Saturday, November 30, 2024

Page Ideas: Snazzing Up/Decorating Pages and Pockets

Kathleen Mower shows how she collages on plain pockets and snazzes up tucks and makes flips for just that little extra (and simple) "oomph".  Video is here.

Amy Plans Things made a double door spread in a journal that's actually four of five pages and is just magnificent!  This is probably more for a journal than a junk journal, but could be adapted for any type of journal, I think.  Check it out here.

Thursday, November 28, 2024

CARD HOLDER Junk Journals

 
Thrifty Day does a live tutorial every Tuesday, and there are lots of "hi's" to lots of people and sometimes she does go on and on.....BUT she's funny and always makes me happy, she's so upbeat.  You can also fast forward a bit.  This particular tutorial is about using a Christmas Golden book, two rings, and I think 8 pieces of double sided cardstock to create a Journal that'll hold an abundance of Christmas cards.  It's also a great way to hold birthday cards and other special greetings received from friends and family.  She's going to make a YouTube tutorial about it soon, which should be a lot shorter, but this works until that one comes out. Watch the live tutorial here.

The Paper Outpost also makes an easy holder for cards using stretchy cord wrapped on the spine.  Check the video out here.

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Dangles for Your Junk Journal


Thrifty Day 
spends just ten minutes showing how to make a basic set of dangles that hang from a bookmark that you just insert anywhere in your journal!  It has four lengths of heavy string with beads and tiny knickknacks tied all the way down.  The knots in between can be as close or far as you want.  This particular video is for Christmas, but this can be done for any theme or time of year.  See it here.

Hectangnooga1 makes simple paper clip beads by wrapping construction paper around paper clips.  She uses dollar story glittery nail polish to finish them up!  That's them, above.  Find the tutorial (only 2:35 long!!!) here.

Crafted by Christy wraps paper around paper clips to make dangly beads.  She paints over them with a glossy finish and they look great!  Here's her video.

The Creative Cove hides a paper clip (with its end sticking out) with paper/cluster, then attaches a dangle to the protruding clip.  Clips onto the edge of any journal.  Video's here.

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Tags, Tags, Tags... Bookmarks..... Tuck-Ins.....and Journaling Cards!

Fun, fun, fun, different (and yet still easy!) tags from book pages folded into quarters, then sewn (or not), painted a bit with spray oxides, gessoed, painted, and stencilled...final touch a stamp with a bit of thread bunched up beneath the stamp.   Love, love, love them!  Thanks, Shanouki Art!
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Easy scrappy tags for your junk journals - these happen to be for Halloween, but can easily be done for anything!  Mass making ephemera, too!
Sweet Bee Designs Co   (2:20) shortie

She also makes journal cards from index cards and small strips of leftover paper....here. 
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Tiny Tags are Like Junk Journal Candy!
  The Paper Outpost, in her usual fun style, creates 3/4-inch by various length tags that are simple and fun and you can make a slew of them at a time!  Book pages, tiny toppers, stamps...you don't need much!  Here's the video.
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Cindy Burkhalter makes folding bookmarks that have lots of journaling space ... easy!  Fold any piece of paper - book page, map, children's book page....into fourths.  Glue one section (the back) together for a little more strenght, thenglue down writing paper on the remaining flips.  A ribbon on top, she dangles some beads from the bottom (unnecessary) and voila!  The video's here.
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Camelia Craft's Designs
(she's such a riot with a British accent) makes a bookmark/journaling card with a vellum belly band.  She uses Christmas paper to make it into a Christmas card!  Love it. (Note: My vellum paper was really too dark, and the first one should have been a little thinner.  Learning more and more with every creation... Find that video here.
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Cathy's Garden uses a double-side sheet (a rectangle a bit smaller than 12 x 12) to make a three-fold tuck-in with three pockets.  Cool!  Find it here.
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Pink Monarch Prints makes ticket strips by sewing (without thread) every few centimeters on a strip of paper, then stamping and adding simple (small) embellishments.  Must try these!
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Brenda Clark aka The Simple Crafter uses the middle part of a corragated box as the background for a tag....a really different look with a bit of substance.  Check it out here.
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Kathleen Mower takes a long piece of one-sided paper and turns it into a folding envelope-type things that is a great large journaling space with  a beautiful embellishment.  Perfect for lots of journaling, and really easy to make....just folds and a little distressing.  Check it out here.
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I've got to make these three Christmas tags by Root Pursuit.  Trees, square on square cluster, and hanging ornaments, quick and easy and very eye-catching. Video is not long.
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Cindy Burkhalter made REALLY quick "file folders" to journal inside by quickly embellishing the outside and adding a punched-out tab.  See "Easy File Folders for Journaling here.
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Cathy's Garden makes a folded heart journaling card that's easy and cute to use as a tuck in for a pocket.  There are other things on this video (including a bag/pocket that would be great for a gift), this one's about in the middle.  I wanna make a few to have on hand.  The video's here.
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Kathleen Mower creates a matchbook journaling card that is large - it covers the entire page and gives lots of clever journaling space.  Check it out here.
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Pink Monarch Prints show how to make three different "interactive" tags.....tags with just a little extra.  See the video.

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Used Postage Stamps as Ephemera in Junk Journals


 Nina Ribena uses different methods to use and show off used postage stamps on ephemera.  Here's the video.  I particuarly like the way she's made a "masterboard" using same-sized stamps!

Recrafted by Carol has some really fun ideas to use when you have bunches of postage stamps, particularly if you have a lot of the same color.  This I must do!  (She glues them over hanging clothing labels!)

Friday, November 22, 2024

No-Sew Junk Journals


This is cool - megjournals uses the front and back cover of a decent-shape old book and "patchworks" the pages inside using leftover papers. It's an accordian-style book.  I like it!  Watch her YouTube here.

LeNae Creates makes a journal using all sorts of leftover 6 x 6 paper (and other sized, too).  She scores each paper/page at 1/2 inch, then glues this gusset to the next piece, making sure this gusset/bound edge is even.  At the end, she glues a piece of paper around this to make a decent binding.  She adds all the usual pockets/tuck spaces and creates a pretty cool junk journal!  This is a must try!  Check it out here.

Liz the Paper Project uses four leftover/unused greeting card envelopes to make a flip book/accordian-style junk journal.  The first half of the video is her showing the finished product, but the second half shows how to put it together.  YouTube video is here.

I'm not exactly sure this is the section where I should put this snazzy Christmas altered book by Treasure Books, but it is indeed sewless.  The pages are folded, hole-punched and blanket-stitched, glued, and embelished....a time consuming process but easy and GORGEOUS.  Could draw this out for awhile, adding to it whenever you feel it.  Instructions are here.

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Mass Making Ephemera for your Junk Journal

Black Swan Journals uses food packaging (with both white and kraft-colored) backing to make tags, belly bands, etc. to have them ready to go into any journal she may be working on.

Brenda Clark aka The Happy Crafter takes 10 playing cards at a time and gets them ready for more embellishments.  She uses torn paper, tissue paper, washi tape, and oxide paints.  See the YouTube video here.

Shanouki Art made these tags six at a time!  Fun, fun, fun, different (and yet still easy!) tags from book pages folded into quarters, then sewn (or not), painted a bit with spray oxides, gessoed, painted, and stencilled...final touch a stamp with a bit of thread bunched up beneath the stamp.   Love, love, love them!  Thanks, Shanouki Art!

Tiny Tags are Like Junk Journal Candy!  The Paper Outpost, in her usual fun style, creates 3/4-inch by various length tags that are simple and fun and you can make a slew of them at a time!  Book pages, tiny toppers, stamps...you don't need much!  Here's the video.

How to Mass Make Journal Tags in Minutes - No MeasuringEtcetorize paints one side and covers the other to quickly make a whole bunch of tags to have ready for further embellishment!  Here's the video.

I really love mass-making a bunch of clusters.  One of the first projects I tackled!  In her recent Christmas video, Lillian Guerrero makes quickie, ripped scrap paper clusters of three and then shows further embellishing depending on the theme.  Having a pile of these ready sure comes in handy!  See the video here.

Using Paper Napkins in Your Junk Journal

              

Liz the Paper Project
uses a glue stick to adhere napkins to book page envelopes and pockets.  She puts nothing on top to decoupage so you can feel the texture of the napkin.  Her YouTube video is here.

Creating Masterboards and What to Do with Them


Paper Outpost uses "ugly" scrapbook paper, covers it up with papers, then stencils and stamps on it to create a really cool masterboard/background!  Check it out here.

Tracie Fox Creative shows you how to create and 12 x 12 masterboard and then finishes the video with all sorts of simple ways to create tags of every shape and size.  Love it!  Here it is.


My Favorite Junk Journalers

Shanouki Art (Australia or NewZealand?)
No Nonsense!  Not a lot of stupid chatter.  Fast, clear, EASY ... I love her videos! 

Margarete Miller
Loves stamps, seems to be a collector.
Not a lot of crappy extra talk, just enough to hear her thinking.  Simple instruction that aren't dragged out.

Pink Monarch Prints
     I love that she preps all her papers ahead of time (cutting, ink around the edges) so that she just shows how she puts it together and you miss the tedium of all the tie-consuming stuff!  She makes most of her stuff from kits that she sells.

Kathleen Mower : Be Again Books, Creative Junk Journals and Inspiration
     No excess talking.  GREAT ideas, usually easy.  Videos aren't incredibly lengthy.

49Dragonflies - Barbara from Vienna, Austria

Annette Green

Camelia Crafts Designs - funny older lady with a British accent, enjoy her creations

Cathy's Garden

Cindy A. Lewis - Inspiring You to Create
       She usually gets right down to business and her ideas are wonderful.  Lots of ideas on masterboards.

Hither and Yon
This is one of my favorites she thinks like I do and is not particularly "neat."  Lots and lots and LOTS of page and ephemera ideas.  Her videos tend to go a little long, but all the talking is meaningful and she doesn't drone on and on about stupid stuff. 

LeNae Creates
She doesn't go crazily long and doesn't seem to overtalk either.  She's a good one.

Lillian Guerrero
She rips and doesn't spend a lot of time inking edges.  Likes to give all sorts of additional ideas and her videos don't seem to drag on and on....

Liz the Paper Project
From Ontario, Canada, she has great ideas and although she talks continually all through her videos, she keeps working and showing you how it's done.  

The Paper Outpost
She talks fast (and a lot) and always has a mess on her desk. She cracks me up. She does stick her stupid, fluffy little dog into the screen at the end of each video and have it pretend-talk.  That's obnoxious. Part of her quirky personality.

Root Pursuit

Septeria18 - young woman from Sydney, Australia
She uses the scoring board tool to great effectiveness

Tracie Fox Creative

Vicky Papaioannou
A gal from Greece(?) with a very Greek-ish accent.  No nonsense, great, easy directions, doesn't seem to waste time!

Amy Plans Things is the QUEEN of Dutch Doors in Journals!


Creating Pockets for Junk Journals

 Cindy  A. Lewis has three folded multi-pockets that are QUICK and work really well!

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Hither and Yon uses 6 x 6 and 6 x 8 double-sided papers to make a cool, easy double-pocket to either glue onto the page or clip on. They're also perfect for mailing fun stuff in a card.  Love this one
I made a lot:



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On TicTok The Vintage Journal makes a folding, pocketed "insert" that's fun to make and to put anywhere.  Find her video here.

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Septeria18 uses scrap papers to make simple pockets... The video's here.
Cut a 2 1/2 x 5 scrap and fold up 1 1/4 inches.  Glue the two sides.  Punch a half circle into the upper right side of the card.  Glue onto a 3 x 4 leaving the side open for a pocket.

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Root Pursuit makes four corner pockets at a time with this method using scraps of paper and an interesting technique of gluing before collaging, then simple cutting.  The video's here.

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Septeria18 shows how to make a vellum pocket without the glue showing....it's 17 minutes long but most of it is talking, just zip through and there's about 30 seconds of helpful info.  This would be good for making a lot at once, too.  Video here.

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Rach and Bella Crafts
shows how to make three different pockets.  The first, a three-pocket pocket, is made of 8.5 x 11 paper and is super easy.  The second is even easier, two folds and tuck the ends in.  The third is made from a circle and is quite interesting looking.  The first one, for sure, would be nice to have a few on hand.  Check it out here.
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Pink Monarch Prints makes a corner pocket, similar to the above, but even BETTER!  It's made from any size square paper.  Video here.
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For this one I cut off the triangle on each side that was folded under.  It made it too bulky and now lays down much flatter!  
Pink Monarch Prints
uses a double-sided piece of 8 x 8 paper to make a pocket that looks like an envelope with multiple pockets inside.  I love her suggestion, at the end of the video, to make this what she calls a "Flip Flop" so you can put something underneath it and have a really different type of addition to a page.  Video's here.
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Crafted by Christy
made some "Super Quick & Easy Label-Style Pockets" from leftover paper....could make a whole pile at one sitting!  Here's her video.
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Using Playing Cards in Junk Journals

Annette Green photocopies a playing card so that it's a bit bigger (and white on the other side) to create a decorated pocket that a regular size playing card can tuck into as a tag. She also shows how to create a frame with kings, queens, jacks..... Find that video here.  

Here's the video that shows gluing tiny bits of book pages to playing cards and turning them really vintage-y.  Fun, easy process!  Find it here#Treasure Books

Week 3 - Playing Card Tags | Summer Fun Ephemera Challenge - Let's make Ephemera Series
Sweet Bee Designs Co.  (22:10)

Brenda Clark aka The Happy Crafter takes 10 playing cards at a time and gets them ready for more embellishments.  She uses torn paper, tissue paper, washi tape, and oxide paints.  See the YouTube video here.

Two Old Crows Mixed Media makes an accordian booklet that holds 10 cards (or more).  They look pretty darned easy!  Video here.

Sue's Journal Adventures uses two playing cards the same size to create a framed opening that shows another card inside.  She uses acetate to cover it, but I don't think you really have to.  A bit of work, but very worth it, artistic and fun.  See the YouTube video here.

One Page Wonders Using 12 x 12 Paper


You can do so much using a 12 x 12 piece of paper!  Here's my first attempt, guided by #cathysgardenyoutubechannel. She's title it "One Page Wonder - Mini Journal - Journal Making":

Flip Flop File Album One Sheet Wonder from two pieces of double sided 6 x 12 inch paper.  PinkstrawberryzFind it here.  This is a Christmas one, which is exactly what I'd like to make!

Cathy's Garden uses a double-side sheet (a rectangle a bit smaller than 12 x 12) to make a three-fold tuck-in with three pockets.  Cool!  Find it here.

LeNai Creates made a folio/flip page booklet from one piece of double-sided 12 x 12.  This is the way I made the gift card holder for Laura's birthday...and she asked me to make two more for her.  Then I made four more for my Book Club buddies.  The YouTube video is here.

Pinkstrawberryz makes a "One Page Wonder Christmas Passport Book Folio" that ends up being 6-inches tall with lots of pockets and a flip page in the middle.  It took her no time at all to make.  Here's the video.  I like her videos, she doesn't spend a whole lot of extra talking time...and uses all sorts of different glues.

Misc. Junk Journal Ideas

Mini file tab pocket folder using one 6 x 6 single-sided sheet of paper
Find it here.  #Septeria18  (really great for gift card holder)

Shanouki Art makes a "waterfall" notebook/stack of papers that fill the page from top to bottom.  Looks great!  Check out the video.

Shanouki Art also makes Index cards with Tim Holtz numbers - the background of the ordinary index card looks SO fun....first a few collaged tiny pieces of book pages, then a little white gesso wiped on with a finger....some spray Distress ink, splats of white and black acrylic paint, then some Tim Holtz numbers.  Very cool!  Here's the video.

Root Pursuit came up with lots of ingenious ways to use Christmas washi tap to make all sorts of cool ephemera in her Lots of Great Christmas Washi Ideas video.  Absolutely must make a mess of these.

Shanouki Art makes simple simple simple page corner to glue onto random junk journal pages when prepping the journal.  Wonderful!  See how here.

Okay, THIS is COOL!  Crafted by Christy takes long, torn up (plain and with words) strips and puts them into a container (could be a cardboard box, could be a dollar store 9 x 13 plastic...) then sprays them with different colored distress sprays.  You could even dribble on acrylic paint.  She wears cheap- plastic covers so that she can use her hands to mix all the papers up between sprayings - this distributes the ink all over.  After they all dry, she collages with them!  Gorgeous ---- and FUN!  Here's the YouTube.

Happy Paper People uses six layers of paper, circle punches, and paper glaze to mass make paper buttons!  Her 8-minute video is here.  

And Shanouki Art has her own take on this, gluing layers of cardstock together and then putting glitter (using double stick tape) around the outside!  You don't have to use the glitter, and her way to glue the layers together using a paint brush is super!  Try it....here!

Junk Journaling - My Current Obsession



I've made my Junk Journal, now what do I DO with it?

Card Holder Junk Journal

Clusters are Fun and Easy!

Dangles for Your Junk Journal

Masterboards and What to Do with Them


One Page Wonders (using 12 x 12 paper)


Using Paper Napkins in Junk Journals

Using Playing Cards in Junk Journals

Creating Pockets for Junk Journals


Tags, Tags, Tags...and Journaling Cards...and Inserts...and Tuck-Ins

Saturday, November 16, 2024

78. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

listened on Libby
368pgs.
2022
Adult Contemporary Ghost Story/Fantasy
Finished 11/16/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.92
My rating: 3

My comments: Well, I didn't take down notes on this and it's a good six weeks later.  I do remember the story, and I remember shaking my head about some of it....her relationship with siblings, why she never returned home, and why she'd do all the writing she did as a ghostwriter for a hugely successful series and not be compensated better....

Goodreads synopsis:  Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Friday, November 1, 2024

77. The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

listened on Libby
384 pgs.
2024
Adult Mystery
Finished 11/1/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.60
My rating: 4.25 
Setting: southern Maine coast community

My comments:   Ending seemed incomplete.  Loved all the historical facts that some readers considered "preachy." Took place in southern Maine with lots of social/feminist thinking.

Goodreads synopsis:  A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers.

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.