How to Use Painty Papers to Create a Junk Journal

 

Hi everyone!  This year I've made a goal of getting more into mixed media art and less into cardmaking.  MM has always been my passion, but not necessarily my priority, so I'm working to change that. The process will include lots of exploration and I'll share with you what I can.  I've signed up for the Cathy Nichols Joy of Painting course for 2024.  One of the bonus courses was on creating large free paintings on giant papers.  I've been doing free paintings for years, but the idea of painting onto large papers was super exciting to me so I had a play with a friend and we ended up creating a pile of free paintings or painty papers...

I just love seeing them all rolled up.  I shared a video on Instagram with more details @sewpaperpaint.    Below is the paper I used to create this new journal.  The paper we used was thick and white and similar to kraft paper/gift wrap/package wrap?

I used the back of a watercolor paper pad to cut my two chipboard covers to 8.75x5.75", which is just larger than a sheet of paper folded in half.  I wrapped the two pieces of chipboard with the art paper, AFTER taking good photos/scans to use for other things (see below).  I mitered the corners and covered the inside (end papers) with neon gel prints.  

I had a small scrap of the painty paper left and made some scallops to decorate the end papers.

I created a closure by making a paper button, inspired by Francisca Nunes and tied a piece of sari ribbon to the back cover to wrap around the button.  

To create the spine, I cut a piece of cardstock 8.5x4.5" and scored from 1" to 3.5" every 1/8".  This creates a nice flexible "round" spine for the book.  I then glued the unscored 1" sides to the inside front and back covers I had made.  On the outside I adhered some beautiful vintage fabric over the cardstock, adhering only to the covers, not the actual cardstock.  I then repeated with the inside using the same fabric.

I used my Crop-a-dile to adhere three gromets to the top and bottom in increments. These simply tie around the tea stained copy paper inserts I made and stapled together using a long reach stapler.  I mixed in some folded book pages and clear page protectors to use as pockets to create really unique inserts.  

It was so much fun making this journal and I hope to fill it with everything I learn from the year long Joy of Painting course!  

I mentioned making copies of my painty papers...  Well here is how I used some of those!  First, I'm creating color charts of my experiments so I can easily reference the colors when I need inspiration for a new project...  I simply die cut a square from a large sheet of thin chipboard and used the negative space as a view finder to look for happy moments within the paper to cut out and highlight as shown.  I added in the PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic paint colors to coordinate by finger painting!  FUN!

I used some of my prints to create some envelopes for my journal.  The flowers come from a practice painting I made and color copied.  It was fun to dig out my old envelope making templates from the 90's!  

I also covered some tiny composition notebooks from the Dollar Tree, which you can buy in bulk HERE.  I gave the notebooks with a matching neon pencil to my artsy friends for Valentine's Day.  I hope you've enjoyed seeing these projects, as I've had such fun creating them!  xx, Autumn

PaperArtsy Floral Magnets and Free Printable Grocery List

Hello dear friends!  I am delighted to be sharing a fun post with you  today on the PaperArtsy blog featuring beautiful stamps by Kay Carley (EKC01 and EKC06) and Tracy Scott (ETC25).  I've upcycled some magnets and am sharing a little tutorial for you, so please hop on over.

I also have a free printable grocery list to share with you to make your magnet making even more rewarding.  I hope you will enjoy it.  Find it in my Google Docs HERE.

I'm also sharing with:

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Home Decor

Penny Black Allsorts: Make it Feminine

How to Host a Holiday Craft Party

 

Happy December crafters!  Last year I couldn't get around to participating in the In My Creative Opinion 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge, but this year I just had to find time to play along.  This is Tracey McNeeley's NINTH year of hostessing this fun and easy challenge.  This is my second year participating.  But the idea for making this into an annual holiday craft party has been brewing for some time...  My daughter and I regularly craft with my friend @carolinasweetlee.  Together, we developed quite the system for making a load of tags in one day's play.  Here's how...  Make sure to pin this for reference later.  :)

Start an assembly line.  Either come to the craft party with multiple sized tags precut/purchased for each participant or do like we did and spend the first hour in assembly line style production die cutting your tags and embellishments.  Cut at least four of each element for every person.  Make sure to have a variety of sizes and shapes for your tag bases.

Break for food.  Our arms were tired at this point so we stopped for tasty snacks/lunch.  Ask each participant to bring something simple to pull together a quick bite. 

Get inspired.  Have the coordinator email/text Tracey's Pinterest board to the group for inspiration.  Each player can pull up the board on her phone while they craft.  CASE the tags using products you've gathered beforehand.  Have each player bring a few key stamps or dies.

Make multiples.  The best way to end the day with a great variety/quantity of tags is to make at least 3 or 4 of each tag as you go.  It is so much easier to  make a few of one tag at a time than to spend all that time and end up with only one tag.  Go for gold!

Finishing touches.  Assemble your tags first, embellish last.  As you hunt for bling or ribbon you can grab what you need for each set of tags at once rather than spending time on a treasure hunt for just one set.  Plus if you all pull our your ribbons and accessories at the same time you can trade and share.  

 via

Wrap it up.  To finish the day sort and photograph your tags, take a group selfie, then make a few quick and easy gift boxes.  I've shared a post HERE with tons of sized boxes you can make with a bit of cardstock and a scoreboard.  Give away sets of 6-12 tags in little boxes.  What a perfect way to say thank you/Merry Christmas to teachers and coworkers!

I made a simple box following the instructions on my post, die cutting a window before gluing, then embellishing with upcycled ribbon and Tim's Shadow Script Christmas dies.

My original post:

Now let's take a look at my tags and the beautiful creations that inspired them.  I used 95% Tim Holtz products for my tags because those are the products I have and love the most.  It's always fun to make something "your way" you know?  :)  Make sure to visit Carol and Sydney's Instagram pages to see their tags. 

First up, this bright set.  I used Distress Oxides with Tim's Tattered Christmas stamp set and coordinating die cuts.

Bonus Day 26
Inspired By Grace Camou

I stamped Tim's Festive Overlay stamp set onto tags I cut from the Labels die set and embellished with Festive Things dies.

  Day 25
Inspired By Leanne West

The sleigh stamps are from the Mini Carved Christmas stamp set stamped onto Stacked Postage dies.

 Day 25
Inspired By Tracey McNeely

I layered Festive Things dies and Holiday Words dies with stamping from the Flurry and Pine stamp set stamped in Picket Fence Distress Ink.

Another version of this tag using the Tattered Christmas stamps and Distress Markers.

Day 23
Inspired By Maryám Pérez

I used an Elizabeth Craft mistletoe die over Tim's Snowfall and Speckles Texture Fade.

 

Day 20
Inspired By Ardyth Percy-Robb

Mini Carved Christmas stamped in Festive Berries DI with punched Juniper over Mini Swirly Snowflakes. 

 

Day 20
Inspired By Lisa Bzibziak

Using punches is a great timesaver.  This XL snowflake punch is by Martha Stewart.  I used the castoff portion to CASE these tags.  I inked them with Evergreen Bough DI and stamped them with the Tattered Christmas sentiment.

Day 20
Inspired By Sharna Waksmulski

Throughout the year when I participate in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge, I do some coloring with my future tags in mind.  This darling stamp set is by STAMPlorations, colored with Distress Markers and layered over Tim's Paper Stash.

 

 

Day 18 

Inspired By Cupcakes, Cards & Kim

More Paper Stash layered with Mini Carved Christmas. 

 Day 17

Inspired By Just Me: Carol

Tattered Christmas stamps colored with Distress Markers.

 

Day 10
Inspired By Natasha Kara

More Tattered Christmas stamps colored with Distress Markers over sponged Distress Oxide backgrounds. 

 

 

Day 7 

Inspired By Leanne West

Ranger Mint Chip Speckle embossing powder over the Martha Stewart punched snowflakes, layered over Tim's Snowfall and Speckles Texture Fade.

 Day 4

Inspired By Julie Beech

These were a fun way for me to mark my kid's Christmas Eve gifts.  We always forget which box they are in!  LOL!  I used Tim's Storybook Bigz XL die with stamped Mini Swirly Snowflakes.

 

Day 1

Inspired By Svitlana Shayevich

Thank you so much Tracey for hostessing another fabulous year of inspiring tags.   Check out these generous sponsors for Tracey's challenge.  Make sure to check out the rules in her post HERE to play along.  This challenge ends on December 6, but make sure to follow In My Creative Opinion in anticipation of next year's challenge.  Hugs, Autumn

I'm also sharing with:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Anything Goes

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