Hidden Paper Clips, Journal Spread, and Empty Teabags

 This is the results of the last few days of dabbling with my creative stuff, minus a couple of sketches that I'll share in another post. At least I'm trying! 😀 

I covered two more large paper clips and one in a different way and added some collage pieces and words. They actually look better than they're showing up here. One has a navy blue ribbon,  one a fabric tie, and the "nest" on the one on the right is actually red, not black. I used a dangle earring on the one on the left for the time being, until I can get a beaded dangle on it (I'll have to unearth my beads first). I'm going to use at least one of these in my mini junk journal, and I want to make some more! That's a food sticker under the clips. I can't resist saving them!

This is another spread in my little junk journal. The page under the paper clip is the front of a thank you card from our nephew and his wife. It has metallic gold speckles in opposing corners on a pink background, and this cute little stamped girl fit right over the words. The back is blank for writing, and the page under it is a text page with marbling. I may tweak it a bit at some point. The page on the right is a page of typewriter letters printed on pink cardstock with another strip hinged to it with dotted duck tape. Except for the collaged flowers it is also blank for writing. I saw the bird idea somewhere and was inspired to make one out of large and small round paper punches and scrapbook paper. When the hinged part is closed the bird's head sticks out. I like it!

Here is a box of used and emptied teabags that I learned a valuable lesson on. I have been drying and saving used teabags for a long time. However, I thought they would be ok until I could get around to emptying them, and I had a LOT of them in a bag, some in a ziplock bag. 

The other night I decided to empty them. Some of them emptied without a problem, but some of the herbal teas, especially orange & spice and peach tea, had kind of dissolved together and wouldn't come out without tearing the bags, plus they had tiny holes where bugs had been eating. The ones in the ziplock bag had molded from condensation. I emptied this box full, probably a hundred at least, until I got tired of picking through them and trying to untangle the tag and strings (I had to tear them off most of the bags), so I put these in this box, which is more than I'll probably use, and tossed the rest. 

Moral of this story: Let the teabags dry completely, then empty them BEFORE you store them! I left most of these in tack (folded), but many of them will be flattened out to use. There are so many great ideas for them on youtube, and I will dry some more of the orange & spice and peach teabags, because they make pretty pinkish colors when dry, but I will empty them before I store them next time!

Anyway, just sharing some fun stuff I've been playing with the last few days! Today, I played with some beeswax crayons in my sketchbook. Found them when I was looking for something else. Had completely forgotten about them! I've also been wanting to do some more meditative stitching. I found one I had started a while back, so it may show up on here soon! But that's another post...

Thanks for visiting! Hope you enjoyed it!