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!

Hidden Paperclip Trials

 The other new technique I learned for my mini junk journal this week, which is probably old to everyone else, but I wanted to try it, and it is fun and can use up a lot of tiny scrap pieces. It's hidden, or covered, paperclips, and there are MANY video versions on Youtube with great ideas, but these are the two fairly easy ones I tried. It took some figuring and trial and error to get the length right on the first one, because the lady in the video used a small one inch paper clip and the measurements, and all I had was a large one and a half inch one, but I eventually got it!

I learned this one from Tracie Fox Creative-A Hidden Paperclip That Has Everything! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vU9BEP_ZFE and she has several variations in the video. I included a comparison of the paper clip before and after.

Basically, I cut a strip of scrapbooking cardstock a little over 4x the length of the paper clip and 3x the width (after a few attempts of getting it too short), folded it in half with the pretty side to the inside, put the paper clip on the middle of the fold, folded the end of the paper up over the long side of the paper clip with the pretty side out, then folded the other end up over the short side of the paper clip. The fold for the short side should be at the same place as the one on the long side of the clip so that the top ends match. Open up and glue each side together, especially around the paper clip. Make sure to hold together long enough for the glue to stick, then let dry. I wrapped my second one in wax paper and put a paper clip on it to hold it together to dry.

I let it dry, inked the edges with a reddish ink (because I've lost the vintage brown one), then picked up a used postage stamp, a bit of newsprint cloth, and a bit of book text that was cluttering up my workspace and collaged them to the front of the clip and added a thin layer of gel medium to finish, and now I have a new paper clip/tab for my journal! And it's pretty!

It can be used on the top of the page like a book mark or on the side like a tab. I have also seen them with the end of the paper clip left sticking out enough to add a ribbon or dangle to, or a hole punched in the bottom corner to hang a dangle since I made these. All kinds of neat stuff you can do with them. This lady also shows how to do tiny collage clusters for adding to small projects. You can do them in bunches for adding to all kinds of things. Check out her video to see how it's done step by step!

I did make a mistake on this one, but it still works! I folded the paper up to the bottom of the short side of the paper clip and trimmed the end to match the other side (because I watched the video, then tried to do it from memory, and my memory isn't what it used to be). THEN I figured out that I was supposed to fold both sides the length of the long side and the ends would match without trimming! Duh! 

Anyway, I made another one just to be sure I had it in my head, the blue one on the right side of the page above. It's glued, dried, edges inked, and waiting for embellishment.

I also tried another variation on Youtube from Sunset Crafts and More-Covered Paperclips with Dangles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gph6WmzAqIM  She had some really pretty ideas, and covering the paper clip was somewhat easier, but the dangles take some time. She did several, like an assembly line, at once, plus she showed three different sizes, from jumbo to small with different embellishments. Check out her video to see much better examples with great instructions!

I basically made an example from memory, which we all know isn't that great, but I took a square piece of scrapbooking cardstock cut about 3x the width of the paper clip and not quite as long as the clip. A little of both ends of the paper clip are sticking out. I wrapped the paper around and glued it to the long side of the clip, pretty side out. She tied pretty ribbons through the top of the paper clip and used jump rings, beads, and charms for dangles to hang from the bottom, with tiny pictures collaged to the top. Since I just wanted an example to jog my memory later when I make some more, I used an old dangle earring and a torn fabric strip for embellishment. The top is so small that I just added a line of text with gel medium. Not near as pretty, but I have the idea!

These were fun to make, and I want to make more, but then, I want to try making everything I see on Youtube and Pinterest craft wise, and there's not enough time, space, or money for me to hop from one thing to another all the time! :D Anybody else have that problem?

My little mini junk journal is becoming a sampler of journaling ideas, and I love it! 

Try something new, even if it's just putting a paper dress on a paper clip! It's good for your soul!

Mini Junk Journal Pages and Teabag Image Trial

 Even if I'm not actively creating, I'm continually filling my well by looking at other artists, work and videos. Part of the fun, to me, is learning and figuring out new stuff, and I've been learning and applying new things in my Mini Junk Journal as I work on it. I've added quite a bit of stuff to the pages since I showed you the last time. Below are two of my favorite page spreads and new techniques so far.

The page on the right is a technique I just learned from a Youtube video made by Treasure Books called DIY Transparent Embellishments with Tea Bags, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epqnSVpos-U and I love it! I just used a random scrap on my desk to practice with, which happened to be a napkin scrap with the top layer already separated from the other layers. It needs to be a thin paper image (napkins, tissue paper, etc. and non-glossy). I used a used tea bag that I had already dried, emptied, and opened flat. I also used wax paper to work on so it wouldn't stick and would peel off easily when dry. Any non-stick surface would work though.

I think the lady used a glue/water mixture, but I used regular gel medium, which happened to be glossy, because I'm figuring things out and using what's handy. Anyway, I tore the image out of the napkin, brushed a thin layer of gel medium down on the wax paper, then lay the image down on top of it and brushed the image down with a little more gel medium before laying the tea bag on top and brushing gel medium over the whole thing. Then I took the brush and scrunched up the edges and flattened them (like she did) and left to dry. When it was dry I peeled it right off the wax paper and it was ready to use!

I only made this one, so far, as an example, but she made several showing different ways and things to make them. This one is currently held to the page with a paper clip, but I like it here, so I think I might sew it to the page on three sides and make it a pocket to hold secrets!

If you love tea bags, you should check out her video and see how it's done much better. Great ideas! She also has some great videos on junk journaling ideas and techniques! I will definitely be making more of these and trying some of her other ideas...

The other page is a piece of muslin, I think, which I used a wooden fabric stamp from Hobby Lobby to stamp the elephant on with. I stapled it to the journal page with blue staples, and when you lift it up there is a blank page to write on. I will eventually add some stitching or something to the bottom of the fabric, because it still needs a touch of something. It will show me what it needs at some point. 

The left page is a book text page, which I had practiced marbling with shaving cream on sometime back. It kind of clashed with the other page, so a couple of days ago I tore a section out of an old paperback dream interpretation book and glued it across the page. It helped, but not enough. Then yesterday I noticed the writing on the cover of a scrapbook paper block was the same dark blue as the page on the right! So I glued it at both ends to make a belly band, and now I can slide notes I've written, or "keepers", under it for safekeeping, plus it makes the pages a little bit more cohesive!

The page on the right is actually a blank thank you card from someone's wedding that didn't happen, or they were left over, they changed their minds, or something. Several years ago, I found the whole box of matching invitations, thank you cards, ribbon markers, envelopes, papers, etc., brand new, for a couple of dollars at Goodwill. All are in the colors of indigo and cream, which I love! The couples' name and address are still on the box. I'm sorry if things didn't work out for them, but it sure gave me a lot of pretty fodder for paper projects!

Anyway, one of the thank you cards became two pages that just fit my little journal! I loved the page, but it needed a little something else, so I found a blank note card from a set of cards with old master art prints on them, that my mom gave me years ago for a birthday. It had a Monet print on it and I cut the lady with the umbrella out and glued her on the page. She helped, but still blended in a little too much, so I went around her with a black marker, and didn't do a good job, but it is what it is, at least for now. The lace on the edge is actually much wider and shows up really well when the book is closed. 

My little journal is getting very chunky, as I keep collecting and adding new techniques and ideas to it! I'm almost to the point, though, that I'm going to stop adding things, per se, and I'm going to do some writing, mark making, and other stuff that won't add to the thickness of the book.

So, this is one thing I've been doing since my last post, and in the next post I'll share another thing I played with the last couple of days! Besides watching how-to videos...