Mini Envelope Tabs following a tutorial by Junk Journal Ideas YT channel

Hi everyone! I made these sweet little fold out letters following a tutorial on YT by Donna Phillips (Junk Journal Ideas) called Mini Envelope Tabs. It's an easy to follow tutorial so I'm not going to go into the details of how to construct them because she explains it better than I could.

Basically, she takes a rectangle of paper, folds it in thirds, and then folds the top section in like an airplane. I have seen my talented friend, Jen (Jenny Miller on YT) use these in her fabulous junk journals all the time. What I liked about Donna's tutorial was where she went next with these embellies.

She layered the flap with bits of lace, circles of paper, and sweet metal charms plus a plethora of other sweet ideas. Then she tucked the flap over a page edge and used a tiny paper clip to hold it in place as needed.

I used threaded vintage buttons, tiny crocheted doilies, bits of cheesecloth, ribbon, cork, and pretty much anything else that I could get my hands on. Some of the envelopes were made from coffee dyed paper, some patterned paper, some stamped and others not. It's pure play with no rules...a lovely playground for the imagination!

Thanks for popping by today. Thanks also to Jen and Donna for the inspiration. It's greatly appreciated.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 39 ~ Dots and Lines

Hi everyone! The other day I came across a fun saying that sparked the prompt for Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week 39. The saying was " A line is a dot on a stroll" and it conjured up a mental image of dots strolling around the page leaving trails behind them. I love adding both lines and dots to my art journal pages and anything polka dotty makes me smile. Thus, this page and the prompt, Dots and Lines, were born.

I had no idea where it was going but I knew that I wanted to use the yellow polka dot paper as the base and I wanted geometric shapes to be the stars. I actually wanted to use scraps of papers I had used for other projects or to clean up gel plates and collect over spray. I cut the yellow paper to the 6x8 inch size I favour and used a strip of black cardstock to run from top to bottom and cover up some inky bits staining the paper. Layered over that, I placed a strip of Lindy's spritzed paper with similar yellow tones. Over that, I layered a Dylusions Creative Dyary sticker adhered to a white strip of cardstock so that the background didn't show through.

I hand cut triangles from a gel printed black and white background which didn't work as a whole piece but was cool when cut into these small triangles. The edges of the triangles were inked with black Big Brush Pen and then outlined again with a smaller Pitt pen once adhered to the yellow base.

The black square was cut from another gel plate print where white paint had been pulled onto black cardstock. The circle below it was an alcohol ink on Yupo paper ATC die cut as a circle and edged with black. A circle stamp from VLV was applied to white cardstock with Jet Black Archival Ink and then fussy cut to layer over the colourful one.

The small inchies above the black square were cut from Asian paper which was gifted to me in a recent swap. I matted the squares with black cardstock because the cream paper got lost on the bright yellow background. A simple border was lined in using a ruler and a black pen and a dot and dash border was added to the yellow spritzed strip. Three small strips of  black were added horizontally on the edge of that same layer. Black circles from a hole puncher were adhered in opposite corners of the page and between the triangles to add another dotty detail and finish the design before it was adhered to the black background page.

I was happy with the way this turned out although it is different in many ways to what I usually create. I like pushing out those boundaries of what is comfortable. It keeps things fresh and helps me learn both from what works and what doesn't. Thanks for popping by. If you get a chance, be sure to check out our Joggles Art Journal Facebook group to see where others go with this Dots and Lines prompt.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Collage ATC Junk Journal

Hi everyone! In my continuing effort to use things up and reduce my scrap pile and box of bits and bobs, I created a little atc sized (2.5 x 3.5 inch)junk journal book which I fastened together with binder rings. Each page was first cut from chipboard packaging and then collage was added to each side to create backgrounds.Above is the first and last page. I'm still pondering covers.

The wording came from either TH rub ons or Chit Chat Stickers. There is not a lot of real estate on these little cards so these were ideal.

I used the smallest of the Idea-ology Paper dolls and tiny die cut tags and bits of punched borders.

Extra stamping and stencilling provided pattern and texture to the plainer parts of the backgrounds.

The papers run the gamut from scraps of designer paper, coffee dyed paper, corrugated coffee sleeves to embossed scraps, and ephemera. Texture was also added with fabric scraps like burlap or cheesecloth.

There are bits of black accents on each page as well as the occasional pops of bright colours. All pages were finished with a doodled border, Coffee Archival Ink and black Big Brush Pen on the edges.

It was a delight to create and fun to look through, as well as making the tiniest dent in my stash. It makes me feel so noble to use those teeny tiny scraps I saved. Like James Burke says, "It's not hoarding if you use it in a journal."...LOL

Thanks for stopping by.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Use It, Already journal - Pages 13 to 18

I created a few more collage pages in my Use It, Already journal. This is a journal where I am using scraps,bits and bobs that have been in my stash far too long, either because I was hoarding or because I had forgotten all about them.

One thing I have discovered in doing this (besides the fact that I love collage) is that one uses very little paper etc. when creating a collage of this size ( 4.75 x 6.5 inches).

While I do feel good about using things up, I could be at this until I am 202 and still not run out of "stuff"...LOL.

I am having fun though and thoroughly enjoying the process. To me that's what's important. I don't love all of the pages but I loved making them.

I also like the challenge of making unlikely pairings work together. It's good for those creative muscles that can get lazy.

Anyway, thanks for joining my friends and me. I'll be showing up again soon with some collaged bookmarks I've made using the same scrappy goodness :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Use It, Already! Collage Journal Pages 5-8

Hi everyone! I'm back with the next 4 pages of my Holy Cow! Use It, Already! collage book where I am taking time to play and de-stash at the same time. If you want to know more, here's the intro post with the first 4 pages.

Although I usually give lengthy explanations as to what I have done and why, that's not happening with these posts but if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Just PM me.

So far the pages have been vintage in feel, mainly because of the larger TH paper dolls I am using as well as the more muted colour palette. These are the paper scraps I seem to have the most of so that's what I'm using first. It's also a fun change and a bit more of a challenge since I'm normally a bright as can be type creative :)

Anyway, I am enjoying the process and feel a bit like an archaeologist unearthing hidden treasures from who knows where. It's a messy but satisfying process with a lot of exclamations of "Oh yeah...I forgot about that______".

Thanks for stopping by and if you happen to be following a similar journey, I would love to see what you create. Tag me on FB or PM me.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Home ~ a book in a tin inspired by Vera Lane Studio images

Hi everyone! Those who have been following along for the past while already know that I have been on a mission which I call "Holy Cow! Use it, already". This self-assigned mission is me giving myself both permission and the challenge to use things which have been in my stash for a while, either forgotten, hoarded for the "special someday project" or just acquired in a moment of weakness...LOL. Today's project for the Vera Lane Studio design team uses a little 3.25 x 1.5 inch tin with an even smaller (3 x 1.25) accordion book inside that unfolds like a bunch of tickets. It's been in my stash for ages and today is its day to be filled with Vera Lane Studio Tall Town images.

I used all 6 of the Tall Town houses for this book, leaving the first and last panel for one of the sentiments from the same digi set. The houses were coloured with a limited palette of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. I wanted the houses to coordinate and also pick up some of the background colours. Each house was fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and matted on three sides with black cardstock. The bottom of each house was simply inked with black Big Brush Pen to add black without adding any more length.

Each panel was either given a black punched star for the background or tiny stars somewhere on the house. Above, you can see the tiny stars adhered as the flower centers.

To create the background, I began by spritzing the joined tickets with Lindy's Shabby Turbine Teal Starburst Spray and water, followed by Lindy's Van Dyke Sepia Moon Shadow Mist which I blotted with paper towel to keep it light. On the back, I stencilled some harlequin designs and script stamping with Coffee Archival and inked the edges of both front and back with the same ink. Black pen was used to doodle a frame on each panel.

The sentiment from the set says" Home is where your story begins". I printed the words and cut them apart, matting them with black. The word "Home" was placed on the first panel as the title of the book. It was adhered over a book text heart which had been dry brushed with gesso to knock back the print. The rest of the quote, minus the word "is", was adhered to the last panel along with another of the black punched stars to mark the end of the book.

I decided to keep the tin fairly plain. Pool and Patina Alcohol Inks were added to the top of the lid and once dry, a fixative spray was added. Jet Black Archival Ink was used to stamp both script and splatter dots over the ink. A metal puffy heart was adhered to the center of the lid using E6000 glue. To keep the book closed while inside the tin, a length of seam binding was wrapped and tied in a simple knot.

This is the cutest little project and I love how those houses are the ideal shape and (thanks to the magic of digi stamps) sized to fit perfectly on these tiny pages. Above is a terrible photo of how the book looks stretched out. It's about 23 inches long when all 8 panels are unfolded. 

Thanks for stopping by today. When you get a minute, pop by both the Vera Lane Studio Etsy shop and the VLS Facebook group where you are sure to be inspired. We'd love to see what you are creating with the plethora of VLS images.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Use it already! ~ collaged art journal pages

Hi everyone! Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of "stuff" I have accumulated from past projects, future maybe projects, and "this is cool" moments....things that I thought I might "need" someday so I've kept them. Scraps and bits...piles of them. I decided that I was going to make a dent in these piles and use things that I've been collecting...or pass them on to someone who will use them.

With that in mind, and because I love to collage and don't do it often enough, I have decided to begin a new "just for me" project. I have taken one of the TH binder covers with the rings inside and cut 4.5x6.5 inch pages from left over patterned paper (I have a few of these binders and tons of papers that have been kicking around for ages), punched them, all ready for collaging. I was inspired by one of my favourite YT channels, Nairobi, where she is doing something similar and is fabulous at collage.

It's a great way to use up things collecting in a bin on my desk (or the bin in my closet...or the one on my shelf...) as well as things I have tucked away and forgotten about like rub-ons, stickers, gems, and the larger TH paper dolls. So far I have created 4 pages and I have loved every moment because it's pure play and I like the challenge of pulling random bits and trying to make them work/play together. There is a huge satisfaction in that.

The other bonus is that I am rediscovering supplies and things I've been hoarding as I go in search of "what else do I have" :) It's great fun and another opportunity to use my creativity. Win/win!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie