ATCs final steps, custom stamp, and the beginnings of a new series

Just one of those compilation posts of a few hanging threads, finally all tied up. The first thing is all of the bare-backed ATCs have now had their backs created, printed and stuck. I always save the final signature for just before the ATCs go in the mail. I have them all (all my available ones, cards and coins) to my ATC Cards and Coins menu at the top.

As you can see, I also managed to fir in the no cash value text onto the small stamp for my ATC mailings. I cannot recall where I got the nifty little storage thing that holds all those tiny letters, perfectly organized, but it is so helpful.

I also started fiddling with those backgrounds I had hanging about – just placing the words leftover from the previous play and part of me wonders if nothing more is needed? Or am I just being a bit lazy? I like my ATC series to … mean something, or at least SAY something, and generally I am not one to do the single word slapped on as an afterthought kinda creator. Not that I have never done that, it’s just something I always think of as a crutch. Made a great card? Slap on one of these words to make it seem pithy: art, create, believe, inspire, play. I am much more of a quirky quote person than a single-word person. So these seem at once almost done and nowhere near done!

And finally, I spied my junk journal under a pile of chaos and managed to do a few entries, some hidden.

Skating comp this weekend so you won’t see anything from me till Monday. I feel like I need to re-charge my creative batteries by doing some mindfully mindless craftiness. Not sure what it will be, but my brain is full of too many ideas to focus on anything and I need to figure out how to focus it.

Enjoy YOUR weekend and I hope it is a creative one!

WOYWW 648 – throw back to last week and not much else

Happy WOYWW all! My desk is very very tidy at the moment

because I cleaned it up after my play of yesterday and the only thing I had time to drag out my much neglected junk journal. So much has happened over the last month and I have not documented it at ALL.

I don’t think I journaled a single entry in October, after doing very well in September. Maybe I need to take my own advice and use one of my Amazon line-a-day journals to instill the habit! I really thought after the 100 days project, then my 50 day project I would have nailed the every-day routine but I still didn’t. Maybe I am just a lost cause…

I also want to add in the WOYWW faux postage from last week, for those who might have missed it and would like a copy. I thought I would add the image (page 2 of the PDF) that has only the stamps without the faux postage border around them. If you have either postage edge scissors (like I do) or a postage-sized die that fits this is the one for you. Zsuzsa, you need to give me the dimensions of your dies and I can make a sheet that is sized exactly to fit, if you like. It’ll take me moments. If anyone else has a common postage stamp die, feel free to chime in as well.

As you can see my postage edge scissors don’t quite match. I might sort that out one day but not anytime soon. I don’t think the faux postage edge, cut straight, is a bad look but the option is there.

And finally, If you HAD to….

I am totally OK with running with scissors, it’s the marathon aspect that I worry about! As to the other choice, I suppose if Ben is still attached to the stubble, well then…. {wink}

Have a great and crafty day! I am hoping to get to Facetime or Zoom my poorly best knitting mate, who is recovering from Covid but slowly. It will be good to see her for a proper chat after what feels like an eternity.

My sadly neglected junk journal

{sigh} Without the structure of the 100 days project I have sadly allowed my junk journal to sit idling, unused, for most of the month. I managed to do 10 or so posts over July and about two (in the last couple of heavily guilt-ridden days) in August. The thing is, I really enjoy my time working in it but I always have so much on the go, so many ideas, I just can’t justify it as a top priority.

From 1 September 2021 I hope to be able to write something every day, as my first task when I sit at my desk. I have turned the page, added a stamp, and by the time this published there should be some writing on there. I will have to sort out a way to maintain accountability – maybe making a shot of my written in journal a Sunday thing?

In true Junk Journal fashion…

…I made use of some junk on my desk to add a journaling spot. I had printed out a couple of the quotes I thought I might use for that art journal page yesterday and one of them was just sitting there on my desk waiting to be utilized. I just inked the plain cream cardstock a bit to make it look more interesting

then added a bit of dyed lined paper and a stamped image from a Rubbermoon set that I don’t use enough

and stuck it down as a fold-over spot. I added the half-circle on the edge to catch and hold the fold-over closed so it doesn’t flap open every time I open the journal

and add my journaling for the day – private thoughts, as with most days. I need to be better about hiding the words and not depending on my crap handwriting to do it for me LOL!

I have to say, since the 100 days project I feel like I have done a better job of the recording-my-thoughts journaling than I ever have before. I do tend to focus on a few topics, and my thoughts are not always deep and meaningful, but I am finding the process useful and interesting to look back on, even a few months ago.

Another funny thing is I am looking forward to turning the page – the next spread has the little tea-bag pouches and some of the WOYWW swap stuff on it and I am keep to work on them. The page itself is a bit of a hot mess, with no cohesion, again, in true junk journal fashion, nothing pretty about it. But I am still looking forward to it. Why?

My junk journal is in use- yay!

I just decided to take the plunge and start using it. My plan is for it to be a sort of daily diary, with thoughts and maybe arty bits, just junk THOUGHTS as well as materials. I did finished the back cover, hinted at last week

• 

• 

The words go together – Time flies…except when it doesn’t. Pretty much sums up the 18+ months of pandemic life and when you are immune-compromised, maybe more. The idea is to note the date with my date stamp, wherever I may write on the add-ins or on the actual page, not worrying too much about where the text may fall. The first bit of writing is on one of the fold-out tags:

• 

• 

As you can see (maybe) I found the lovely little envelope of goodies from Caro, a WOYWW desk-hopper, and added on thereon the left. It’s very pretty and I have added a few of them to pages that needed a little somethin’-somethin’.

I also wanted to share a video I saw that was a super cute idea, a little folded belt that you can use as a closure for a mini-book or journal or whatever. I folded a couple of these and even without the grid she makes they are not hard. Because the wrap-around part can be cinched or expanded, it would be a good closure for a junk journal that you expect to grow. Have a look!

I could do photos, but really, this tutorial is so good, why? I do have an idea I want to try that…expands on this I guess. I’ll share it if it works LOL!

WOYWW Junk Journal Additions

Oh dear. I fear I might have forgotten all the correct people who sent what, but I am going to do my best! I got a LOT of stuff from Spyder. The ATC folder was actually cut in half, and each side filled with a little multi-coloured notepad made up of hand-dyed papers. The little top stapled holder was part of her envelope!

There was a belly-band around the holder, and that became a belly-band on another page, with the little journalingg cards created from another bit of the envelope:

The back of both cards again, lined with hand-dyed paper. This is some of the ones dyed with Dylusions spray ink! And that envelope was not yet done. The last bit made a pocke to hold more journaling cards:

Honestly, I think I used every scrap of that envelope except the tiny bit I punched out here and that bit was slightly ripped so it was fine to toss it in the bin. Lastly, I had the ATC holder from Susan Renshaw. It was so cute, and made a perfect pocket just as it was, although I added a punched circle (and promptly broke my punch, no idea how, and made the little folded journaling stripto fit inside from a scrap of card on my desk and yet more hand-dyed paper.

In the end I regretted chopping up Julia’s card so I opted not the use the lovely postcards from bothe Spyder and Sue. Maybe I’ll scan the writing and keep that then use the cards. Finally, eye test for me today and my daughter on Thursday, WOYWW tomorrow, and my knitting friends are popping round for a session in the garden, if the weather holds… Busy week!

Tea bag puches in my junk journal

Oops. Sorry about the typo. POUCHES. If I change it I think it will mess up the permalink to the post so Imma gonna leave it. Oh the shame of it….

I have been beavering away on that junk journal and am very nearly to the point where I can make the covers. Almost all pages have an addition of some spot for journaling added to them and I have used most of the bits from the WOYWW swap – at least the ones I can find. I know Caro sent me some bit and I know I tucked them away in a “safe place” (HA!) and will add them as soon as I remember where that is. But I had to make some tea for The Hubster yesterday and he had bought some tea with colourful packaging, so I decided to make use of it.

I needed to keep the box intact (mostly) as there are still many tea bags stored in it, but I felt the lid coud come off now. Not too complex at all. I cut down the tea bag pouches:

I wasn’t sure if I should cover the writing, but for now, I left it. I do have a die that MIGHT pretty much fit the spot but I don’t mind seeing the “junk” aspect of the things I am adding. I seem to have missed out a photo of adding hand-dyed paper with lines to the back of each half of the lid (cut to fit inside the pouches) and adding the ea bag labels as a pull to the top, but here they are in place in the journal:

I think they are pretty cute! I will probably do a quick re-cap of all the other WOYWW swap mailings that I used tomorrow, so the people who pop round on Wednesday can see them. Finding interesting ways to use as much of the stuff as I can was a fun process!

Junk Journal bits and where I am now

I magaged to use up the lovely envelope from Zsuzsa and the ATC swap, including the back of Julia’s card as a pull out journaling card. I love it. I had to fiddle a bit to get it the right size, in the right orientation, but I got there in the end:

• 

• 

• 

I also took a pretty glimmer-misted bit of vellum that had been run thru an embossing folder from YEARS ago – it was from an old Scrapbook Inspirations magazine article sample, that is how old it is – and made another simple flip up with some hand dyed paper under it for journaling.

• 

• 

Couldn’t be simpler, really but I do like it a lot. I am at the point where I am looking at the lessons learned from my 100 Days project and the wedge-shaped first book. I have tried to alternate the inclusions on both sides of the accordion so there is no one area that is filled with thick pieces on every surface. I am marking where I know I need to add something to try to keep track!

• 

• 

So far, it seems pretty OK – not too thick but satisfyingly chunky IYKWIM. I am working on a card, that I think will fall OUTSIDE my A Card A Day project, that I will share after WOYWW. It’s really quite a nifty design, although not mine. It satisfies the conditions for my ACAD challenge to myself, but it needs more than just a shot of the finished card, so I am opting to treat it more like a normal blog post. I can see me making a ton of these – so cute and not hard at all! WOYWW tomorrow! Yippee!

Junk Journal progress – and an odd addition from packaging

I am still beavering away behind the scenes, working on that l o n g accordion junk journal. I am always on the look-out for interesting inclusions and this week I got a really fun one. I ordered a few things from Paperchase, including the CUTEST Father’s Day card for my Hubby.

Frankly, I do have a shish kebab stamp and if I could have worked out an easy way to do the 3D waffle effect of the grill I might have tried to make it, but time was short. Anyway, the packaging was brown paper that was unlike any I have seen. I like it a LOT better than miles of bubble wrap, if I’m honest. The interesting part was that it tore off into perfectly sized little squares, albeit wrinkly ones:

• 

• 

And from there it was easy to stamp some journaling lines on the bits and create a little note pad to slip inside a small envelope as the journaling spot on a page!

• 

• 

• 

• 

I also made a little flip-flop-flappy thing from a magazine advert with a cool image and a ink+embossing folder sample and one from an old Wagamama menu.

• 

• 

• 

• 

At some point I will finish this and be ready to actually work in it. Where it goes when I get to that point, I don’t quite know yet. I’m just enjoying the process!

ATC swap debris transformed for my Junk Journal

Oh I did have fun with this! First, Robyn’s envelope, which was far too lovely to put in the shredder:

Some of the hand-dyed papers and a bit of repair work

• 

• 

I wasn’t super careful when I tore it open, my bad, but I salvaged it by lining the inside with some of the hand-dyed paper (stupidly using some of my lined versions. DOH! Plain would have done for this for sure) and reinforcing some other bits. Julia’s card was so adorable I had to figure out a way to add it

I used some of the back of Julia’s card over the torn edge and used the card itself slightly cut down and backed with lined paper to make a journaling spot. I needed it to fit Robyn’s envelope or I would have used it in it’s entirety:

I stuck the envelope just on the sides at the back so I could slip in the post card as a journaling spot too – although it is slightly vintage, I think it will be OK. SO MUCH of the junk journal stuff has a real vintage slant to it and that is very much NOT the vibe I am going for.

I really need to look at a few hidden paper clip ideas – I’ve seen them mentioned and have some ideas, but I feel like watching a tutorial might help me avoid making a mistake and using up a resource I may only have a tiny bit of. Not sure if that will appear tomorrow or if I will carry on and do something with Zsuzsa’s envelope. It will depend on how much time my ACAD card takes, I think.

No rest for the wicked….