Tagged: embellishments

Pretty Journaling Spots From A Paper Bag

I had this idea of reusing paper grocery bags to make journaling spots kicking around in my head for a while. Thankfully a ripped grocery bag came into my life and helped me put the vision to a test. I’m happy to say the journaling spots came out even better than I expected. Not only are they pretty, in a grungy way, they really feel good to hold. They are definitely sturdy enough to be put in and pulled out of journal pockets over and over.

I challenge you to find one of the many paper grocery bags you probably have kicking around your kitchen closet and make something fun and useful for your journals.

Making And Using A Mixed Media Master Board

I have been making a lot of junk journals lately and although I love making them I find something lacking in the repetative process. What is that something? Paper, paint and glue!!! I miss making a big mixed media mess. So I decided to make a master board with no end projects in mind but rather to let myself have some free play time.

First I just randomly glued papers to a large sheet of drawing paper. I also got out some tags to use up any leftover scraps. I even included some glittered tissue paper from wrapping Christmas gifts.

I chose a few colors of acrylic paint I thought would go well together’

I pretty much just scraped it here and there over the substrates with an old gift card.

The colors were too bright and garish for my taste so I toned them down with some white gesso. Then I splattered them with watered down paint for a fun effect.

I stamped over the painted with orange, black and white stencils. 

When the master board was completely dry I added a few doodles with a fine tip black marker and a gold marker. I then used dies and punches to cut out all these mixed media elements that I will be able to use on upcoming projects.

Here are the finished tags I made using some of the pieces I cut from the master board and the matching tag bases.

I encourage you to make some master boards and have fun getting paint and glue all over your hands! You don’t have to think of how you will use them until a later date. As a matter of fact it would be great to have a stash of master boards on hand for when you get inspired to create with mixed media!

 

 

My Mini Mixed Media Morsel Tiles

I am very busy working on our house as well as making items for the Spring Vintage Home Market. This allows very little time for me to make larger mixed media projects. I decided to follow along with the projects Cat Hand teaches in her Mixed Media Morsels Dessert videos on YouTube. They are smaller projects that are completed fairly quickly. And if you haven’t seen any of Cat Hand’s videos, you need to check her out. She is an amazingly creative lady.

She has only posted one video in this series so far. Here is the link:

Here are photos of my projects using her steps. 

I used Tim Holtz grunge board pieces for my substrate as I did not have any wood pieces. I wanted my backgrounds fairly neutral so for most of the tiles I used vintage book papers and sheet music. For two of the tiles I used colored scrapbook papers.

I simply decoupaged the pieces of paper randomly onto the tiles.

I stamped some small images onto white tissue paper.

Then I decoupaged the tissue paper to the tiles. The white tissue paper almost disappears when it’s been decoupaged down.

Next I added color using my Faber-Castell Pitt pens. 

I edged the tiles with black to make the colors pop. Finally I added words and a little bling to each tile. Here are some closer pictures of the tiles.

If you are looking for something fun and creative to do this year, why don’t you try making some mixed media morsels. Cat Hand explains and demonstrates every step of her projects making them perfect for mixed media beginners and pros alike!

Easy D.I.Y. Shaker For Journals

If you read my last blog post, you would see that I am doing another December Daily this year. I love December Dailies because Christmas packaging, stickers and ephemera are just so darn cute. As I am just a big kid during the Christmas season, I also like to make shakers for my journals. There is something so fun about making the sequins and beads move around. Most of the time I just use the cellophane wrappers from things I buy but this year I had a different idea. 

I found a bunch of these in my junk journal closet (yes, I really have a closet full of junk journal supplies!)

These are the plain white sleeves you use when you make your own CDs. There is cellophane covering the circle cut out. I stamped mine to make them extra festive.

 

This is the marked up cover of an old Rudolph kids book. I didn’t feel bad cutting up this particular book because it wasn’t in very good shape.

I glued on some sequins in different sizes to give the picture some dimension. Then I put the picture into the CD sleeve.

I got out a few of my packages of sequins and seed beads (and yes, I have many more than this!), and poured them into the CD envelope.

I sealed the sleeve with glue and viola, a cute Christmas shaker to add to my December Daily. I will probably just put it in with a paper clip so I can take it out and play with it when I want.

These can be made for any holiday and can also be used in junk journals. If you don’t have any CD sleeves, just take a look at your crafting stash and see what else you may have to turn into a shaker. Go ahead, your never too old to let your inner child out, especially at Christmas!

My DIY Traveler’s Notebook

Most people who are in the arts and crafts or planner worlds know what a traveler’s notebook is. There are tons of videos and blog posts about how to set up your TN (traveler’s notebook). And what you use them for is only limited by your imagination. I have watched many YouTube videos showing pretty TNs filled with TN inserts and paraphernalia all which add up to the cost of a new car! I’m not kidding, the bare bones TNs, without inserts, sell from $30.00-$70.00. Yeah, I’m so not cool with that.

So I decided to make my own TN. Basically all they are is a piece of leather or vinyl and some elastic cord. So how hard could it be to make my own? Not hard at all. I used two pieces of sample vinyl wallpapers from one of those huge sample books. First I glued them backsides together so I have a pretty cover and inside. Then I followed a video detailing how to attach the elastic pieces. 

This is what my bare bones TN looks like.

Okay, I know it doesn’t look great yet, but that is because I haven’t worked on any of the pages inside.

I am using my TN as a prayer and Scripture book. But if that’s not your thing, you can use them as day planners, art journals, junk journals, glue books, etc…

Here are some of the pages I’ve made for my journal. As my prayers are private, I photographed these pages before I wrote my prayers on them.

Traveler’s notebooks, however you deem to use them, are a great way to use your creativity as well as use your stash!

If you don’t already have a TN, check out some videos about them. I bet you’ll get hooked just like I did!

Great Junk Journal Fodder Haul

I have already started making junk journals and such for the upcoming Christmas season. Although I really don’t need a lot of ephemera to make new journals, I did want to beef up my stash a little bit. So I picked up some really cool stuff in the last couple of weeks and wanted to share it with you. So without any further ado, here’s the stuff I hauled.

Cool old books and magazines. The pictures in these books are fantastic!

More vintage books with great graphics.

This book is not that old but…

the inside is chock full of vintage street signs. These will also be great to use in my mixed media projects or as embellishments in my journals!

Two more vintage cookbooks, but check out the insides of these…

great pages for journaling. The top one gets extra points because it’s a binder!

Vintage wrapping papers and tissue papers, because the one huge box I already  have is apparently not enough! Again, these can be used in junk journals or in mixed media.

Vintage kitchen labels, a note pad and vintage sewing supplies. These are great additions to junk journals.

A box crammed full of vintage matchbooks. The matches have already been taken out so these will make great tags and embellishments for my journals. This photo doesn’t show the quantity too well but there are at least 250-300 old matchbooks here!

And lastly, a yummy box of old ephemera. There are all kinds of receipts in this lot. Also included were some cards of vintage rickrack and some old pens, some of which are fountain pens.

So all in all, I feel well stocked for a while and am ready to get on with making the journals. If I remember, I’ll show you some of the finished ones. 

It gives me a great feeling to know I can reuse these old treasures to make journals and mixed media projects people will enjoy. Recycling is always a win-win situation!

 

 

 

Fun DIY Stickers

Okay, I know this is probably not a new idea, but this is the first time I actually tried making my own stickers. You can use any pre-made sticker blanks, varying the sizes and shapes to fit your projects. I used these round printable ones I got from The Dollar Tree.

I watched some videos on YouTube for inspiration. I used paints, sprays, stamps and ink, scraps of decorative papers, sequins and even tiny alphabet and word stickers to decorate the sticker blanks.

Here are some of the stickers I made.

Stickers, in general, are really inexpensive to buy. As an artist, I like to create as much of my own projects from scratch as I can, instead of relying on store-bought items. If you want specialty stickers, like inspirational ones, they are really quite expensive. Making your own allows you to customize them to fit every project perfectly while being unique and inexpensive!

P.S. Here are some laminated mixed media bookmarks I also made.

99 Cent Art

Last year when I was still permitting myself to buy art supplies, I ran across this little mixed media kit at Tuesday Morning. As you can see, the kit only cost me 99 cents.

I came across the kit again as I was tidying up my craft room and decided it was time to do something with it.

Here are the contents of the kit.

Because the pieces are so small, they lent themselves well to making Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). Here are the ATCs I made.

Besides the cardboard used for the 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ bases, the only other items I used from my stash were rhinestones, brads, a few pieces of washi tape and of course, glitter glue! I hated the color of the bright green corrugated cardboard so I flipped it over and used the backside. 

Challenging myself to use up some of my stash is always so much fun. These little ATCs took me no time at all and I used most of the elements in the kit. Why don’t you pull out 15-20 pieces of bits and bobs from your own stash and make your own kits to use and give away to your artsy friends. It’s a good way to use up older supplies and is guaranteed to spark some creative genius!!!

 

Back To Mixed Media

During the months leading up to Christmas I am busy crafting for my shows. I don’t get any time to “play” with my paints, sprays, pens, etc… Now that the holidays are over, I’ve had some time to get back to mixed media. Here are a few of the projects I’ve finished.

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I had a lot of fun layering and layering. I hope you like these pieces. I’m finishing up a couple more and will share them when they’re done. 

Make some time during this “down time” and yucky weather to get out your paints and play!

After The Party Up-Cycle Tags

The  Christmas holiday season is over and all the goodies are gone, including the 3 batches of Chex mix I made. So it’s time to say goodbye to the empty cereal boxes.

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Some went the way of the recycling bin and others… well, they went the way of my craft room.

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I cut a box into tag shaped pieces.

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Then I covered one side with printed paper and the other side with plain white card stock.

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I layered on pieces of different papers and sandwiched trims, pieces of paper doilies and snippets of tulle between the layers.

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Here are the finished tags.

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I didn’t buy anything for this project. I only used supplies from my stash. I think they turned out pretty well considering they started as waste.

I hope this inspires you to look in your recycling bin, pull something out, and use items in your stash to create something pretty and new!