Mermaids and the End of Summer

Well I've been working hard on these flip flop recycled junk mail journals. I don't really journal but I love to make them.

I cut this graphic into two pieces from prints and overlapped them. I printed them in reverse for the other sides of the pages.

I loved the graphics I got for these from thegraphicsfairy.com I printed out the sea creatures and cut out some pockets and tags to match.

It has an aqua tie ribbon that I hand dyed and I used glossy accents to make the fish look slimey.

I started out with about six envelopes from my junk mail and put them together with the flaps glued to the next in flip flop fashion.

I didn't use any special effect stamp pads but I did sew around the edges on this one. And I sewed around the edges on the cards too.

It has four signatures for writing into or gluing in pictures.

It's very pretty and I'm happy with the way it turned out. I have more to make. I'm obsessed with these but don't know how long it will last. Christmas is coming sooner than you think so maybe something along those lines soon.

The Conservatory

 I wanted to make this about 3 or 4 years ago when I ran across the digitals on etsy. It's a conservatory by Laura Carson and the digital prints are drop dead gorgeous just like all her stuff is. I came to a sudden stop on this because I realized it was only ATC size. That's 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" and I don't like to work on journal type books that size.

So I just put it on a back burner until now. But I ran across my digital files on it and decided it was too beautiful not to make. I couldn't find the cutouts in a larger size so I just decided to make my own page shapes and enlarge the sheets. I drew them freehand and cut them out of recycled cereal boxes.

I found that my printer has a poster feature that will let me enlarge it to 2 x 2 size which turns out to be around 5 x 7" when all four sheets are printed. Yes, I had to do some piecing together of some items but that's O.K. I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to junk and scrappy journals.

I also used the best quality print paper for photos and presentations and the highest quality ink setting I have on my printer. They turned out pretty sharp at 300 dpi when I imported them into the Gimp first where I could work with them.

I already had some transparency film but it had yellowed over the years as I don't do very much with it. But I found a full box of transparency film at the thrift store for only 3 bucks and it was pretty new. You really have to know how to work with it to get it to print but all I do is stick the starting strip onto regular printer paper with double sided tape so it will feed into my printer without sliding around. It works.

I printed out two of each "stained glass" window and glued them together so the colors would be brighter. I pretty much followed the original project except to make a few changes here and there. I put the fountain statue over the front door and added as many different paper and fabric leaves as I could think of.

I didn't have hinges so I made mine out of heavy card. I used what I had. I liked the short gate with the urn but all I had was a piece of lace and some sticks so I made my own. Then I spray painted it black and rubbed a black silver finish on it.

I had some metallic ribbon that I liked so I made a fence on the brick sun room with some of it. I also had some puffy sticker urns that I wanted to use and I filled them with reindeer moss all from the dollar store on a few boards.

 

I finished it off with a belly band to enclose it. It's a two to three day project for me and I'm already on to the next. But this project was so beautiful that it haunted me for years until I finally made it. As I personalized it, it became part of me. With all that stained glass it gave off a churchy solitude feel. It's a beautiful place to go to in a hectic world and isn't that a good enough reason to make something beautiful?

This is my fence after adding flowers to it. I loved this project.

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Forest Gnomes Journal

It's done! The first one always takes the longest because that's where you iron out all the details. I have an extensive library that I've accumulated over the years from thegraphicsfairy.com. I've been wanting to make a forest gnome journal for a while.

I get so much junk mail. So I decided to do something with it and this was so easy, I love making these. I've done three already and I'm on my fourth one. 

    

The Graphics Fairy and ink tank printers are a match made in heaven. I print out a lot of graphics and still only refill my tanks about every 18 months. And the bottles of ink are just as affordable as what I was paying for the cartridges. No more throw away ink because I ran out of one color. You get so much more ink for the money.

I basically use four kinds of paper. A standard printer paper and a card stock, standard matte photo paper and card stock photo paper. I also have printed on transparencies and file folders.

I sew around the cards and folders and use alcohol inks to color my ribbons.

There are several ways to make pockets for these. You can use the envelopes themselves as pockets or add them on separately. This one has five signatures that are sewn into the folds of the envelopes and each signature has four or five decorative and blank pages in them.

You can make them as thick as you want but I like to use five to seven envelopes in mine. That makes them quick and easy to decorate and get the journal done in a reasonable amount of time. 

I have so many ideas for these. My graphics library is endless and thegraphicsfairy.com comes out with another themed set of graphics every Monday. 

It's going to be so hot here in the next week and then hopefully the 90 degree days will be over this year but until then, I picked a winter theme for my next journal. I'm going to make some beautiful snow paper that my grandma used to make for her Christmas cards.

 

Journals From Junk

I've saved up a few junk mail envelopes and then I decided to make a flip flop junk journal out of them. I've been wanting to make a foresty-gnomey kind of journal for a while now. It's been in the back of my mind and I've been contemplating it.

So when I renewed my subscription at thegraphicsfairy.com recently, I decided to make some printouts and get started.

They have a graphic pack called Gnomes & Wee Folk. I used that one and one called Woodland Wonders and Green and Cream ephemera and probably a few others too. I started off gluing my envelope flaps to each other in a chain fashion and then tearing chunks of newsprint, handwriting and other collage papers. I glued them to the envelopes as backgrounds.

Than printed out all this stuff and started making cards and cutouts to decorate the journal "pages" with. I pulled out all the paper techniques I could remember and threw them in there too.

I used ink pads, spray ink, gold pen, paper punches and ribbon trims. I'm not done because I keep getting good ideas like fern die cuts and sewing around the edges of some cards. 

This is where I'm at after three days of fun and in the mean time - I've gotten enough junk mail to make another one. 

Christmas Journal 2022

 I love to make journals but I don't write in them. I love to make jewelry but I really don't wear much jewelry also. So sometimes you just run across something that your heart desires to make because it's so pretty and you just have to have it.

That's what happened here. I ran across the journal pages to print off on etsy. They are by ARTYmaze. Her name is Andrea and she designs collage papers that you can print out to make colorful and beautiful journals of your own.

You can make them just like she shows on her YouTube channel or do your own thing. You learn so much just by watching her do it. And you get tips along the way you can use with all your crafting. I was surprised that I could make this journal with all the stuff in my stash. I didn't have to buy a thing. I'm a craft supplies hoarder and I freely admit it.

I don't have a laser printer. I have an ink tank ink jet ET2700 Epson and I love it. I only have to buy ink about once every 15 - 18 months. Really! But for the savings, you do sacrifice a little quality. I cannot get it to print vivid and deep rich colors no matter what I do. It just won't do it, not even on the highest quality and vivid print settings. Ink jet print does not compare to the richness of a laser printer. But I have a trick that makes my prints look like they are printed on a laser printer.

I use Prismacolor colored pencils to color the prints. And YES it does make them rich and it does make them look like laser. If you loved to color with crayons as a child then you will not mind coloring over your prints in places. These pencils are translucent and each layer gives a little more depth and color to the print. I only used two pencils, grass green and crimson red to deepen the colors. These high quality soft colored pencils leave a waxy sheen that also imitates laser ink. It makes the graphics pop. 

On this journal I used what I had with the prints that I got and the freebies on Andrea's facebook site. It is probably the prettiest journal I have ever made. I need to start earlier next year if I'm going to make them for gifts. I worked on it over several days to get it done.

I love the use of stitching on the sewing machine and fabric swatches mixed with paper and little bits of bling here and there. I might make some more of these.

My Winter Journal

I'm a paper addict and I've always been one. I like to make journals and sometimes I run across some beautiful papers and just have to make something with them. I saw these papers on etsy. They are from SSdigital studio. Go look them up.

I love the colors of blue, silver and white. And I love the watercolors of wild animals. It's the perfect kit. So I made a 5" x 7" album out of four brown paper lunch bags and covered the pages with these digital prints.

The paper pack has plenty of cards, tags and papers to make a very large journal and frankly I printed too much stuff for my little journal. I should have made two journals or one big one. It is stuffed to the gills with all these beautiful graphic prints.

I really enjoyed decorating it with glitter, inks, ribbons and shiny papers. I made a belly band with paper and ribbon to slip on and off to hold it closed because I didn't want to have to keep untying and tying the ribbon every time I opened it.

Look at all these beautiful graphics! I love the paintings and the watercolor texture shows in the print too. This is one of my favorites. I'm working on three at the moment. This one, a rabbit journal and a Christmas journal, all made from brown paper lunch bags. 

And I have another one coming soon maybe after Christmas with a flower cart/market/delivery truck theme with a cutout paper cart in the works. The papers are from MyPorchPrints on etsy but I don't want to get ahead of Spring just yet.

I didn't even use all the papers and tags that come with this set. There are so many of them to mix and match. I want to add some white sparkle snow and snow flakes to the pages but I'm almost done with it. Then it's on to the next.

It was such fun to work on this beautiful graphic kit. The only thing it was missing was a polar bear. I loved all the glitter!