“Finally, A New Project”

Hello, My lovely friends and followers

I hope you are all having a lovely start to a new week. I had a pretty mixed up week off, last week. We all had to be tested for Covid-19, because of a work contact, but we are all fine. I am waiting to have Wisdom teeth out and feeling a bit off colour.  Finally sort of feeling up to a bit of a new project.  Anyway…………………I decided to make a Journal Cover.

I have purchased a few of Dyan Reaverly’s Art Journal Dyalog inserts. There are a few different ones and while I wait for them to arrive, I thought I would make a cover for them. If you aren’t sure what they are hop on over to her Channel  “HERE” and have a peek.

 It will be an art/junk/planner/journal. It’s a whatever I want to use it for……………………It is a smaller version of my large one, that is also more portable. It’s good to have options, as sometimes you don’t have the time or energy to create on a large scale………………

 

 

I gathered a few supplies and started the cover. I used a cereal box and cut it down to roughly 9 x 6″ which should fit the inserts, as the box had a large spine.  Then I used Gesso on it for stability and so I could add wet mediums over the top of it. I had some really pretty napkins that I hadn’t used, so they were just right.  I removed both layers of the underlying tissue away from them, to remove the bulk. I then, used a wet paint brush to paint on water to make it easier to pull apart the sections I wanted t use.

I loved the text part of another napkin so I used that over the spine of the box and added the other lovely floral parts of the napkins to cover the front and the back. I used my home made Mod Podge/glue sealer under and over the top of the napkin. 

After it was dry and I trimmed off any excess napkin, I rounded the corners and inked around it with black ink. I decided I wanted a more squishy cover for this one. To give it a whimsy feel and a bit of texture, I machine stitched around the edge .You can see the form of the spine that was already there from the cereal box. This makes it easier to make a journal and not have to worry about separate pieces and making a spine……………….You could also strengthen the journal with extra cardboard if you wanted too.

I didn’t want to much embellishment on the front cover, as the napkin is busy. I cut a piece of cardboard, stamped a title, then machine stitched around it for a bit of interest. I just layered it on a bit of scrap cardboard, painted with a bit of gesso and sprayed with some ink, plus some muslin for texture.

I sprayed the inside of the cover with some ink, but I may cover it with some paper or do a bit of mixed media on it. For the binding, I decided to use elastic and then I can take one of the inserts out when I want to work in it. I decided on three holes and I just threaded the elastic through. You need about 4x the length of the spine for a good fit.

I don’t really measure anything, I just eyeballed about the centre and then one hole each side. I punched them using my Crop-O-dile hole punch then I set some eyelets so the holes in the cardboard wouldn’t break.

I also put some elastic through the middle of the spine to create a closure for it to keep them snug inside. I just threaded a few beads and a metal quote embellishment on to it before threading it through the hole. On the off chance that my inserts don’t fit in it, I can just make it into a junk journal to collage in.

I hope you have enjoyed my little how to on this journal cover I made. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know. This was a fun project and I am looking forward to  playing in my new journal soon.

I am working on another project, so stay tuned for another post during the week.

Stay Safe and Well

Hugz

Kerri  x

 

 

 

“Craft Storage Ideas”

Hello Everyone,

It is the 1/9/20 and the first day of SPRING here in Australia.  Hopefully the days will get a little warmer and our Corvid Restrictions might ease a little! I miss seeing my friends and family, but we are slowly getting there I think!

This week is pretty busy work wise for me but in-between, I am changing how I store a few of my craft supplies in my ‘new space’. I thought you might like to see what I am doing. These ideas  might even work for you and your craft area!

First up is my marker storage, which really bugged me! I decided to invest in some decent storage from Deflecto.  They clip together so nothing falls out of them and I can stack them on top of one another! I have all my SU Alcohol Ink and Watercolour Markers, plus my other Alcohol Ink Markers and Distress Crayons, stored all together, easy to find and access.

I like to use different types of storage, that may not be used for it’s intended purpose. A couple of months ago, I ordered these Tupperware Spice containers, but I decided to use them for my craft embellishments instead. The caps come off to fill them up and there is two separate openings to use for getting them out!

I used my Dymo Label Maker to create their labels and they stack nicely on top of one another. They are semi clear so I can also see their contents.

These fit nicely on top of my maker storage and also on my storage unit on my desk which you probably saw on my previous post “HERE”

Another few problem areas I find hard to sort are dies, stamps that come in plastic and die cuts. I think I have finally found a solution that will work for me.

Today I finished sorting my dies into themes. I only keep my SU dies and stamp sets together, at my desk in the white unit. My other dies are sorted into, Leaves, Journal, Grunge, Frames, Flora, Doilies, Winged and Misc. You of course could sort to what you have.

I have some Universal Craft Storage Boxes. Each one Includes one big storage case – 21 x18.5 x 14 cm and six internal 17×12 x3cm storage boxes. They are perfect for storing all sorts of supplies, including small punches, photos, ribbon, washi tape etc…….

Above are all my dies sorted in two boxes.  I decided to leave my Sizzix/Tim Holtz dies in the plastic packets and they are in a box also together.

Die cuts are one embellishment that I probably have too much of, but they are so useful for lots of projects. Sometimes I am lazy and I cant be bothered stamping and colouring to make my own! These are great for my die cuts that I seem to be searching for all the time!

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I sorted these into themes as well and they are well organised now.

I collated them into the most used themes I have and use.

I labelled the outside of the boxes and the smaller cases with some stamped labels made from cardstock.

I am going to use these for most of my smaller storage. I can label each one in the case then the outside of the main case to tell me what is stored inside.  I think my ‘other stamps’ will be what I attack next and probably collate the same sort of way. They will be all stored on one of my bookcases across from my desk 🙂

I hope you have enjoyed my ideas I have shared with you and you might find them useful!!

Thanks for stopping by

Hugz Kerri x