Welcome to March and new projects using Tres Jolie Kits! Did you get a chance to check out the reveal yesterday? All of March’s Kits are as fabulous as ever! Make sure to swing by the Tres Jolie shop and pick yourself up a kit or three!
For my first March project, I used the Graphic 45 ATC Tag booklet/album … thingy … and the Stamperia “Garden of Promises” papers and chipboard to create a little motivational and/or photo flip-book.
Make sure you check out the video to catch my thought process and see how I put this all together!
I know Graphic 45 has dies that are made to work with their (larger) tags, I’m not sure if there is an ATC Tag one, and even if there is, it wouldn’t have worked for everything I wanted to do! My solution was simple though – I just used some clear plastic packaging, traced two tag shapes on it (side-by-side), and rough-cut it out! Why did I trace two side-by-side? So I would be able to make a few backgrounds with little flip-outs! Then all I had to do is use it to create all of my backgrounds.
Not all of my backgrounds are solid pieces, after I had cut into a few of the patterned papers, I decided to straighten up a few edges, grabbed a partial piece of an adhesive sheet I had left from a previous project added some scraps strips of printer paper, peeled the backing off, and started laying down all the various left-over strips and squares! I don’t like having a lot of little pieces laying about and I like the feeling of using up as much as I can, so paper piecing is my go-to move!
I was never concerned about having perfectly straight, neat, and tidy edges because I had planned from the beginning to distress and ink them all – which is exactly what I did! I just used my scissors to distress all of the edges – including inside the ring hole – and used the “Pale Brown” Fluid Chalk Ink for a bit of color.
After I had my bases distressed, inked, and (mostly!!) ready to go, I started the sewing process. I picked one background to stitch directly to the tag, then on the background for the flip-side, I added the stitching first, then glued it to the tag. I decided to do my stitching this way so both sides of the tag would have the top stitching showing. It doesn’t really matter as far as the stitches are concerned, but the side of the paper the needle goes through tends to be a bit rough.
As seen in the photos above, six of my tags have flaps that flip out. Of those six, four were created using a single piece I made using my template (double-width, and scored), and for the other two, I decided to make the flaps separate just because I wanted a little more control over what image was showing and which way the flap was going to flip!
I don’t like leaving folds without some kind of reinforcement when they are in a project that is interactive, and these ATC Tags were no exception – so I just added some of the seam binding from the kit to the insides of all the folds and stitched along each side.
I really loved all of the quotes and phrases found throughout the patterned papers, and I wanted to incorporate them in a variety of ways. One was I did was to use the three bookmark-looking rectangles and create some fold-down, interactive elements – mostly because the paper strips were approximately 4” long, and I didn’t want it dangling out of the bottom!
Again, I had to reinforce all of my bends, except this time I used some linen hinging tape instead of the seam binding. Not for any particular reason beyond that it was a 9” piece I had “misplaced” during a previous project, and since I finally found it, I wanted to use it up! My linen hinging tape, however, is 1-1/4” wide – about 1/4” wider than the stripes – so I trimmed off the excess before attaching it to the backs of my pull-downs.
I added stitching to the sections that were attached to the background and added the three blue chipboard butterflies to use as “handles” (One apparently got edited out from the middle photo above without me noticing! Oops!)
What did I do with a 1/4” wide, 9” strip of linen hinging tape? I cut a couple of pieces off and used them to reinforce the folds on the two fold-out pieces I added using more bits from the cut-apart sheet! And, just like with the pull-down stripes, I stitched the back of the fold-out piece to the background.
I wanted to use some eyelets that I’ve owned for far, far too long, so I grabbed up a few and added them to the pre-punched holes on four of the chipboard pieces, then glued the chipboard where I wanted it. I didn’t use the eyelets to attach the chipboard to the background paper or tags, just because I didn’t! No real reason beyond that there wasn’t a real need to!
On the tag that has the large chipboard flower cluster, I didn’t use any glue, I just stitched it along one edge and the bottom so it could work as a tuck spot.
Thank you for joining me here today on the blog! I hope you enjoyed this little project and it gave you some ideas of what you can do 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! Hope you had a wonderful New Year celebration – whether it was out and about, or at home in jammies like me!
The best part of a new month and a new year is the new Tres Jolie Kits! YAY! And January is starting out fan-tab-u-lous-ly! I absolutely love the colors and styles that the kits are bringing this month. So, to get you started with your Cards, Tags, & More Kit, I have a little tag journal/booklet for you I made using some up-cycled packaging for the covers and decorated with the 3Quarter Designs “Imagine If” papers from the kit.
I have a video for you that covers what and how I did what I did that you can check out to recreate your own tag journal or just watch to pull some ideas from to expand upon!
I started my process by cutting up the packaging from a carton of canned beverages into approximately 5”x7” pieces, leaving the end flaps in place on two of the four pieces to create my pockets with (they measure 5”x7”-ish with the flaps folded up!)
Since my entire idea was about creating a vintage “pieced-together” look, it didn’t matter in the slightest if my cuts were straight or if the pieces were exact! It just added to the overall design! Plus, I would be coming in and distressing the edges, so there was really no need for straight cuts!
On the two rectangles that I didn’t leave the flap on for the pocket – the outside layers of the cover pieces – I used the two embossing folders from the Tim Holtz “Book Cover Set” to give them some texture. Then, I used some soft matte gel to glue my inner (the pieces with the flap) and outer (the embossed pieces) together, making sure to fill in my embossing so as I worked, it would un-emboss!
Once the gel had dried, I distress my edges and used some “Ground Espresso” stain to dye my journal covers. After that had dried, I tore the pieces of paper I wanted to add to the covers, added the same embossing, lined up the embossed areas, and glued them into place.
For the inside layers, because I wanted to make sure the pockets were well attached, I stitched my pocket (edges) to the background paper first – then I used some double-sided tape to really make sure I had good adhesion to the journal cover.
Once I had the bits of paper and fabric scraps picked out that I wanted to use and added my decorative stitching, finishing up the journal was a quick process – it was just a matter of stitching and gluing everything in place!
So I would have a “finished” look on both sides of the covers and flaps, I wouldn’t stitch the papers directly to the cover on both sides – I would only do direct stitching on one side. Then, for the other side, I would add my stitching to the paper(s) and glue them in place. This way I wouldn’t have any rough holes where the needle came through.
I really didn’t have any rhyme or reason when it came to creating all the little clusters and collage-ish pieces, I just grabbed up from the bits I had picked out, layered them up, added some of the flowers and some stitches, and just created what I felt like!
I had the same process for my tags, I created random-sized tags, created my clusters for them, then used some Fabri-Tac to make sure they stayed put! I didn’t want to stitch my clusters to my tags for a couple of reasons – the first reason being purely aesthetic – I didn’t want rough holes from the needle – the second reason is that I created a couple of ledger printables to add to the backs so notes would be able to be written on [the back of] the tags easier! (Well, easier for me, because I can’t write in a straight line on a blank surface to save my life!)
To add some extra dimension to a few of the fussy cut pieces, I gave them a layer of Glossy Accents and after they had dried completely, I added a few cracks to really create an aged appearance.
For the two tags that have the deep purple satin fabric as their pulls, I added stitching up and down them to keep that fabric from fraying. I may not have been able to tear that satin fabric, but once it wants to fray, it just keeps on going!
Then, just for these two tags, I stitched the pulls directly to the tops for the extra bit of security with that slippery fabric.
For the tags that have the variety of cotton-blend fabrics as their pulls, I didn’t sew them up like I did the satin ones, because although they can fray, they don’t quite do it all on their own the way the satin does! Then, to attach them to the tops, I just used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and popped in a couple of staples crossed over each other like an “X.”
Thank you for joining me today! I hope you enjoyed this Tag Journal and it gave you some ideas of what you can create using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit and some up-cycled packaging!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
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! 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
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! For my final project of October for Tres Jolie Kit Club, I have some November Memory Dex Cards for you. I don’t have a card for every day of the month – although I think it is possible with all of the “(Inter)National Day of’s …”. I just picked the more commonly known days – and National Button Day, since we are all crafters here!
The video is a quick watch – most of the project is die cutting, layering, and gluing – so I really spend the majority of the video time with the assembly of the shaker card and I give an overview of what mediums I used.
First, a warning and apology! I am in the process of switching my recording and editing programs, and had to work out which settings were best for these new programs – so the audio for about half the video is … less than ideal. Fortunately, I think I have it worked out now, unfortunately, it is during the shaker assembly. Sorry! It really got down to the wire of working with what I had, or not being done in time!
My shaker card was the most involved card created! I decided what I really “needed” for this project was to create a large, maple leaf shaped Memory Dex card. Over on my Flickr, you can find the full-sized .jpegs of the shaker parts and my little calendar to use in your personal project(s).
I doubled up the card part of the shaker – made using some cardstock from my stash – so it would have a little extra stability when on the Rolodex tracks since it is heavier than a “regular” card. To make my solid cardstock not so solid looking, I inked up the edges with my Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide, gave it a splatter of water, dabbed up the excess, and dried everything before I glued down the solid leaf, cut from some of the patterned paper from the kit and trimmed off the bit of extra stem from the bottom.
To create my spacer ring I cut two of the outline pieces and used some hot glue between them. And honestly, I think I might have found a favorite way to create the space needed for shakers! There is no dry time, no cutting, and scissors work to trim off any parts that seep out. All I had to do is keep moving so I wouldn’t get any piled up, and if a spot got skipped over, it was easy to go back and fill it in.
For the leaf veins and “November,” I first used a gold marker in my Cameo to sketch the outlines, then I switched over to the blade to cut the pieces out. I left everything on my mat so it would be easier to work on when I added some gold foil transfer to them.
After the foil was on, I grabbed up a piece of acetate and stitched the veins and acetate together. To keep the feed-dogs of my sewing machine from marring the acetate, I just ran it through on top of a piece of tissue paper – which tears off from the stitches super easily! Then I glued down the acetate window piece to the spacer ring using some JudiKins Diamond Glaze.
Since I was in a “let’s see what I can use” mindset, wanted to add a little extra to the shaker and wanted to make sure the edges of the leaf vein cut weren’t going to snag on anything, I brushed on some Peeled Paint Stickles around the edge, and then used it to fill in along the hot glue edge to really “clean” it all up. Then the only thing left to do was flip the window over, add my sequins, and glue the base on.
After the shaker card, the rest of the cards were really just a matter of gluing all the die-cut pieces together! Each card has two layers – except the envelopes – one layer of cardstock, and one layer of patterned paper. I added a bit of random stitching and tucked in and layered up die-cuts and pieces from the cut-apart sheets in this month’s kit.
As I noted in the video, this was the day I discovered my printer had decided to retire, so my calendar is only a black-and-white printout, instead of the original design that I shared near the beginning of this post. The “Native American History Month” Card is actually one of the envelope cards, and inside it, I added a couple of little fact sheets printed from the National Congress of American Indians and the U.S. government’s Native American Heritage Month website. And of course, I have a card to remind me that Daylight Savings Time ends on the sixth, and we “Fall Back” an hour.
The eighth is our mid-term elections here in the U.S., and since I believe voting is highly important and something that should be taken seriously, I had to make a card for that day. The eighth is also the first full moon of November, known as the Beaver Moon or Frost Moon. On the eleventh, we have Veteran’s Day (also known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day), [originally] to commemorate the end of World War I. For my November 13th card, I have another envelope, but I didn’t to say anything on the outside other than “Fun Day” since it is the Ides of November and the Festival of (the Roman God) Jupiter. And of course, as I mentioned at the start of this post, I have my National Button Day card.
For my last two cards, I have one for (American) Thanksgiving – which signals the start of the Holiday shopping season, so I had to make a card for Small Business Saturday! Don’t forget to support small businesses!!
I used a set of Hampton Art Alpha stamps with my Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide or one of my StazOn inks to stamp the titles and dates and sometimes added some gold embossing powder to make areas stand out a bit more.
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 make using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit! Make sure you check back with us on Tuesday when the November Kits are revealed! You’re going to love them!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
The year is already half over, and now we count down to autumn and winter to get relief from this summer heat! (Seriously, is it October yet? )
Have you had a chance to dig into your Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club yet? There is a fabulous folio kit and some gorgeous Graphic 45 papers in it – which is what I have for you for my first project of July!
I have a video up showing how I decorated my folio – I didn’t put mine together fully to start; I left my pockets and flaps unattached until after they were decorated! I don’t show the assembly of the folio, because I felt it would add unnecessary time to the video since it has instructions in the package, and Photoplay Paper has a step-by-step; follow-along assembly video on their YouTube channel.
Video:
I really wanted to make my cover one continuous image, and I ended up using all three of the “Living the Simple Cottage Life” sheets from the paper pack to do it! I hadn’t originally planned to add the extra garden scene as a flap, but as I started going along, I knew I really liked that image as a whole.
I have stitching as a border for all my patterned paper pieces, sometimes added to just the Graphic 45 paper, sometimes I stitched the Graphic 45 paper to the folio piece (this was semi-planned out – for me anyhow! – and is why I didn’t attach all the folio pieces in the beginning!). I also grabbed up my Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and inked around the edges of all my Graphic 45 pieces and the bits of chipboard I added on.
When it came time to add my finishing touches, I had the little round piece of chipboard and the rectangle left of my ink pieces, and decided to pop them onto the cover – finding out the round one makes a nice little “door knob” at the edge of my flap!
On the inside of the left flap, even though I used some strong double-sided tape to attach my extra flap, I added a piece of the chipboard to help stabilize that addition. You can see how I covered the larger folio cover flap with one sheet of the paper and, very carefully, lined up the pieces on the shorter cover flap and my additional flap.
For almost every piece of Graphic 45 paper I used to decorate the folio, I waited until after I added the stitching to distress and ink the edges. However, on the pieces I stitched onto the folio parts I hadn’t attached yet – pockets & flaps – I distressed and inked the edges before stitching them together.
I made up a few specimen tags and used some of the chipboard pieces to make my samples, sandwiching my samples between some iron-on vinyl, then attaching everything with a brad from my stash.
I cut out some of the cards from the cut-apart sheets in the paper pack and just added some stitching to them and backed them with some bits of index cards so there would be a place to write.
While some of the cards were tucked into pockets, I left some of them out and just used some paperclips to hold them to the edges of the pages.
With the largest specimen, I didn’t attach the chipboard frame to the card, but just tucked them into a pocket together and held them in place with a paperclip.
For the flap of the pocket that is on the (inside) back panel, I stitched the top piece of patterned paper to the flap, then added my stitching to the paper that was going on the underside before gluing it in place. I didn’t stitch all three together, because when sewing through paper the underside of the stitch holes tend to be rougher. After my flap was together I stuck it down in place before adding the blue & white paper so the flap edge would be covered.
For these two pockets, I layered up some of the papers and cards to cover them, then cut a couple more cards down to fit and added some tabs so they would be easier to pull out. The backs have an index card attached, and the tabs are just made from of the strips of patterned paper I had leftover after all the cutting.
As you can see, I used the same patterned paper for both the insides and outsides of the spines; I added my stitching and inking to the back paper and glued it down.
The three specimen samples I have on brads allow them to be spun off to the side to see the card underneath or hang over the edge of the pocket they are in. All of the flowers I used came from my yard – I had picked and dried them a couple of months ago – so I know they are free of pesticides! And even though I didn’t get the cards filled out (yet), I even know what a couple of them are!
Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed seeing how I decorated my Photoplay Folio-4 found in this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit!
Hey, y’all! I have my last project using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club for you today, a little, zipper-closed, tag flip book that is just perfect for jotting down notes to yourself – things you want to remember – ephemera you may want to tuck away, or just a little place to doodle in. This project is completely customizable – you can use whatever materials and colors you want. And the best part? It doesn’t even have to make sense to anybody else! It’s all you!
I had quite a pile of tags already die-cut from my previous two Cards Kit projects this month that my original thought was to make a tag flip booklet that went on a book ring, but then I started laying out all my tags, and realized that what I really wanted to do was make something a little more interactive – and this was the result! Check out the video to see how I put it all together.
Video:
I still had a lot of die cuts left from my Memory Dex Cards, so I added them to this project. Both the butterfly on the front cover and the flower on the back were cut out of the leftover handmade paper I had from my Junk Journal project that was posted on the 9th. I added some of the Eyelet Outlet Jewels to my butterfly body and popped on a few of the Prima flowers. You can see the random, wayward stitching that I used for my zipper, who knows what kind of stitching I would have used if I had thought about a zipper closure before putting everything together!
Want to add a bit of personalization to your cover material? For me, a paint pen was the way to go! A regular pen, or even a gel pen, wouldn’t work so well on this rough burlap, a marker would probably work some, but I think a paint pen was best because I can make dots just by holding the nib down and letting the paint pool.
I just grabbed up some washi tape I’ve had for years with quotes on it and ran it across all the back tags, then ran some silver dot washi across the top of the left side of the booklet, and the bottom of the right side to fill in a little more and give some shine. I added brads to my tag holes – mostly to use them up – and added random stitching on my KaiserCraft white cardstock tabs to give them some color.
I had these little metal flips in my stash and decided to add them in with some silver brads to hold little stacks of the rest of the tags that weren’t sewn in as part of the booklet. You can also see that for some more personalization, I colored in the outer edge of my tab with a gel pen. No rhyme or reason, just grabbing up a pen that I felt like using at the moment! Having an assortment of pens comes in handy because it can also be a way to express the mood you’re feeling when adding to your booklet.
When it came time to put my third Cards Kit project of the month together, I found myself staring at tags and die-cuts I had already made on leftover handmade paper, and the beginning of an idea to do something that opened in more than one direction. I just started laying tags out, trying to build the “direction” of everything in my mind as I went, so I didn’t just make a booklet that had “pages” that turned from right-to-left. I cut off bits of the burlap and canvas to make flip-up, flip-downs, and flip-outs. When I ran my washi across, I wrapped it around the tags that were “pages” (not the ones made to flip up or down). I didn’t want to stamp on all of my tags, and I didn’t want to cover the whole surface – there needed to be someplace to write – so I left some of the tags bare and added in the rest of the tags I had cut.
With some of the smaller die cuts – either solid shapes or outlines/frames – that were from the KaiserCraft white cardstock, I added some of the silver polka-dot washi tape and some stitching around the edges. If it was just an outline, I folded the tape in half so it would stick to itself, and used it as the center of the die-cut, which was also folded in half.
As you can see, there are loads of places to write little notes or tuck in bits of ephemera you want to keep!
Thank you for joining me here in my little corner, I hope you enjoyed this little tag flip booklet and it gave you some ideas for making your own personalized little booklet.
We’re halfway through June, and this week I have some Memory Dex cards for you that I created using items from this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club and items from my stash – quite a few from previous Tres Jolie Kits! Check out my video to see what I did for each of the cards I made – then grab up your supplies and create your own Memory Dex card(s).
I had bought the Heidi Swapp Memory Dex Spinner quite some time ago, and had originally thought of grabbing up some spray paint and changing the color – I might still do that – but I grabbed it up for this project so I’d have someplace to put my cards when they were done, and to make sure I didn’t make them too tall to clear the bottom! Depending on what kind of “–dex” system you have – be it a spinner, a box, something vintage, or something custom made – you can get very creative on how your Memory Dex cards are made! If, for example, you have the Memory Dex Box, you don’t have to worry about height, only width! (After this project was completed I happened to find a vintage Rolodex® system that would allow cards to fit in without any height or width restrictions!! *happy dance*)
Video:
A closer look at the cards I made:
My Concord & 9th “Lucky” Die cuts the three layers – thick line and outline from one die, thin line from another – so I made two lucky cards. The thick line and outline were cut from a half sheet of the white cardstock that I hand-inked up using a variety of Distress Oxides from my stash. The white pieces were from another partial sheet of the KaiserCraft cardstock, and on some of those, like the butterfly, I added some Distress Oxide to give a pop of color. I didn’t have any particular plans when I set out to make my cards, I just cut a lot of pieces and started layering; generally ending with a few of the Eyelet Outlet jewels and/or some of the small Prima butterflies.
I made my “Imagine” card a shaker card by cutting a circle out of the pink striped paper from this month’s kit, adding a sheet of craft foam with a circle cut out as a spacer, and filling it with some of the beads and sequins from the Buttons Galore cube from Septembers (2021) Cards Kit. I just used some plastic from an old package of die cuts – I often save the harder/stiffer plastic packaging for just this reason! – and stitched it in place with some metallic silver thread. My “Imagine” as a layer of the “Gamboge” Stencil Butter on it from the Mixed Media Kit and, while it was still wet, I sprinkled some Lindy’s Magical Powder on and spritzed it with a little water.
These two cards were really a couple of “let’s see how these parts work together” cards! The “grateful” card has a slot cut from the top (the label die from Tim Holtz’s “Stitched Slots”) that I just tucked a couple of large die cuts into after giving them a little color. The flower is just inked with some Distress Oxide, and the leaves have some Lindy’s Magical’s sprinkled on them. I cut the card from my inked KaiserCraft sheet, backed it with some of my leftover handmade paper, and added some stamping, jewels, & butterflies. The “grateful” had originally been stamped, but it didn’t show up very well, so I traced over it with a gel pen.
I wasn’t sure when I cut it if I would use the Bird Branch die, but I added some Magical’s, let it dry, and thought about what I’d do with it while working on other cards. Eventually, it came time to play with it, and I found that I liked how it looked with the oval frame, but the frame needed some color too! So on went some Magical and PearlEx powders. The card is another cut from my inked sheet and has some of the “Grecian Gold” Modeling paste (from the Mixed Media Kit this month!) dabbed on with my finger for a little shine. Then, to add a bit from this month’s Card’s Kit, I popped on a tab punched from one of the papers, added some orange jewels, and a Tim Holtz “Small Talk” sticker from my stash.
These two Memory Dex cards were made from a piece of scrap cardstock that I practiced a couple of mixed media ideas on. I have some texture paste, mica powder, and Magical powder on the base tag/Memory Dex, then I stamped the butterfly from the stamp in this month’s kit, I cut a tag-shaped frame out from my inked paper, layered a couple of more tags vertically, popped in a flower, added my jewels and phrase.
While I was doing all of my cutting, I decided to make a round Memory Dex card, so I used one of my circle dies to cut out the inked stenciling I had done (stencil from this month’s Mixed Media kit!). I stamped on the butterfly and phrase, attached a rectangle bottom, and ran it through my sewing machine a few times. The final touches were some Distress Oxide around the edges and the jewels.
When I first started this card I had thought of just attaching the pocket to another card, but as I was putting it together, I decided that I much preferred the pocket as the card! The top slot is backed by some pink cardstock from my stash, and the rest of the slots are back with white cardstock – what had been the original Memory Dex shaped card. The Tim Holtz “Stitched Slots” die is the perfect size for the spinner, I just punched the slots at the bottom and popped it right on. I used some of the smaller tags, cut with the tag dies from this month’s kit and cut from this month’s papers, to stick on some “Small Talk” phrases and slipped them into the slots. They don’t weigh a lot, so the friction between the papers is enough to hold them in place when they are upside down on the spinner. I then just added some of my die-cut hearts, outlined them with a yellow gel pen, added the label, and another “Small Talk” sticker.
The card with the bicycle stamped on it was probably the fastest to put together because all I did is layer up the different circles I had already cut out! I used the pink striped circle to fill the circle in the card base, then put the layers through my Sizzix using the dot embossing folder that had come with the machine, added that half-circle with some Lindy’s Magical’s stenciled on, and then all of the other plain circles. To add some contrast to all those circles, I popped on one of the smallest tags, then stamped on the bicycle and added the butterfly and phrase.
My “Spring” card was my first of the batch! I trimmed an inch off the width of a 3”x5” index card so it would fit on the spinner, used the stamp from this month to just get the flowers to peek out from behind the tag, and splattered it with some “Lemon” Glossy Spray. The tag is from some pink cardstock I had that was already adhered to an adhesive sheet. I used the thin scraps from my Folio at the beginning of the month, and just randomly layered them on the adhesive. I then cut the tag using the next to largest die in the set, peeled the protective paper the rest of the way off, and brushed on some Finnabair Mica Powder. Then I just finished up the details with some flowers, jewels, a butterfly, and the small tag.
Lastly, my “document” card. The die-cut word was too long to fit on the Memory Dex Spinner, so I cut it where it could be hyphenated, clipped off an end of the cross-mark on the “t” to use as the hyphen, and layered up a couple tags and a tab on the base card. I used some of the “Grecian Gold” Modeling paste on “document,” the stars and diamonds are from my Concord & 9th Lucky Die Set, there’s a little stamping, and a few jewels, and this card was done!
Thank you for joining me here in my corner! I hope you enjoyed seeing these cards and they inspired you to make your own Memory Dex card or two!
This week I turned the June Scrapbooking Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club into a junk journal. The P13 papers and ephemera from their “Let Your Creativity Bloom” line had such beautiful colors – muted shades of pink and sage – and there was a photo of a book in this month’s mood board! What else would I think up for the challenge?!?!
I didn’t just put any old fabrics and papers together, I decided that to be extra messy, I needed to dye my fabrics exactly how I wanted and make my own (matching) paper – check out my video to see the process, or, if you want, you can just check out the flip-through.
On my cover, I layered up strips of fabric, so of the ones I dyed, some are scraps from my stash. I topped a part of one of the patterned papers with one of the Tres Jolie Chipboard pieces coated with some embossing powders, added a few of the flowers, and added some Distress Foundry Wax in “Sterling” as some accent color. Check out the video to see the process of my junk journal from start to finish!
Video:
Flip-through:
Have you checked out the June Mood Board yet? Beautiful pink flowers, galvanized steel bucket, Ball Mason jars, and a book – take a peek and see what creativity it inspires in you!
Make sure you join us for our June mood board challenge!
You can create any type of project for the challenge.
You MUST say what you were inspired by.
You MUST include the twist in your design.
We would love to see you USE AT LEAST 1 of Tres Jolie’s products on your projects but it isn’t required to play along.
It MUST be a new project.
The twist for this month is SPRING FLING.
Place your entries in the June 2022 challenge folder on the Tres Jolie Kit Club Café Facebook page. This challenge ends on June 30th, 2022 at 11:59 pm CST. All entries must be in this folder to be eligible for the prize (to have everyone eligible to win, we are limited the same winner to once every 3 months).
This junk journal is thick! There are over 50 pages filled with lots of writing space, tuck-ins, and pockets – and a securely attached tie closure to keep it together.
On both the front and back covers I added a section of lace trim, lightly colored with Distress Oxides, as tuck in spots.
I turned envelopes into pockets, covered them with strips of fabric, and added closures to a couple of them – a zipper on one and a simple tie on another.
I have tuck-in spots throughout the journal made up of layers of papers and ephemera. I have even added in some old book pages from a 1935 History of English Literature book – I thought this book fit well with the overall “Creativity” theme.
I wanted to add a lot of texture and visual interest in this journal, so I have short pages, ledger papers, bits of fabric and lace, and tons of stitching in here. There is something to see and feel everywhere!
I turned this bit of patterned paper into a simple flip-up card using some lace as the hinge and adding a tab to the edge.
a sheet of patterned paper torn makes a wonderfully distressed pocket! And I just couldn’t bring myself to (fully) separate this stretch of flowers, I used the last bits of that particular lace to make hinges between four inch sections so it could be pulled out – and the image could stay together.
Old music sheets add a lovely aged touch while also making fabulous pockets. I even used the envelopes from the ephemera and tickets to create little tuck-in areas.
When I saw all that leftover dyed water from my fabrics, I couldn’t just let it go to waste, so I added scraps of paper and created my own custom-colored, dapple-edged sheets – either glued to decorated envelopes and pages, or straight into tuck spots to be written on (I suggest using markers, paint pens, or gel pens though, due to the uneven nature of handmade paper!)
I didn’t want to just simply cover my basic white envelopes, so I added fabric, lace, paper, and/or ephemera to create variety and interest. I used one of the Prima flower packs from the kit, and in addition to my cover decoration, I stitched flowers directly onto some of the tuck-ins.
As promised in the video, here is the “stitching guide” (I don’t know what else to call it!) for how I put my signatures in.
How I stitched in my signatures:
Out = from the inside –> out
In = from the outside –> in
First-Middle-Third = Signature from left to right
Top, Second, Middle, Fourth, Last = Hole, from top to bottom.
First Signature:
Middle Signature:
Third Signature:
Out – First – Middle
In – Third – Second
Out – Third – Top
In – First – Second
Out – First – Fourth
In – Third – Last
Out – Third – Fourth
In – First – Middle
Out – Middle – Middle
In – First – Second
Out – First – Top
In – Middle – Second
Out – Middle – Fourth
In – First – Last
Out – First – Fourth
In – Middle – Middle
Out – Third – Middle
In – Middle – Second
Out – Middle – Top
In – Third – Second
Out – Third – Fourth
In – Middle – Last
Out – Middle – Fourth
In – Third – Middle
Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed this junk journal and it gave you some inspiration and ideas of what you can do with this month’s Scrapbooking Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
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C.J.'s Corner Scraps 