Hey, y’all! The year is coming to a close, but that means a whole new year of Tres Jolie Kits to look forward to! YAY!!!
For my last project of 2022, I used this month’s Scrapbooking Kit – along with my stash of junk journaling materials – to create two Christmas journals. Each journal has envelopes, tuck-ins, flips, and loads of pages for journaling your Christmas thoughts and memories. And even though Christmas 2022 has passed, you can still create a memory journal while we are in that awkward time between Christmas and the New Year when it’s questionable if we are sure what day it is!!
Did you have a friend and/or family gathering? You could have everyone who attended write what they remembered about Christmas! Did people travel from various distances? Just send it around in the mail or have them write letters you can glue or clip to the pages!
Check out my overview video where I give some details of what went into these journals:
The two journals are very similar – it was just a matter of what signatures were added to which cover after I decided I had more than enough to create two journals. I used some canvas-type fabric on the covers, and some mulberry paper to cover the spines. On the journal with “Memo” on the cover, I inked the mulberry paper and added some ink splotches to the printables. For the closures, I just stitched together layers of ribbons and fabric scraps to create a wrap.
I digitally create some Christmas-themed end papers for my journals and attached them in a non-traditional way by either cutting or tearing the side that isn’t attached to the cover gluing it down to the first page of the journal.
For added texture and to fit with the “put together” and “vintage” style, I would just stitch my printables straight to the pages I wanted them on.
I used a few black tags from my stash and added some layers of the various papers from the Simple Stories papers in the kit, created tuck-in spots using some of the Simple Stories ephemera and backed a few of the cut apart Simple Stories cards with pieces of hanging file folder!
I have a variety of paper and pages throughout the journals created using patterned paper, printables, and some original vintage pages. I also created and added some homemade glassine using the method I learned from Nik the Booksmith. I also created a couple of Nik’s “Raggedy” inserts into the journals made up of a cardstock base and a variety of ephemera stitched and glued on.
I created my own vintage style, Christmas-themed labels to add in, and even decided I needed a custom Bookbinders Label to add to both journals. You can grab up a free printable with some Christmas-themed labels on them over on my Flickr!
Thank you for joining me here today! I hope you enjoyed these journals and that they gave you an idea of what you can make using this month’s Scrapbooking Kit!
Warm Wishes for a Safe and Happy New Year!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! Yesterday was the first day of winter (Winter Solstice). Today is the 4th-5th day of Hanukkah (the 5th day of Hanukkah will start at sundown tonight if my counting is correct – if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me!), Christmas is on Sunday, Kwanzaa starts Monday, and 2023 is ten days away! It’s been a year I tell ya! Don’t worry though, this isn’t my last project for 2022, I still have one more for you next week!
This week I made some ornaments for you using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit and the Mixed Media Kit. Although, the Mixed Media Kit ornaments took a while to dry and haven’t been 100% completed. They weren’t part of my original plan – I had only planned on the three “double” ornaments made using the papers and cardstock from the Cards Kit. (Check out the video to get the details about all the hows and whys!)
My ornaments are also for the mood board challenge – what is a better holiday tradition than handmade ornaments or décor? For me, Christmas Trees need the ornaments my kiddos made – even if it has been close to a decade since the last one was made!
For the blog, I’m just going to talk about what your seeing in the photos, the video is where you can watch my thought process in action!
All of the clear plastic ornaments are 4 inches, and none of my inner, paper ornaments are over (approximately) 2-5/8-inches in diameter.
For this first ornament, I cut four circles, in each size, out of one of the sheets of patterned paper and one of the cardstock sheets from the kit. After I had them together – not all the way “closed” – I added a touch of embossing powder along the edges, then I glued a hat pin along the centers, using a small bead as separators.
I wanted to add a bit of a frosted look to this ornament, so I grabbed up some Finnabair Crushed Crystal and dabbed it onto the inside, keeping to the outer edges so the center would remain mostly clear, allowing the inner ornament to show. I used a combination of hot glue and 3D Matte Gel to hold my ornament in place – the hot glue to tack it in place long enough for the gel to dry – and after all the mediums had dried, I glued my halves together.
This ornament was my “experiment” with Foundry Wax – I had assumed the plastic would not hold up to the heat needed for the Foundry Wax, but I experimented so you wouldn’t have to! My official stance is – don’t use mediums that need to be heat set!
This second ornament is made up of four circles cut from one of the patterned papers and four circles cut from one of the cardstock sheets. I used a touch of paint along the edges, nothing that stands out, just a bit of White Pearl Metallic Paint. Once again, I didn’t close up my inner ornament until I had glued in what I was using to suspend it within the clear plastic ornament – in this case, a bit of gold (costume jewelry) chain. I added the gold Little Birdie wreaths to the sections that were made of the cardstock, used my hot glue and 3D Matte Gel to start the process of holding everything in place – then decided that wasn’t enough!
As I was looking at this ornament, I decided it need a little something more – not frosted like the first one – but something, so I grabbed up some glitter and added it to the top and bottom of the ornament, trying to create the look that the chain was coming out of the glitter “mound.” After I had the two halves glued together, I still thought there should be more, so I did something rare – I added glitter to the outside of a project! I just used some (regular weight) matte gel since it wouldn’t run the way glue might to hold the glitter in place, and set it off to dry.
For my third and final (actually finished) ornament, I used a small doily die to cut out four pieces of patterned paper and four pieces of cardstock, then glued them together the same way I did all the circles in the other two ornaments. Since this patterned paper is a darker and busier print, I only added a touch of the Bubbly Embossing Powder from this month’s Mixed Media Kit to the edges and wrapped the “Holly” and “Jolly” Tres Jolie Chipboard words around the center. The chipboard words are embossed in a layer of the Bubbly powder, and an extra layer of Lindy’s Holly Berry Red Gold on the bottom half-ish to create a bit of a gradient effect.
I was attempting to create the illusion that the inner ornament was floating within the outer ornament, so I used a length of fishing line to suspend it inside – just adding a few small beads to give it a little “extra.” I didn’t add any mediums to my outer ornament besides the bit of Vintage Gold Finnabair Wax – after adding a light coat of clear gesso – at the top where the hook will go.
Alright, as I stated in the video, I have a photo here for you of the two ornaments that had the Distress Mica Sprays and some glittery mediums in them – that took for-EV-er to dry! They are dry now, but they weren’t dry soon enough to do anything else with – that would also need time to dry! They were unplanned, I just needed something to experiment on before doing “things” to my planned ornaments! I’m hoping that I will finish these unplanned ornaments before next December!
Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed these ornaments and they gave you some ideas of what you can make using this month’s kits.
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
We’re halfway through December, and almost to 2023! Hopefully during this hectic time of the year you’ve been able to take some crafty time for yourself! This week I used the December 2022 Mixed Media Kit and put my adorable little trees together. (Although, I did have some struggles trying to get the photos taken!)
I didn’t pull too much from my stash to create these trees, only a few staple items and a few mediums from previous Tres Jolie Kits to help [me] hold my colors and embellishments in place.
Make sure you swing by and check out the video to get the full process!
I created all three trees the same, so I’m just going to go over that process and pop in the photos as I go along! I did not glue my trees together! I knew they would be getting wet and I didn’t want to try and get them together after the wood had swollen! And they don’t really need any glue – they fit together well on their own, and by the time I was done, all that swelling was all that was needed to finish the hold. The only place I added a touch of wood glue was at the tree tops to help hold the point together while I dyed, sprayed, painted, and sprinkled!
The first thing I did was put my trees together and add a bit of wood glue to the tops to hold the tips together. Once that glue had dried, I sprayed down the trees with water, to start getting the wood to swell some so the “Merrymint” Distress Mica would be able to soak in better. After all three trees were thoroughly coated, I let them air dry overnight.
The largest tree.
The next morning I took my trees to a well-ventilated area and gave them a light spray of some Workable Fixatif. The Distress Mica Sprays are water-reactive and I didn’t want them to start dripping color as I worked with them!
After the Fixatif had dried (it only takes about 5 minutes), I used a small brush to “paint” on some Ranger Embossing Ink (refill bottle) to the areas of the tree with the snowflake cuts, added the Bubbly embossing powder, and heated it up. Then I repeated the same process to the tree trunks. Since embossing powder is a smooth, slick surface after it’s melted, I gave my trees another spray of Fixatif so my next layer of color would have something a little better to grab ahold of.
The middle tree.
As I was shaking up my bottle of Shiny Bauble, I got to thinking that I really wanted it to stay put and not drip during or after spraying – and that led me to grab up my bottle of Liquid Color Fluid Medium and add a thin coat to the tree. You could use clear gesso, just keep in mind it is a matte finish – I didn’t want to lose the shimmer and shine of the mica which is why I didn’t use gesso. I didn’t heat dry the spray and medium thoroughly, but I did use the low heat setting to dry it all just enough so it wouldn’t run. After all of that had finished air drying, I added embossing powder to the trunks again, and to the base to cover any spray that might have landed where I didn’t want it!
Then, before I started sprinkling on the Mini Prills and chunky glitter, I gave my trees a good coating of Fixatif then, after the Fixatif had ample time to dry, I sprayed my trees down with water to remove any spray that hadn’t got sealed well! I didn’t want any of that spray to bleed into the clear medium I would be using to hold the Mini Prills and chunky glitter in place!
The smallest tree.
Now the only things I had left were the finishing touches! I used some Distress Crackle Paint, coated the tree, one section at a time, and sprinkled on the glitter and Prills. I didn’t put a heavy coat of paint on, and it is a thicker medium – so I could stand my trees up and let them air dry and my paint didn’t run down!
To make sure all those little bits of glitter and Prills stayed put, I gave the tree a light coating of Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze before adding the finishing touches to the trunk and base.
I wanted to add some texture to my trunk and base, so I decided to experiment a little. I coated the trunk and base with some DecoArt Crackle Glaze (not too thick!) and then covered it with more of the embossing powder. I didn’t know what would happen; I wasn’t sure if it would crackle or not, but I figured I’d get some kind of texture in the end!
I let that glaze dry overnight, then I came in with the heat gun and hoped for the best! It may not have made noticeable crackles, but it did produce a bubbly, rough texture!
With all of the decoration done, I gave the trees a final coating of the Triple Thick Clear Glaze to provide protection and to really make sure my glitter and Prills stayed on.
Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie! I hope you enjoyed this Tree Trio and it gave you some ideas of what you can do with this month’s Mixed Media Kit to create your own unique Christmas Tree décor!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! Hope you’re having a fabulous December!
Have you had the chance to check out this month’s kits? They are all sure to get you into the holiday spirit in no time! For my first project of the month, I used the Cards, Tags, & More Kit to create a mini-folio-album-thingy. Maybe I should call it a wallet album since the size, shape, and the way it opens reminds me of a wallet…anywho…I used a couple of the solid cardstock sheets, and about 5 or so of the patterned paper sheets to create this fun little album – then I printed out some photos from Christmas a few (or maybe more than a few!) years ago to fill it up.
To get the rundown of how this all went together, I have a video where I explain my process and try to explain my thinking! (LOL – explain my thinking )
Although the closure was the last thing I did for the project, I’m just going to go over its construction now with the photos of the folio album all closed up.
I used the full length of ribbon from the kit to create my closure by cutting the lengths needed for both the horizontal and vertical wrap and a faux bow. I wanted everything to remain smooth and flat – which is why I wrapped each direction separately – then used Fabri-Tac to hold it in place (pardon my areas of excess glue that soaked through – I had forgotten I had just got through thinning my bottle out when I went to use it and it got away from me!). My bow is a faux bow because I just folded the bit of ribbon into a bow shape, added staples to hold it together in the center, then wrapped the last little piece I had as the “knot” for the center.
For the closure, I used some white velcro. I have a couple inches of the hook side of the velcro (the stiffer side of velcro that grabs) on one end of the horizontal ribbon, then I added pieces of the other (softer/fuzzy) side of the velcro to the other end of the horizontal piece and the back of the bow after attaching my bow to the vertical ribbon.
For the outside patterned paper, I just picked out what I wanted to use, and cut it down to size.
I used the full sheet of this piece of cardstock from the kit and just added some score lines to create a size to work with! I have 1” scores along the long sides, then, from left to right, I scored at 1-1/2”, 2-1/2”, 6-3/4”, and 7-3/4”.
Then, because this cardstock isn’t necessarily “made” for a lot of sharp folds or hinging, I added score lines between the 1-1/2”, 2-1/2”, 6-3/4”, and 7-3/4” scores at 1/8” intervals. The only excess pieces I cut off were where the score lines intersected with the 1” side margins (the little flaps that are folded up in the image above).
I left the flaps for the top and bottom of the folio so I could fold them in to reinforce and round those edges some, and the flaps in the “main” (center) section are where my inside flaps connect.
As I have been known to do, I used some packing tape to strengthen my moving parts! I added to all of the folds in my base so that cardstock would have some support at all the bends. (I only added tape to one side of the cardstock, I didn’t want to make the folds too stiff!).
To help hold everything in place, before I glued my outside patterned paper in place, I added a few small staples to the corners with the top (flat) side of the staple showing on the inside but allowing the bottom (curved) side to be covered when I added the outer papers.
For these little windows/frames, I marked where I wanted to cut on the back of the patterned paper I would be using and carefully cut the centers out using my craft knife. I kept the frame edges at 3/8”, allowing just enough room for a 2-1/2”x3” photo to slide in and not have too much of the edge of the photo covered. For the green cardstock backing the patterned paper, I just used my cut patterned paper as a template and added (about) a 1/16” extra to peek out from the inside and outside edges. (Note: The windows/frames in the center section were created the same way! And since I hadn’t glued anything down yet, all I had to do was use my already-cut pieces as templates!)
For my inside flaps, I cut the cardstock into 3-3/4”x 4-1/8” pieces, then scored at 3/8” to create a 3-3/4”x3-3/4” square and glued then reinforced with more tape the 3/8” edge to my 1” flap on the base. I have my 3/8” flaps facing each other – creating a 3/4” space between them – then I just cut a strip of patterned paper down to size to cover that seam!
After the main body of the album was put together, I just went through and used up all the smaller bits of patterned paper and cardstock I had from the build to decorate the remainder of my album.
For my chipboard pieces, I gave them a coating of “Lumberjack Plaid” Distress Paint, then used the “Lumberjack Plaid” Distress Ink and Embossing Glaze for some depth and shine. After the Distress Glaze had cooled, I came back with some Lindy’s Embossing Powder and added it to the bottom half-ish of the chipboard to create a gradient-type effect (I just used the “Lumberjack Plaid” Distress Ink again for the Lindy’s since I already had it out!). Then the only thing left to do was glue my words, add my ribbon, and tuck in my photos.
I do hope I wasn’t too confusing in this blog post! If I was, the video should be far clearer!
Thank you for joining us here today at Tres Jolie! I hope you enjoyed this project and it gave you some ideas of what you can do with this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends!
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! Holiday gift shopping season officially begins tomorrow with Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday! And with all the gifts being given, whether they are handmade or store-bought – or in the case of us crafters and artists, store-bought to be handmade – I have some gift tags made using the Tres Jolie Kit Club November 2022 Cards, Tags, & More Kit for you this week to add to gifts, give as gifts, or use as decoration!
Make sure you swing by and check out the video to catch the process of my tag-making!
When I started this poinsettia tag, I didn’t have any direction in mind to go, I just love poinsettias! I grabbed up my poinsettia embossing folder and a piece of red cardstock and got to work. As I was looking at the embossed image, I decided it need a little extra color, so I started adding embossing powder to the leaves and foliage – until I found myself done and thinking I needed to bring the poinsettia back into focus. So I added embossing powder to the petals and a touch of gold embossing powder to the center. This turned out to be a double-embossed poinsettia tag!
I wanted to mute the background a bit, so I sprayed on some Antique Linen Distress Oxide, trimmed down the edges of the cardstock, and started cutting out the edges of the petals. I had only planned on cutting just enough to give the petals a little curl, but as I went along, I realized if I added a back, I could make a little tuck-in spot – so that’s what this tag is; a tuck-in tag that would be great for a letter or gift card!
This tag is another double-embossed image. After I embossed the snow flurries on the cardstock, I used a water brush and my Salvaged Patina Distress Watercolor pencil to add a touch of color to the raised image. Then I topped it off with some Antiquities Embossing Powder – which, if you don’t know, is a matte finish powder – then added some Aqua Tinsel embossing powder to the (mostly) background around the flurries.
This tag also has some Antique Linen Distress Oxide to age it up, and I used my craft knife and small scissors to cut out the section of flurry so I could tuck the ephemera bit in.
This next tag was an easy-peasy mixed media tag – there’s only one medium on it! I used my candy stipe stencil and some Stickles from my stash to add some shine to the striped paper, roughed up the edge of the green candy paper, glued it in place, and folded the top over. Then I stitched on the gingerbread man tag.
I used all of the leaves and pine needles I had die cut out to create my little wreath for this tag. The lid on my Micro-Glaze jar was just the right size circle to trace so I would have something to follow to help me make sure my wreath stayed round and didn’t inadvertently become an off-center oval! (Which it would have if I had tried to free-style this wreath!!)
I just worked my way around the wreath layering and tucking in the pieces, trying to alternate the patterns so I wouldn’t end up with a lop-sided color scheme, then I glued down the little ornament pieces and set it off to dry.
This tag was created using the “Hello Deer” cut-apart piece from the paper pack, I just cut it up a bit more so I could layer the words up for some dimension and add a bit of extra color with some of the pink and red striped paper peeking out the bottom.
These last three tags are all just pieces stitched together – they also all have the largest rectangles laminated because I had originally planned on using them in my cookbook that was shared on November 3rd.
For all of the stamping, I used some Staz-On so I could stamp on the laminated surfaces as well as the paper. Then I just added some red baker’s twine to the tag holes where there was one and called it done!
I hope you are having/did have a fabulous holiday if you celebrate, if you don’t celebrate I hope you are having/did have a fabulous Thursday!
Make sure you swing by the Tres Jolie shop tomorrow and check out the Tres Jolie Kit Club Black Friday Deals!
Stay Safe & Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! This week I grabbed up the Tres Jolie Kit Club November 2022 Mixed Media Kit, the burlap flowers from the Scrapbooking Kit, and a couple items from my stash to create a fabulous fall décor piece!
The only mediums I used for color were the four Stencil Butters that came in the kit – it was all just a matter of how I mixed and layered them to create the different shading.
Make sure you check out the video to catch all the details of what I did to bring my cornucopia to life!
This project really was rather simple – I let the stencil butter and the texture powder do the heavy lifting for me!
I didn’t use any gesso on the surface because I didn’t want too many layers that may make it more difficult for me to see the laser-cut details on the Tres Jolie cornucopia base. The first thing I did was grab up some artist’s tape and tape off the border between the edge of the filling and the basket, then I brushed a thin coat of the Chocolate Stencil Butter all over the basket. To start getting some detail built up, I mixed some of the Chocolate Stencil Butter with some texture powder and used some small round brushes to create the raised areas of the basket – or the areas that I thought of as raised!
Since I had a little of that mix left, I brushed it onto the lower part of the base then used a baby wipe to clean it up – just leaving some of the color behind to start filling in the areas between all of the foliage and produce.
Once all of the Chocolate Stencil Butter had dried, I started working with the Fern in the same fashion. I mixed in some texture powder and started building up the apple and some of the foliage. Then, to create some variations in shading, I mixed in some of the Eggplant Stencil Butter for the pear, and to create the darkest of the green, I added some of the Terra Cotta and Chocolate. Then I just brushed the Fern Stencil Butter on straight from the jar to add the light areas to the apple and pear and some lighter highlights to the foliage.
I also wanted to add a little more light coloring to the basket, so I brushed on my leftover mix, sprayed it down with water, and wiped up most of what was there – leaving just enough to add a hint of color besides the Chocolate.
The raised areas of the pumpkin are made up of some of the texture powder mixed with the Terra Cotta, and after that had dried, I came back with some of the Terra Cotta straight from the jar and filled in the smaller areas and I used my finger to rub a thin, uneven layer on top of the texture powder mix.
Since I loved the unevenness of using my finger to rub on the Stencil Butter, I decided to add some of the Terra Cotta to the cornucopia basket and rubbed on some of the Chocolate along the edges.
For all of the grapes (berries?) I used a cheap cake piping bag and tip with the Eggplant Stencil Butter and just created all of my “dots”! I think it made the process much quicker than if I had tried to use a brush. I just sprayed the surface of the Stencil Butter with water and made a little puddle to dip my finger in so I could smooth out any areas – so long as either my finger or the surface of the Stencil Butter was kept wet, my finger didn’t get stuck!! To really get those grapes to pop, I grabbed up my heat gun, and (for once) I purposely “overheated” my texture paste/stencil butter to create bubbles!
For the grape stems, I just mixed some texture powder, Eggplant, and Fern together and brushed it on. Then I watered it down and added that green-ish hew to the inside of the basket, and then used up the rest to give my metal “Welcome” a coating. Once again, I didn’t use any gesso, I just brushed my Stencil Butter directly on the surface. After that layer had dried, I used a soft brush and added some of the Eggplant to the upper half (and back) of the metal word.
For my stand, I up-cycled two of the hanging bars from a hanging file folder, bending one around to create the bottom and cutting the second in half to create the two uprights behind the cornucopia. I used some Gorilla Clear Grip to hold the metal in place, then came back with some 3D Matte Gel for extra adhesion and to hold the “Welcome” in place. I mixed some of the Chocolate Stencil Butter with some of the texture powder and some of the 3D Matte Gel for adhesive power, then brushed a layer onto the metal bars. I grabbed my heat gun up so I could get the surface of the mix dry, then added my flowers with some 3D Matte Gel.
After all of my gel had dried, I came back and just added some touch-up areas to the stand and word, then gave a coating of the Chocolate to the back for a more finished appearance.
That was it! It wasn’t a super complicated project, just a matter of mixing colors and trying to keep as much detail as possible! Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed this project and it gave you some ideas of what you can do with your Mixed Media Kit this month!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Do you have cards to make still this holiday season? Well, this week I have a couple of cards that go together as quickly as you can cut and glue! Even the card with some texture paste goes together quick.
Both cards finished size is 4” x 6”, made from just a few bits of ephemera and a couple of sheets of the patterned paper from the November Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club, one sheet of cardstock and mediums from my stash.
I have a quick video for you to give you an overview of these cards being built!
For the middle layer of both cards, I cut out the center – essentially making a frame about one inch on all sides. Since there was only going to be about 1/16” peeking out from around the top layer, I didn’t think I needed the whole 3-7/8” x 5-7/8” piece! I just used my ruler to mark my lines, then used my craft knife to cut along them.
The top layer of both cards is cut to 3-3/4” x 5-3/4”, I fussy cut the gingerbread people, heart, and “Gingerbread Kisses” from one of the sheets in the paper pack, and just trimmed down the “Snow Fun” piece a little around the edges so I could use it with the tree background.
After I decided where I wanted to add the banner to the gingerbread card, I stamped it on with some “Timber Brown” StazOn so I could come in and use one of the new Tim Holtz watercolor pencils to color it in! You could use any type of medium you want to color your banner in – or stamp it on a separate piece of cardstock and then fussy cut it out. I just really wanted to use those watercolor pencils! After I made sure the banner was dry, I came back and added the “Happy Holidays” sentiment using the same StazOn ink. The only thing left to do was layer up the bits of ephemera and my fussy-cut pieces. I popped the gingerbread people up on some foam dots, added a couple of small staples to the “Gingerbread Kisses”, and added on the heart – and this card front was done!
For the “Snow Fun” background, I grabbed up my Tim Holtz “Woodland” mini stencil from my stash and inked on a few trees using some “Rustic Wilderness” Distress Oxide. I have two trees that peek out from behind the top of the little “Snow Fun” card, and a third tree that I inked partly on the background; partly on the mouse card. I just held the smaller card down in the place where I wanted it and added the ink. After my trees were inked, I added a bit of water to activate the Oxide, made sure everything was dry, then added a layer of MicroGlaze to help keep the texture paste from turning green when I added it!
My first layer of texture paste is a thin layer of Ranger Opaque Texture Paste, then to add a little shimmer, I came back in with some Tim Holtz “Snowfall” Grit Paste. I did my texture paste in the evening, and just let it dry overnight, but it didn’t really need that long to dry because it isn’t on very thick – and you could gently help it along if you needed to by gently using a heat gun. (If you do use a heat gun on texture paste, keep it moving and take a break here and there – texture paste can bubble if it is heated too long!)
The only thing left to do for the “Snow Fun” card was to put the layers together! I added some foam squares under the mouse card to give it a little lift, used some “Olive Green” StazOn to stamp the two sentiments on the two pieces of ephemera, added a couple of decorative staples, and glued them down! That was it!
For the card bases, I cut a 12”x12” sheet of cardstock in half, then each of those 6” x12” pieces were cut at 8”, scored, and scored at 4” – creating my two, 4”x6” card bases – then I just glued down the two card fronts I had put together.
Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie! I hope that these two quick and easy cards gave you some ideas and inspiration for your holiday cards using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! Can you believe there are only two months left in 2022? Wow!
Here in the States, we have entered our Holiday Season – fully. Granted, I was listening to musical Christmas Trees after walking past the still-fully-stocked Halloween aisles, but I digress…
Anywho, on to the second best part of the Holiday season – the food! (The first is, of course, the people you choose – or don’t choose – to celebrate with – or without.) And what better way to encompass both the family and the food than with a customized recipe book? Whether you already have “old family recipes” that are a staple at your holiday table, or you are starting your own traditions, this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club has what you need to get those recipes in order!
If you haven’t already seen the video, it is one of my more edited, cut, and put-back-together videos. I think, if I had tried to just have the video in the same order of creation, it would have been A) longer and B) absolute confusion! So, to get a look at how I (finally!) managed to get my recipe book together, make sure you check out the video!
My cover evolved quite a bit during the process – I just couldn’t seem to get it going the way I was thinking! I really wanted to add some age to my recipe book – give it the appearance that it had already seen a kitchen or two in its life. That’s why I didn’t way a “perfectly clean” cover and why I sectioned the interior sectioned the way I did. I wanted to have a story to tell – to look like others had already been adding to it over time.
There have been a few red paints in previous Tres Jolie Kits, and I grabbed a few of them up to use here. I didn’t use an actual gesso as a basecoat for my chipboard, I just used some Tres Jolie Red Paint as my base coat, worked it in a bit with the brush, and coated the outside of the front and back covers the edges of the interior sides, and around the edges of all the interior pages.
To save some reading time – and possibly confusion – I am just going to give the overview of the finished front cover. In my video, I do show the entire process because I think the layers you can no longer see helped to create the finished product, but I don’t know how to point those out now that they are unseen! I’ll just say that there is some embossing powder under the layers of embossing powder and Foundry Wax that you see now!
Now, for what can be seen. I added some (red) Impasto paint to the cover to give it a bit more protection while I worked since it is a heavy-bodied paint, added a couple of splatter layers of Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Spray, using MicroGlaze between the layers to add a little depth. I used a holly stencil with some StazOn and metallic red paint since both are permanent (i.e. not water-reactive) mediums, and cut a couple of slits along the top and bottom of the title section so I could add my ephemera cluster behind it.
It doesn’t show up in the photos, but there is some light inking behind the ephemera using Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide to create a little of a shadowy effect. To get the ink in the correct areas, I used a white Stabilo pencil to trace where the pieces would be going and added more MicroGlaze to help hold the Oxide in place. You can see which ephemera pieces I chose for my cluster, I just cut the cluster and tucked the cut edges under the title block to give the appearance it was one piece that when all the way behind, stitched it to the cover and added stitching to the title block. I coated the ephemera with MicroGlaze, but not quite thick enough, so it ended up with a little too much Oxide splatter on it – which then required me to re-whiten it some using white gesso and my white Stabilo. Then, to get “Grandma’s Cookies” to pop, I traced over the text with a black gel pen.
For the title block, what you see is some Gilded Foundry Wax and some Lindy’s Holly Berry Red Gold embossing powder. I used my Candied Apple Distress Marker to trace over the title text to add the Lindy’s to – using the brush tip for “Homemade” and the fine tip for “with love & butter.” However, there are layers under all that can be seen, and I’m sure they helped give “Homemade” a bit of extra lift!
The rest of this project should take a lot less time to explain! Mostly because the insides are, more or less, the same process, just different layouts. However, before I get to the interior, I’ll get the back cover, uh, covered! After I added a layer of the Impasto paint and it had dried, I just used an Echo Park stencil from my stash, some clear embossing ink, and some white embossing powder for the first layer. Then, after heat setting the white embossing powder and letting it cool back down, I added some Candied Apple Distress Ink to the whole surface, watered it down, wiped up a bit, sprinkled on some of the Lindy’s Holly Berry Red Gold, brushed off any areas I didn’t want and melted it down. That was it! Far easier than the front cover!!
Before I ever got started with any decoration or assembly, I used a couple of acrylic blocks to try and figure out (approximately) how much extra space I had to work with given the size of the book rings provided with the kit. When I did the measurement, I hadn’t decided if I wanted to use the Simple Stories dividers as they were, or if I wanted to glue them to the chipboard – and I came up with about an inch of wiggle room. I exceeded that inch, but I still was able to use the rings from the kit – barely! The good news about a build like this is that the spine of the book isn’t permanent, so as recipes get added, the book rings can be replaced if needed!
As you can see in the photos, I used the ribbon from the kit to create hinges and “spines” for a few of the sections. Essentially creating a few mini-books – maybe they would be closer to folios – inside the main recipe book.
I wanted to give my pages a layer of protection, so I used a lot of laminating pouches to add some strength, stability, and moisture protection. I talk a bit about different options for protection in my video, so I’ll just give a little overview here. You could use page protectors, cut them down to size, and stitch them to what you want to protect (warning: they tend to be hard to machine stitch because they are so slick!), you could use laminating pouches that are self-sealing, so you don’t need a laminating machine, in some areas, for example, edges of pockets or the book ring holes, you could use packing tape. Packing tape is relatively strong, however, I’m pretty sure it isn’t acid-free, and it would eventually begin to deteriorate.
In addition to my lamination, the other constants throughout this project (that may not be immediately noticeable in the photos, like all the stitching) are the use of some Fuse pockets that I’ve had in my stash FOR-EV-ER and the use of the pink and white patterned paper or stripes of the packing that I used to (re)create the edges of the Simple Stories dividers. I also used the packaging from the ephemera and dividers to punch out my hole reinforcers. I didn’t use my Fuse tool with the pouches, I decided to stitch my pockets together, and I used Gorilla Clear Grip glue when I needed to attach any of the plastic(s) and it wasn’t in an area I wanted stitching. For my flaps and closures, I added small magnets or made tie closures to keep them in place, or I used some up-cycled blanket edging to make wrap-around closures.
On the inside of my front cover, I just wanted a simple pocket, so I cut one of the patterned paper sheets down to use as a flap and the pocket front. I have some light magnets on the flap and a couple of paperclips behind the background paper to help keep it closed, and, since I was giving the example in the video, I used packing tape along the top edge of the pocket so the paper would (hopefully!) not tear with use.
In some areas, like the back of the “Favorites” divider and the chipboard page that faces it, I used some tie-closure pouches. Part of the reason is that it was what I had available, and part of the reason is they could be used to hold notes or spare recipe cards. For the front side of this chipboard page, because I stitched through from the other side, and because the pockets are clear, I gave it a coat of the Impasto paint and some of the holly stenciling before gluing the pouches in place. On the back of the chipboard page, I added a waterfall recipe section with four numbered pockets. I thought those pockets worked great in the “Favorites” section of the recipe book!
These pockets and flaps are stitched directly to the chipboard, and I just eyeballed the distance between them since I only really had to space pockets “2” and “3” between “1” and “4.”
The next section is a combination of “Appetizers” and “Soups & Salads.” I used a length of the ribbon from the kit to create a hinge between the two Simple Stories dividers and when I added everything to the book rings, I place a chipboard page between the two dividers.
On the back of the “Appetizers” divider, I added some pre-made 4-1/4”x4-1/4” Fuse pockets and used the image from the front of the paper pad, backed and hinged with some of my up-cycled blanket edge, to create a flap. On the opposite page, I have more pockets, held in place with a piece of the ephemera pack that I laminated and stitched to the length of the blanket edging.
On the back of the chipboard page, I laminated the Santa card to the bit of patterned paper, stitched it to more blanket edge, and stitched on the (laminated) tap at the bottom to create the closure.
To hold the pockets in place on the back of the “Soups & Salads divider, I stitched a laminated card from the ephemera pack to the edge of the divider that just acts as a little tuck-in/catch for the pockets.
Next up, “Side Dishes”! That little banner piece at the bottom of the divider can be used as a tuck-in spot if, for example, you have a recipe pulled out and just want to keep it held in place while using it. But, its second function, is to allow the brad to be the catch for the magnet on my snowman closure on the other side!
I have my snowman laminated fully on the back and partially on the front. I laminated from the top line up and the bottom edge of the snowman so the lines would still be able to be used. Then I just tied the string under his arms so he would swing around and have fun!
Facing the snowman is one of my wrap-around closures. I attached the “Joy” card to the length of the blanket edge and created my own tie closure on the backside of this chipboard page.
That leads us up to the “Main Dishes” section of the recipe book – and it really is a section all on its own! I used a length of the ribbon from the kit to connect the divider card to the following chipboard page, and added a closure across the front to hold them together.
Because I added a closure for my main dishes section, none of the interior pockets have any flaps or closures holding them in place. However, the pouches on the back of the chipboard are held in place by the little tag at the bottom. It turns on the brad holding it to the chipboard and is used to catch the bottom-left pocket, which in turn holds the other pockets tucked under it in place.
Only three more sections left! Probably my three favorite food groups – breads, cookies, and dessert!
My “Breads & Baked Goods” section is made up of pouches and a couple of small pockets. I know a lot of bread and baked goods exist, but, for me, I have about three bread dough recipes that get expanded on, and biscuits. I just found it unnecessary to make a lot of space to just repeat the same base!
I can almost smell the cookies baking just thinking about this section! I don’t have any type of flap for the pouch and pockets on the back of the “Cookies & Candy” divider – there are only two pockets and one pouch, and I’m thinking that they should stay fairly well put. On the front of the chipboard page, however, I used the snow globe ephemera piece to create a closer in the same fashion as I had done the snowman previously. I had the four decorative edge pouches you see in the photo, and I couldn’t help but think of adding some sequins – because they made me think of sprinkles – to three of them and stitching the filled edge up so the sequins would stay in place.
For my cookies section, I have an extra step for the length of ribbon I used to create the “spine.” I added a 1/2” length of lamination to the ribbon, right down the center, to give it a little extra space, and it makes that area stand out a little more when you look at the spine of the entire book!
I didn’t cover every surface with pockets or pouches, I really loved the “Gingerbread Kisses…” and “Baking Christmas Cheer” sheets from the paper pad, and decided to leave them in plain view at the end of the cookies section and on the front side of the chipboard page in the “Desserts & Pies” section. I only added a pocket that was small enough as to not cover any of the text.
For the pockets on the back of the desserts divider, I used a single piece of string to go from the top pocket to the bottom pocket, instead of doing them separately. It’s the dessert section! I know I’ll want to get to the recipes as quickly as possible!
I have finally made it to the last page and the inside of the back cover! Once again, I used a single string for the two small pouches tie closure, and then to hold all the pockets, I made a swing-arm type of closure. The tag and card are both laminated, I stitched them together, and then just used a brad to attach them to the chipboard.
The back cover has a large, Fuse pouch that I stitched the laminated (Mrs. Clause?) card along the sides and bottom to create a smaller pocket before stitching up the side of the large Fuse pocket. To close it up, I just tucked in some small magnets and a paperclip under the bit of patterned paper and the tab.
Thank you for joining me here in my corner! I hope that this project gave you some ideas of what you can do to create your own unique recipe book.
Stay Crafty, Friends
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Since I did Mother’s Day Cards at the beginning of the month, I decided to do some Father’s Day Coupon’s and gift envelopes as my final May project using the May 2022 Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club. I created a few different designs to use as examples and have some example phrases to use with your coupon book. There are links to free PDFs for the different coupons throughout the blog, and over at CornerScrapsStudio you can get the PDFs, STUDIO3, and PNG files from my Etsy shop. I never “fully” completed a coupon book – the closest is my “Unlimited” tags – because I don’t have a personal use for Father’s Day coupons, and all our kids are old enough to worry about it themselves! (by old enough, I mean they no longer have any age restrictions on any purchases )
Check out my video to check out all the different ideas I cover for envelopes and coupons!
Video:
First up are my “Vintage Gold” coupons. I designed these coupons to look as though they are on old paper with gold font and trim. These examples are printed on some HP Premium Choice LaserJet Paper; a type of high-resolution paper designed for business documents that need clear, crisp images. You can get the “Vintage Gold” PDF on DropBox (for personal use only, please!) if you would like to print them out. (**NOTE: All PDF files offered throughout this post are not offered, created, or owned by Tres Jolie Kit Club. I am the creator and owner of the files and offer the PDFs for your personal use.)
The envelope for these coupons is a hand-folded sheet of the 6×6 patterned paper. I just eyeballed the center and eyeballed where I wanted the folds. Then for a little decoration on the front, I added a couple of the leftover hearts from my Mother’s Day Cards and one of the Prima flowers.
This next coupon design I have dubbed “Modern,” not for any particular reason, it is just what came to me when I needed some names to distinguish between the different designs! I printed my “Modern” coupons on some blue cardstock using my regular color InkJet printer. I don’t know if it’s just my particular brand of printer or the ink, but I didn’t have a bleeding problem on my prints. However, a few years ago I had a different printer that did like to bleed. A lot. So I came up with something to help keep that from happening! I discovered that if I spray the side I will be printing on with some Krylon Workable Fixatif and let it dry before printing, my bleeding, for the most part, was gone! I was actually able to print on shipping label sticker paper using this method and all of my images and fonts stayed clear! (Just remember to spray in a well-ventilated area!). If you would like to see all the coupons, you can swing by and pick up the “Modern” PDF on DropBox (for personal use only).
I have a couple of different envelope examples for these coupons. One I made to have a tie closure, so I never sealed any of the flaps. I added an eyelet in the bottom flap and attached one of the flair from the kit to the top flap, then ran a piece of twine through the eyelet to tie the envelope closed. The second envelope I made I left open. I folded the top flap back and glued it in place so the coupons would be able to stick out the top.
I made a couple of mini envelopes to hold some Father’s Day Tokens. The tokens have all the same tasks but in an itty bitty size! I thought there were a couple of ways to use the tokens – you could print them out on sticker paper and make a full coordinating sheet to go with so the stickers could be placed as they get used, or you could print them out on regular paper, cut them into squares, staple the stack together if you want, and put them in the envelope (or staple them to the envelope). You can go grab the “Tokens” PDF on DropBox if you’re interested! (For personal use only)
Here is the final style of the full set of coupons I created. For this example, I printed them on some glossy photo paper and decided to make a little booklet. My photo paper doesn’t slide very well, so instead of trying to get them in and out of an envelope, I thought a booklet would work better. A couple ideas of for securing your booklet are to use brads if they are long enough, or some twine/ribbon ran through a couple of holes. Here is the link for the “Square ‘Stamp’ Edge” PDF on DropBox, if you are interested. (For personal use only)
In addition to the “single-use” coupons, I thought making “Unlimited” coupons would be a nice addition. I have some that are sized to fit the tags from this month’s kit – Unlimited Bear Hugs, Game of Catch, and Spending The Day Together – and I turned them into sketches in Silhouette Studio, but you can also print the “Unlimited Tags” PDF on DropBox if you would like (For Personal Use Only). I have a little envelope I made for them with the top flap folded back and glued open, and a hole with an eyelet so the tags can be tied to the envelope, to keep everything together.
My final example is another “Unlimited” coupon in the form of an ATC. Making an ATC allows some personalized artwork to also be part of the gift! For my ATC I cut a piece of the patterned paper to size, added some of the lattice-ish bits I had left from my Mother’s Day Cards, used some of the Finnabair micas from this month’s Mixed Media Kit, popped on some Say-It-In-Crystals and a flower, then printed out my phrase and glued it on.
For the envelope, I made an ATC-sized pocket. It is an expandable pocket I saw a lady make using the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board a few (5+) years ago on YouTube. I made myself a little note to tape to my punch board with the measurements, so now I don’t know who I originally saw!
Measurements & (Original) Instructions (6”x6” paper size):
At the 2-1/4” mark, punch & score
Move over to the 3-1/4”, punch & score
Turn
Line up with marker, punch & score
Line up next line marker, punch – NO score (**In my video, I score here, then used my scoreboard to add another scoreline between the two made on the punch board so I had an accordion fold envelope.)
Turn
Repeat 1-5
Using scissors, cut the little sections where your score lines … ummm … overhang … so you can fold your flaps (I hope this made sense!)
This will give you an envelope that is 2-3/4”x3-1/4”. If you’d like some examples for Father’s Day phrases you can get the Father’s Day Phrases PDF on DropBox or just check out this photo for ideas!
Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed these little coupon book ideas and they gave you some inspiration for making your own coupon books – whether they be for Father’s Day and the individual filling the father role, your partner for an anniversary, a birthday, or anytime!
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
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C.J.'s Corner Scraps 