Winter Walk

Hello again 

Once again life has taken over and it’s been a while since my last blog. Unfortunately my Husband had a heart attack several weeks ago which was such a shock, he is now improving and life is returning to normal, so I managed some time in my craft room.

Country View Challenges for November is hand stamped and of course I had to join in being a stampaholic.

Here is my project using Lavinia Stamps, these are new stamps to me and I love using them to build scenes, this one Winters Walk was a challenge for me as keeping white space clean is no easy task.......as I always seem to have inky fingers lol.

Thanks for looking 

Maggie

The Wonder of Nature

Hi

I have spent some more time crafting and managed to finish this mini JJ Album using Eileen Hulls die and a digital kit from Artymaze  called Natures Walk

and some stamping, now I cut the cover out a long time ago before my world went upside down ( see last post) from mountboard and sticky sided canvas  and it was left.  

So when I revisited it this week I decided to use distress inks on the canvas in a random way, and made the topper with scraps from my bit box and left overs from the kit.  The inside is a mixture of digital kit papers,  coffee stained papers, other  scraps and some stamping, I didn’t want to clutter it too much as I wanted space to journal as the size is small.

I am entering into the challenge at Mini Album Makers https://minialbummakers.blogspot.com/. I have missed making albums so it was a great satisfaction to play again.

Pages inside show fabric flip,

Down in the Woods

Hello it has been an age since I last posted on my blog mainly due to my Mum becoming more dependent on me and at the same time my husband was diagnosed with Cancer early 2018, thankfully he is well and out the other side a cancer survivor.  Mum sadly passed away peacefully this year she was 97.
Now hopefully as life has settled down again I am trying to get back into my craft room, seems like I’m a beginner all over again as I am so much out of practice.  I bought myself as a little treat some new stamps, a new range to me, Lavinia Stamps, now I hear you all shouting where have you been.....lol.
So I have been playing with my distress and oxide inks and my new fabulous Lavinia stamps, which I am totally in love with. I came across their blog https://laviniastamps.com/lavinia-stamps-monthly-creative-challenge  “If  You Go Down To The Woods Today” and decided to be brave and post an entry  2 tags I made.

I stamped in black versafine ink, mixture of distress and oxide inks for background, 2nd tag background distress inks, stamped trees in memento London fog, and versafine black, added glitter to wings sparkle not showing up in photo.

Stamps used: Skinny Mushrooms, woodland Hares, Forest Scene, Autumn Fall Large

It was great fun to be back crafting  so hopefully I will see you all again soon.q

Christmas Envelope Mini Junk Journal Album

Hi

Today I would like to share a Christmas Envelope Mini  Junk Album in a Paper Bag which I have made up as I went along. |It all started with some envelopes which I had received through the post and saved, these had clear windows which I wanted to use in the album, then when the mini was complete I decided to make a paper bag for my mini to sit in and this is the result,  there are lots of photos hope you can stay 'till the end with me.  I will be joining in with  Mini Album Makers November Challenge.

Front of mini and paper bag pocket, papers used were old ones in my stash so I have no idea where from. Paper bag was cut down to size and sew all around to form pocket to hold mini and a smaller pocket was sewn to the front for tags which I made from paper and coffee stained paper on the back for journaling.  I stamped the paper bag  with Tim Holtz stamps and added Christmas trims

front of envelope mini tied with gold ribbon

view fro the top which shows tags in the pockets complete with ribbons 

inside first page with the window part of the envelope, the tag was made with Tim Holtz stamps embossing folder on alcohol ink background, 2nd page coffee stained paper and designer paper added to form pocket at the side

all papers were sewn to the envelopes first before assembling together, leaving the tops of the envelopes open to form pockets for tags you could also add photos

another window envelope showing tag made from papers and coffee stained paper, another small tag was stamped and stained with distress ink vintage photo

same as above added washi tape TH and another small tag, I found some Christmas buttons and added these too.

back view and another button

Front of Mini

Mini inside the Paper Bag Pocket I love all the tags and ribbons

back of paper bag stamped with Tim Holtz Christmas stamps

2 recycled envelopes were used and papers were sewn to them first and sewn together through the middle to assemble pages, lots of pockets in this mini, all tags were made from designer papers and coffee stained papers for journaling and pages left blank for either journaling or photos, everything used was in my stash.  It came together very quickly and developed as I went, this seems to be the way I work a fun project to do.

Thank you for looking 

Maggie

Envelope mini JJ

Today I am sharing an envelope mini junk journal and will be playing at Mini Album Makers Challenge but before I show you my album I would like to say how super surprised and excited I was to win the prize Seth Apter donated for their first challenge September challenge which you can see in photo below, so today I had chance to have a play with them all and I have used them to make my JJ, I had such fun too.

I am addicted to making these mini Albums and always save envelopes from the mail I trimmed the top to tidy it up I have to say I don’t always do this as I like the rough edge to show usually but this one was a bit too jagged as I wanted to use it for the covers of my JJ.
Distress  crayons were used for the background layer of colour, then using distress inks, distress oxides    And distress crayons I had a great time with Seth’s stencils and stamps in my prize......still can’t belive I was so lucky.....hope I have done them justice.

I had no idea really what I was going to make but this is the way I like to play and I am really pleased with the result. All the pages are sewn together and I added stitching to the front to highlight the words I had used from the large stencil.
 I will us this JJ for putting in my ideas and jotting down notes on the go as this is usually where an
idea striI never have any paper. With this in mind I have left blank pages using coffe dyed paper sewn together leaving a pocket at the top of each page, useful for keeping notes, or folded envelopes....lol.

While I was cleaning the stencils I noticed my working paper was looking very nice so I have used this in my papers, you can see from the following photos, a larger piece was cut to size and sewn together with some coffe dyed paper and folded up at the bottom to make a pocket where I have added 2notebooks I made, the binding is again my waste paper.

Tuck spots were created on another page with torn pieces and some washy tape.

Inside the front cover I made another little note pad which was sewn together and glued in.

Finally the back cover washi tape was used to secure the bakers twine som that the closure would stay attached when opened, a Tim Holtz clip was used.

Thank you for looking hope you like my project it was simple but lots of fun, thank you Mini Album Challenge love these challenges and a very big thank you to Seth Apter for the generous prize which I have loved playing with.
I would also like to play at
A Vintage Journey
Country View Challenge

Vintage Journal

Today I'm Sharing my very first Junk Journal I have wanted to make one for so long and at long last I got my hands on Eileen Hull Journal Die from Country View Crafts and I was off.  I am also sharing this JJ with the A Vintage Journey challenge which is Alterted Art and Mini Album Makers Challenge

The Die is fabulous and making the covers is so addictive, I have cut several now from all sorts of recycled bits they are waiting to be turned into my next projects what ever that may be lol.
However back to this post, I have cut the covers from recycled mount board hubby had disguarded, it was a not very nice shade of brown, I was going to paint over with gesso and colour, but at the last minute I decided to see if I could run the covers through an embossing folder....yes it worked.  Next step I painted with paper artsy paint, colour chalk which is a soft cream, sanded this back and I just loved the result so stopped there.

The tag was recycled from my bits box which I stamped over Tim Holtz stamps, the lace was  originally a piece from lace collar from Mums sewing box when she last had a clear out, and the trim on the spine was from my Grandmothers sewing bits and bobs I inherited from her along with her singer treadle sewing machine which I still have. To finish the cover I went over the edges with Creative Expressions Glitter Kiss which is gorgeous and sparkly but in a subtle way.

I have also started on the pages using lots of Tim Holtz stamps and coffe dyed papers, I have really enjoyed this new journey and love love trying out new things, playing with stamps and punches and lace all my me happy.  As you can see from the thickness of the book I have gone a bit overboard hee hee hee but it is so addictive once you start.

.

I wanted this to be a vintage Junk Journal as I was using the lace and trims from My Grandmother and Mums sewing boxes I think now though it will also where I try new things and practice my JJ skills and of course use my stamps......a lot.

Hope you have enjoyed looking and I will share more pages as I go along.

Distressed Flowers

Hi 

Today I would like to share a card I made  for the Claritystamp Challenge on Facebook, using up some of my backgrounds I have been making  so this was quick card to put together.

Background was made with Distress Inks and I also added some Ken Oliver Colour Burst and spritzed lightly.

Using Claritystamp stamps I stamped 3 times onto the dried background with shabby shutter distress ink for a muted image.  I married two stamps together as I wanted to use this pretty Lady's Mantel stamp and the stem from another.  Word stamp stamped onto same background cutout and Flakes applied to edges.......very sticky fingers..... 😊

Using flitter glue For the final image and Guilding Flakes I also dabbed glue randomly onto background and applied the Flakes.

This panel was mounted onto coordinations card which I sanded back, added to a Kraft card blank.

I would also like to add to the following challenges

A Vintage Journey - Words that are Special. 

Dream Valley Challenges - Add some Metal

Thanks for popping by 'till next time

Maggie