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!

Journals - Revisited

While working on some new journals I got to thinking about the ones I've made in the past. There are so many different types of bookbinding and journaling out there. So I thought I'd just share some of my previous makes. I went through a wrapped journal phase.

Here are some of the inner pages:

And then a "save the bees" phase.

And then a "house book - bird" phase.

But before all those, I went through a miniature "domino" book phase:

I'm sure I've posted these before on my previous blog called Bookittie. I spent all of 2020 making journals and crochet trims until I finally decided to get more into crochet. I like to do both actually and I have many hobbies. Sometimes I just like to look at them and be reminded of how pretty they are.

I've learned so much making each type of journal. Mostly I've learned what I like and don't like in making them. My favorite journals are the lacey house ones because they have lots of fibers and fabric sewn in. I'm a doll house enthusiast anyway but there is something about them that I just love!

I'm currently in a ribbon bound die cut phase with a big Anna Griffin influence on the design. I love the lacey die cuts and the beautiful vintage graphics that go with them.         

  

Assorted Bee Books

It took a while but I'm back from crochet land... lol. I've made a bunch of birds and crocheted a bunch of trims, took some time off and now I'm ready to do something else for a while. I have an assortment of Bee themed journals done. Here they are:

The outsides are a little different but the insides carry the theme through out. The pages are a little different but similar using the same graphics and keeping with the theme. They are hardback journals with a fabric wrap and handmade beads and ribbon tassels. 

Plenty of room to journal. Lots of pockets, cards, flowers and bee imagery. Each book has a yellow, pink or purple pop-up flower. And the pages have a mix of fabric swatches sewn in. 

I used up a lot of supplies on these and I just love the way they all turned out. I think my next set will be birds... or maybe fashion. It's hard to decide. They will have more crocheted accents than usual. I love to combine my different hobbies together to make these books unique and pretty.

More Lacy Trims

Still making trims with a floral theme but ran across a couple of lace patterns. This little pattern was so demure with little hearts encircled into a lacey edge, they almost look like flowers in a basket. Cute, cute, cute.

And this one caught my eye because of the feminine lacey look. It's little fans!

My favorites are the plain trims and the florals but I also like the motifs. I guess they're all my favorites. All of them can be made into string crochet or you can use a larger hook and heavier yarn for bigger projects. Use them any way you can think of. That's the beauty of crochet, it is so adaptable and versatile for any project you can imagine.

Teddy Bears on Swings

I've been wanting to make these for a while but didn't have the right colors of string to make them the way I wanted to. So I made the first ones tan and pink instead of brown and red. I had so much trouble finding red crochet cotton #10 around here and they were all out online too. What's up with that? Does everyone sit at home and crochet red things all at the same time??? So I made the first set with the colors I had.

I eventually did find a darker red at Walmart so I just got that but I wanted a lighter, brighter red so I got some embroidery thread to use for the swings. The good thing about using embroidery thread is that you can take off one or two ply of it to make it the thickness you need to match the crochet cotton. I've got to have the right shade when I want to make something. That explains the zillion balls of thread I've collected. LOL

So the first thing you do with this pattern is make the bears. It's about one bear for every inch and a half that you want to make of trim. Then you just crochet the swings around them and add the seats to finish them off.

I love these little guys! You really need to stiffen them with stiffener or white glue to make them lay flat and you can slide them around a little on the swings to position them better than I did. They look great anchored to a baby blanket instead of dangling where they would get all twisted up though. You could use a strip of them close to the edge of a towel just for baby and they would be adorable.