Tagged: paper crafts

Creating My 2023 December Daily Box

I know most people have just finished their December Dailies for 2022 and a lot of people are glad to get the holidays behind them. For the last several years I have put together a box of stuff to use for my upcoming December Daily. I do this for two reasons. First, all my Christmas crafting supplies are still out and easy to get to. Secondly, I am super busy during October and November because of the craft shows I do. Having a theme picked out and a box of stuff all ready to go really takes the pressure off when I decide to make my journal. The bonus of having a themed box is I have a place to stick all the fun ephemera and supplies I find during the year for my December Daily. 

I hope you found this video helpful and may even consider setting your theme and box up early!

 

 

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Prayer Book Finish to Start!

I know that sounds backwards but it will make sense when I explain. One of the goals I set for myself this year is to complete working in the junk and art journals I have started but never finished. I love making journals and I was only half (or less) filling my journals and then making a cooler, newfangled one. So I have a pile of not finished journals. Well I’m happy to say, I am working on them and finishing them.

The prayer journal in the video linked right below is one of my all time favorite journal. I just love how it filled up nice and chunky and I love the prayers and spreads inside it. To see the complete flip through watch this video, but be sure to come back because there is more!

Now that this pretty is completely full I had to create a new one. Below are the links to the three part videos of how I constructed my new one in the same fashion as the one above. The video below shows how I constructed the cover and put in the elastic.

This video shows how I made the signatures and put them in the journal. I’d call this a traveler’s style journal.

Finally, no journal is complete without something fun dangling from the cover. This video shows how I made a really fun tassel to hang from the side.

There you have it. Super easy journal that will hold your prayers, Bible studies or favorite Scriptures. I really hope you try making one, or many, for yourself. Just remember to fill them up!

Three Paper Crafts From One Envelope Challenge

I’m sorry I haven’t blogged for so long but getting my YouTube channel up and running has taken so much of my time. I’m back now and hope to be a little more regular at posting here. 

I want to share a fun little challenge I am taking with the Paper Outpost Facebook group. This weeks challenge was to take one envelope and create three items from it. So here is what I did.

I started with this great kraft paper envelope.

I just cut it up into three pieces. For the two end pieces I used a glue stick to seal the flap of the envelope down.

I created two pockets and one flip up writing space to add to junk journals.

I added some paper elements, stamping and inking to the various pieces. These are the fronts.

These are the backs of the pockets. I didn’t decorate them too much as I may glue them to a journal page or tuck them under a tuck spot. Either way, only the front will really show.

This is the inside of the flip up. The back of the center part will be glued to a journal page.

I hope you try this little challenge for yourself and make three things out of one envelope. The link to the Paper Outpost Facebook group is:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3469195439809733/

You have to become a member of the group to play along, but it’s simple to request admission to the group. Each week we will be given a little challenge to try and I hope to post all my projects here on glitteronmyface.

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!

 

 

Sassy Girl Bookmarks

This post is about some more bookmarks I have made recently. These feature women cut from old pattern sleeves and colorful scrapbook papers. I’ll show you how I made them.

Cover bookmarks with pieces of vintage text and pattern tissue. Don’t think about it too much. Just place the papers down and glue them on.

Select some nice brightly colored scrapbook papers.

Cut papers into circles of varying sizes. I used some circle dies I have but you could always draw around round objects of different sizes and cut them out.

Glue the paper circles, pattern lady and quote on each bookmark.

I cut the quote into strips so they would fit on the bookmark. They look like they are just floating on the paper so I take and extra step to make them feel more incorporated onto the bookmark.

I used black watercolor pencil to loosely trace around each word strip. Now the words blend in better with the background.

 

 

Pop the bookmarks into plastic sleeves if you have them. I used the same colorful wool for the tassel that I used on the mixed media bookmarks from my last post.

Don’t forget to cover the backs to give them a proper finish. Now it’s your turn to use some vintage papers and pictures to create your own fun bookmarks!

I hope you like these fun bookmarks. They will also be for sale at the Spring Vintage Home Market.

 

Mixed Media Beach Book Marks

I’m going to be setting up at the Vintage Home Market show in Richmond, VA this Spring and decided to add some bookmarks to my handmade merchandise. My inspiration for making bookmarks came from some lovely wool I recently purchased at a thrift shop.

Doesn’t it just scream, “Use me for bookmark tassels?”.

Look at the wonderful textures and colors. So yummy!

Several people asked me to make beach themed junk journals for this show so I decided to add some beach themed book marks to my stock as well. Here is a quick step by step run through on how I made them along with the final results.

I cut some watercolor paper into strips.

Then I just scribbled on some blue watercolor paint.

I added some green and a darker shade of blue to completely cover the surfaces.

I added the bubbles by wiping away the paint with a baby wipe through a stencil. I painted on some seaweed fronds as well.

I cut out several seahorses with a Tim Holtz Bigz die and my Big Shot machine.

The seahorses were painted, sealed with glitter decoupage medium and dotted with a white Uniball pen. I made the eyes from gold sequins with a black paper dot for the pupil.

Some of the large bubbles got a glitter treatment and the seahorses were glued on to each bookmark. Captions were printed out, edged in blue ink and adhered to the base.

As I consider each piece a work of my own art I signed each one before slipping them into a plastic bookmark sleeve from Clear Bags. Some pieces of the inspiration wool was tied to the tops.

I also added decorative paper to the backs to finish them off. Here are the close-ups.

These bookmarks are really sturdy and well protected by the plastic sleeve so they will last a long time. They are perfect for taking on a cruise or beach vacation! I will be selling them at the Vintage Home Market in April.

Bookmarks are a lovely small way to create art that also serves a function. Cut some paper strips and let your own creativity flow while you make your own bookmarks!

 

Getting My 2018 December Daily Ready

This is my sixth year keeping a December Daily. I have written posts about some of my previous December Dailies in the past but this is a new Christmas to document and I’m as excited as ever. Here are just a few quick pictures of my set-up. 

Decorating the cover

I usually use old book covers for my December Dailies. The cute snowman image is a piece of a Christmas napkin I decoupaged to the front cover. If you want to decoupage a light-colored napkin, tissue paper or thin paper on a dark background you may want to paint a layer of white underneath. If I hadn’t painted white underneath this napkin I would have ended up with a light green snowman. I just painted a section white and dabbed the edges to soften them and somehow it just looks like snow around the snowman. Of course I added chunky glitter to make my snowman glittery!

Select assorted papers

I selected about forty assorted pieces of paper for the pages. Not all are scrapbook paper however, some are vintage Christmas cards, envelopes, Christmas book pages, Christmas carol pages, old advertisements, etc.. I like to document my entire December and not just through Christmas day. I’ve made sure I have enough “pages” to have at least one a day. Sometimes I may use two pages for one day if a lot was going on and some days I may only use one side of a page. If I don’t have enough pages I can always add more and if I have too many I can take some out.

Arrange papers

After I’ve picked the papers I want to use, I spread them all out on the dining room table and then put them together in an order that is pleasing to me. When arranging the pages I consider color, size and type (such as book page or Christmas card) so I don’t have two of the same type near each other. I make sure my nativity pages are approximately around the 24th of December. I can always fine tune the location of pages as I go along. 

Add a place to stash goodies

I like to attach a small decorative paper bag to the inside of the back cover. That gives me a place to stash embellishments I want to use in the journal. When my journal is completed the bag gives me a place to put items I want to keep that didn’t make it onto a page.

Add binding of some type

I use O rings to keep my journal together. They allow me to make my journals good and chunky and give me the freedom to add or take out pages as needed. Sometimes I will remove a page to work on it if I’m going to use wet mediums like paint or spray ink.

So now that I’ve shown you my “naked” December Daily, I hope to post throughout the month and give you ideas and hacks for ways to embellish your own journal. Just keep in mind the rules for keeping a December Daily:

  1. There are NO rules
  2. Don’t stress if you can’t do it everyday. Maybe just keep track of the highlights
  3. There is no right or wrong way to keep a December Daily
  4. Don’t compare your journal with anyone else’s journal
  5. HAVE FUN!!!

Burlap Heart Embellishments

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I decided to make heart embellishments out of burlap. The process was really easy, but I think they came out really well. Here’s the simple process.

Cut some ordinary burlap into smallish pieces. The bigger ones in the picture above measure about 6″ square.

I painted the burlap for interest as well as to keep it from fraying when I cut it into smaller shapes.

I cut the fabric into heart shapes. Some were cut with a die and others I free-handed.

Here’s the fun part! I took out a lot of my Valentine’s Day stickers, bling and graphics. I also took out some sequins and plastic flowers.

Here’s the finished heart embellishments.

I will use these little embellishments on cards, tags or gift bag toppers. I hope this has inspired you to get out some of that plain old burlap you have lying around and make some fun embellishments!

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!