“My New Crafty Toy!”

Hi, My Friends,

Apologies once again for being a bit absent here. I am an Essential Worker and out and about in it!!!!   I am making time for “me” and I was very lucky, as my two wonderful sons bought me, a new Elna Sewing Machine for my birthday. I have done a bit of sewing as I grew up and spent quite a few hours learning from my mum and her best friend Helen. I do miss that very much………………..

 

  I saw my pile of scrap paper and collage bits and pieces and I thought I would make some “Franken Paper”.  I made some awhile ago and I used them to make tags for some journals. The Tutorial for the “Franken Tags” is “HERE” if you would like a peek! There are also some great Youtube videos about making them also 🙂

I like this tutorial from Nik The Booksmith “HERE”

I am making another couple of journals and I was deciding what to do with the cover. I have made it out of some chipboard backing from an art pad. I like to use a nice strong backing for them like 12×12 paper pad backings, cardboard from cereal boxes, or sturdy cardstock.

 

As you can see above, I used some scrap cardboard from a used paper pad and added the torn papers over it with a glue stick. If you wanted to you could ink around the edges of the paper pieces, but I decided not to.

On the one above, I did the same thing and used papers that looked nice together, I then added some faux stitching with stamps, then some with my machine.

 

I made the Birthday cards I rec from friends, into a journal cover also. I stitched them with my machine and I will glue it over the cover I have made.

I hope this gives you an idea or two to how to use up your scraps of pattern papers. This technique is fun and relaxing to create and not a lot of brain power needed.

Thanks for stopping by

Kerri x

 

“Faux Travellers Notebook”

Hi Friends,

I hope you are all going well in this weird time. I’m home from work and now enjoying my weekend!! It is very wet and cold here now so a great day to be indoors and crafting!

Lately, I have had a few projects on the go all at the same time. Nothing like keeping busy!! I got the urge to make another “Faux Travellers Notebook”, to use as an Art Journal.

 A Traveler’s Notebook ... In short, it is a refillable notebook, which are used by travellers to plan and document their travels. Also, to keep your important documents, contacts etc in, ………….But really, at its core, it is simply a leather book-like cover that holds multiple notebooks or inserts with elastic bands.  This really handy as you can keep the cover and just replace the inserts (notebooks) with new ones. 

They have so many more uses now as they have grown in popularity as a journal…………

Below are a few ideas of what you can use them for…………………

As A Travel Journal

Keeping track of Projects

Wedding or Party Guestbooks

Doodling and Art Journaling

Memory Keeping

Collecting Quotes

Habit and Weightloss Tracking

A Daily Journal

Commonplace Journal

For Planning

Of course, you can buy them, already made and in lots of different sizes, but why not make your own for the fraction of the cost to your needs……………………………….

My Version of this is a “Faux” one that I make mainly out of foam, covered with pattern papers or placemats. Yes, the humble placemat is great for making the soft covers. If you can’t find any, you can make to measure pattern papers, then laminating them.  I made a few last year and gave them away as presents. You can find them in cheap shops and probably home decor shops too. They usually aren’t too expensive and you could also use plastic mats, or the clear chopping mats would work also.

I really liked this tulip one, I found even though I am not a big red fan.  I cut it roughly down to 7.5×10″, but you can make it to suit your needs. I wanted the width so I could make it chunky with the inserts that I made.

 I cut the placemat to the size, I wanted with the image placed nicely on the front. I found the middle and made some small holes using a punch to thread the elastic through. This will allow you to move them around and remove to add new inserts as required.  The thinner elastic is nice to use as it gives a bit to move the pages.

I made these inserts from mixed media paper, as I want to Art Journal in this one. I cut my papers down to approx 6×9″ and I can comfortably put 6 signatures in this with the slightly bigger cover. I haven’t as yet added any pockets etc to the inside of the overs.

As you can see for the pages, I used 5-6 sheets ad used my stapler to put them together, but you could sew them if you wanted to.

I measured the middle, then left a gap between the other two holes. There is enough room from the bottom of the journal for the paper to fit nicely in. I just used my hole punch and I will go back and add some small eyelets for strength.

 I mainly eyeball when making things like this, as I am not a perfectionist and I like things looking rustic and handmade!

The journal looks lovely and as it is a placemat, I can wipe it down with no worries about damaging the cover. I will probably add my name or an art quote to the front to finish it off.

I hope I may have given you some inspiration to try one for yourself!!

Have a lovely crafty weekend

Kerri x

“Some Messy fun!”

Hi Everyone,

It is cold and wet here in Victoria and a great day to #stayathome. I am keeping pretty busy with work and being pretty tired I haven’t done much craft this last week. We have just had one case of COVID-19 detected here so work has ramped up our PPE measure to protect our clients, family and ourselves……………

I am walking the May 50k for MS, but the weather has turned horrible. I will make it up, over the next few days when the weather clears 🙂

I bought a mixed media pad and I am using it, for my art journal pages. I Gessoed over this page first, so it is more stable and would take the wet media. With a couple of Dylusions Inks, I sprayed onto the page and let it run, with the help of some water in a mister.

I then stamped the focal point from part of a large Studio Light stamp, straight on to the paper. I then repeated the process, cut part of it out and coloured it lightly.  I gave the image some depth by using dimensional tape and placing it over the top, of the first stamped image. I finished it off with some washi tape, inked edges of the paper and a quote 🙂

I am trying to get a bit of Art Journaling done in my #stayathome journal, and I managed to finally finish this page. I am not sure what I want to do with it. I think I will fold it and put it on my wall for a bit, then add it to my journal!!

I hope you are staying safe, where ever you are and having some craft time 🙂

Look after you

Hugz K xx