75 x 8.75 inches which is a size I am very comfortable with. I decided to use some of the kraft pages and mix in coffee dyed papers as well as glassine envelopes and whatever else I felt like including. This felt like a good fit for me and all of a sudden, my mojo returned...go me!

I chose not to have a theme...other than black, cream, and kraft as well as vintage items. This book is all about playing and learning. Themes can come later when I have a few more under my belt. Anyway, I have made a few pages filled with fun little details...you know I love that...and am content to carry on until this book is full. It's a different kind of creating than I usually do (although I have thrown in some stencilling and stamping and a few doodled borders...I'm looking to incorporate my own style into these so I will experiment.

The first page I made has a pocket along the side to tuck things into. After inking the edges with Coffee Archival Ink, I stamped with the French text from Bo Bunny It is written stamp and stencilled through TCW Chicken Wire Reversed template. A line was scored 2 inches from the right side and that was folded in and then the card was stitched on 3 sides.

To decorate the pocket, I created a cluster with wide cream cotton ribbon, a folded and stitched length of music paper, and a length of striped fabric which I folded in half. I added crocheted lace and burlap trim along the inside edge and two butterflies punched, tapped with gesso, and inked with Coffee Archival ink. Twine was wrapped and glued to decorate their bodies and make antennae. A small tag was stamped using another of the Bo Bunny stamps from the same set and an Idea-ology rub-on (admit one) was layered over that. Before adhering the tag to the cluster, a frayed edge of cream fabric was hand stitched to the bottom with brown thread...more texture and interest. Once the tag was glued to the bottom of the ribbon, leaving the lower part of the tag unglued, another tuck spot was formed. The bottom of a merchandise tag was inked and tucked into that spot. Threaded buttons were added to the striped fabric loop and also to the small tag.

Two pieces of digital ephemera were printed onto white cardstock and stitched around. They were then inked with Coffee Archival and matted onto black cardstock to give them strength and a pop of black detail. Reinforcements were made for the holes by punching a .25 inch hole and then using a .5 inch punch to cut the circle around it. I don't want the holes to tear with use.

Torn pieces of coffee dyed copy paper were adhered to the backs of the two cards  and stamping was added to each. These will become writing spots for future use...I'm thinking possibly a gratitude journal.

Side two of the same page already had the stitching and inking, as well as the reinforcements, done. Another cluster to form a tuck spot for a tag and ephemera piece was created from book paper folded, glued, and inked. A length of crocheted lace with a narrow lace on top was stitched across the overlapped fishtail flags. A small flower was created by layering two coffee dyed mulberry flowers with three circles of tulle all fastened together with a black brad. This was adhered on the right end of the lace. In the true spirit of junk journalling, a merchandise tag from something I bought was inked and added to the cluster.

Only the top and left side of the larger tag were adhered to the page to allow other things to tuck in there. The prescription paper came from an ephemera pack from Art-C, like the ones Joggles is carrying now. The coffee dyed manila tag was stamped with a map stamp on one side and lace was looped through the hole and tied with hemp.

Both of the reverse sides of the tag and ephemera allow space for writing. The tag was stamped with a line stamp and a tiny TH butterfly sticker embellished the corner.

I'm going to leave off here although I have more pages completed. I'll save them for another post when we're all fresher...LOL. Thanks for popping by today. I'm very excited about this new (to me) creative avenue and will fit it in when time and DT duties permit. It's something I am doing just for me...just 'cuz.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie