Hey, y’all! I hope your June has started out great! Schools have been – or are about to be – released for summer vacation, and Father’s Day is just 10 days away. This week, in honor of Father’s Day, I have a rather quick and easy card for you using the Hunkydory kraft stock found in this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit.
I used a stamp set and inks from my stash, but all of the “parts” for the card came from the kit! I was feeling rather “traditional” when starting this project, and I didn’t want to create a card that was overly complicated or ornate – but I didn’t have much more direction for myself, so I grabbed up the pieces from the kit I thought would work best for how I was feeling, and started playing around.
Be sure to check out my video to see how it came together and watch my confusion!
The first thing I did to create this card is…
…stare at everything and try to get my thoughts together! Which was the hardest part of the project – getting my thoughts in order!
I knew I wanted to use the woodgrain kraft stock, but I wasn’t entirely certain what I actually wanted to do with it or how I wanted to decorate the card front. I also knew I preferred the star print bow for my “traditionally masculine” card, so I popped out the pieces I would need to create the bow, as well as the star print strip, the alpha I needed to spell “Dad” and the medallions to go with everything else “just in case”! I don’t know if I would have used any medallions at all if I hadn’t already inked them by the time I (finally) figured out what I was doing!
I don’t have measurements for you, because I just eyeballed the size I thought looked good for the woodgrain kraft stock. However, I can tell you now after the fact, that the wood grain kraft stock is about 1/4” smaller (length and width), leaving approximately 1/8” of the card base as a border all the way around. I also eyeballed where I wanted the strip of the star print kraft stock, but because I used my cutting mat to keep it straight, I know the bottom edge is 1-1/4” up from the bottom edge of the woodgrain kraft. After I glued the strip into place, I tucked the ends under – cutting a little of the extra length off one end just because (although it worked out in my favor!) then used some “Gathered Twigs” Distress Ink around the perimeter – as well as on the alpha, bow, and medallions.
I used the excess star print strip I had cut off before tucking the ends under to connect my alpha – partly to keep them together because I kept losing one letter or another, and partly just to go with the overall design, since I hadn’t decided where “Dad” would be going yet!
I tried playing around with the alpha, bow, and medallions on the card front, but I just couldn’t get the bow to look right all by itself – and I really wanted to use the bow! In the end, I realized the card front was exactly what I wanted with just the inking, the strip of star print kraft, and the simplicity of “Dad,” so that’s how I left it before moving on to the envelope.
I inked up the envelope with more “Gathered Twigs,” to coordinate with the vintage and “rustic” feel of the woodgrain kraft stock on the card front.
Originally I had adhered the bow and medallions on in a loose cluster formation, but I was still very unhappy with how everything was coming together and I thought maybe adding “Happy Father’s Day” to the envelope would tie everything together better – which is how I came to the decision to use my Tim Holtz “The Inspector” stamp set! I was originally just looking for alpha stamps to use – then I saw the man and the alpha just staring at me!
I used some “Timber Brown” StazOn for my first stamping of “The Inspector,” then added a couple of layers of “Gathered Twigs” Distress Ink on top before moving over to start the process of spelling out “Happy Father’s Day” with the alpha stamp block that also doesn’t have all 26 letters of the alphabet!
I started with the “H” in “Happy,” using my StazOn, but before repositioning the alpha block for the “A,” I used my “Gathered Twigs” to create a lighter background text block – then I continued stamping the rest of the phrase. For the two “P’s,” I used the “R’s” just making sure to keep the extra leg ink-free, and for the “Y’s,” I used upside-down “A’s” and the “I” to create the leg.
I traced over all of the letters in the phrase with my “Vintage Photo” Distress Marker, then I grabbed up a water bottle and sprayed everything down. The StazOn stayed put, and all the Distress Inks activated! After drying the envelope, I attached the bow tie and placed the medallions.
Thank you for joining me here today! I hope you enjoyed this Father’s Day card and it gave you some ideas of what you can create using this month’s kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
In addition to this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit, I used:
“Gathered Twigs” Distress Ink, StazOn “Timber Brown,” Tim Holtz “The Inspector” Stamp Set, Tim Holtz Stamp Platform, “Vintage Photo” Distress Marker, blending brush, Art Glitter Glue, double-sided adhesive foam, glue dots
Hey, y’all! It’s June 1st, and that means it’s time for the Tres Jolie Kit Club June Kits to be revealed! YAY! I always love this day!
June is also Tres Jolie’s anniversary month! We are 5 years strong thanks to our customers! Join us all month long for sales, weekly challenges, new chipboard items, more limited edition kits, a special summer banner kit, and a free gift with purchase. We have added new members to the design team and the website has a new look!
Make sure you have your Tres Jolie Kit Club kits so you can create your summer memory crafts and preserve your summer memories! Be sure to get your kits before they’re gone! Or, better yet, subscribe to Tres Jolie Kit Club so you will never miss a kit! Be sure you follow us on all social media platforms (Tres Jolie Kit Club links at the end of the post; Corner Scraps links to the right) and have joined the Tres Jolie Kit Club Facebook Café so you won’t miss a single announcement or project created with these kits.
Now for the June 2023 Kits!
The June 2023 Scrapbooking Kit is filled with the Vintage Man Collection from 3 Quarter Designs. This collection offers you a fabulous variety of designs for vintage and steampunk-themed projects. You will also find fabulous Finnabair Mechanicals and coordinating Tres Jolie Chipboard – a lovely assortment of patterned papers and perfectly coordinated embellishments!
This month’s Mixed Media Kit offers you a chance to play with oil pastels! And to go with them, there is a canvas panel, a stencil, and some Lindy’sMagical powder!
Our card kit is filled with A4 embossed papers and gold foiled kraft card embellishments from Hunkydory. As well as A4 kraft card blanks, white envelopes, and a gold Transfer Me sheet from Dress My Craft. There is enough for you to create some fantastic cards, tags, and ATCs – a wide variety of “mini” projects! Who doesn’t like creating a variety of projects from one kit?
These kits are for the beginner to the advanced, clean, and simple to mixed media maven. No matter your style, there is something for everyone. We know you are going to love it!
Now (drumroll please!), presenting the June 2023 Tres Jolie Kits:
*Scrapbook Kit*
*Mixed Media Kit*
*Cards, Tags, and More kit*
Don’t forget to stop by the Tres Jolie YouTube channel and see our video reveal of all our kits.
Love them, right?!?! You can still get one of your own (some kits are in very limited quantities). Become a subscriber and you will never miss out on our gorgeous, coordinated kits. Just visit Tres Jolie subscribe.
The designers at Tres Jolie have created some amazing layouts/projects with this kit.
Here is a little tease from me:
Please stop by the other designer’s blogs and check out their sneak peeks. They are listed below:
We have a new mood board challenge for the month. Here are the rules:
Place your entries in the June 2023 challenge folder on Tres Jolie Kit Club Café Facebook page. This challenge ends on June 30th, 2023 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 limiting the same winner to once every 3 months).
Don’t forget to follow us on all our social media:
All the designers will be revealing their projects on the Tres Jolie blog all month long. Make sure you join us for tons of inspiration, including video and photo tutorials. Also, check out our newest chipboard designs that were just added to the store.
Hey, y’all! May is drawing to a close, but that just means it’s almost time for the June Tres Jolie Kit Club reveal! YAY! New supplies!
For my fourth and final May 2023 project, I used the Cards, Tags, & More Kit to make a rather quick and easy pocket to hold my tags. Make sure to check out the process video, then go grab up your kit and make yourself one or more of these pockets to have on hand for whatever you decide to do with them!
Pretty easy, right? A few simple folds and I have a triple-tag pocket!
All of my pockets were folded in half on the long side, and the only pocket that had the extra flaps was the largest “main” pocket.
After I had my pockets cut to size, I started layering them up. I started with the smallest pocket and glued it to the back (the half without the flaps!) of the largest, glued the middle pocket in, then folded the large pocket up and adhered the falls around the back.
To help make sure I had space, I added a second score line – 1/8” spacing – and then used extra tags as placeholders in the pockets so I could wrap my flaps around – instead of just creating a flat fold. My pockets are snug, and if I were to make another pocket that would hold more than three tags, I would have to add a little extra to the flaps of the outer pocket!
To help reinforce the tops of the inner pockets, I added a 1” wide strip of solid cardstock – folded in half and cut a hair shy of the width of the pocket – and slid it in place. This helps reinforce the edges and creates a smoother finish. I also added strips of patterned paper to the two outer edges of the pocket to reinforce those since tags would be sliding in and out.
Once the pocket base was complete, the decoration was quick and easy! I used three – maybe closer to 2-1/2 – sheets of the BoBunny paper to cover one side of my tags and both sides of my pocket.
When I cut the blue plaid paper, I added approximately 1” extra so I could have a little extra to fold over the top of the pocket and a little extra to fold around the bottom and onto the back. For the ledger print patterned paper, I made sure to have an extra 1/2” at the top to fold over the top of the pocket and tore the bottom edge at the length needed to cover the edge of the blue plaid print paper. Super easy! Especially since I didn’t have to worry about wrapping the sides because I had already done that!
On the pocket front I added a few of the “Transfer Me” decals from this month’s Mixed Media Kit, then using my hot glue gun I popped on the flower buds I had left from my layout last week, two of the wicker hearts, and three of the BoBunny butterfly stickers. Since I have the wings lifted a little on the butterflies, I just gave them a light coating of glue so the sticky backing would no longer be sticky!
And although I hadn’t planned on adding so many KaiserCraft pearls, when I saw how the half circles looked, I knew I needed them all! I added some Diamond Glaze where I was going to attach the pearls – partly for extra hold, partly to give me the ability to slide the pearls around and make sure they were where I wanted them instead of just sticking them on and hoping I didn’t have to try and peel them back up!
I laid the blue sections of the patterned paper I had left together, added the “Transfer Me” decals, then started the process of gluing the patterned paper to one side of the tags. It really was just as simple as that! For the backs of the tags, since I didn’t want to leave them the manila color, I added some of the chalk onto my work surface, watered it down, then just dabbed and dragged the backs of the tags through the puddle.
After the tags had dried fully, I picked some of the flower stickers from the BoBunny sticker sheet to add to the front, then decided my tags need some of the banner pieces – so I added three banner stickers!
The final addition to the tags was the pieces of Prima Trim over the tag holes. All I did is cut six of the trim pieces off and glued one to the front and one to the back using hot glue.
Now I have a triple-tag pocket that could be used as it is – maybe add a photo or two to the tags. The backs could have notes added. The tags could be used as a card and words of encouragement could be added to the tags, or the whole pocket could be used in a junk journal or book! Endless possibilities!
Thank you for joining me here on the blog today, I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tag-pocket project and it gave you some ideas of what you can make 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! This week I have a mood board inspired layout for you using the 49 & Market “Everywhere” collection from the Scrapbooking Kit and the mediums and stencil pack from the Mixed Media Kit. I started my paper crafting journey close to 15 years ago – with paper, glue, and scissors – it didn’t take long for me to realize I “needed” a few more supplies! I started with solid papers – I was terrified of patterned paper! How do you not have elements clashing?!?! And, even though I used duplicate photo prints, I still couldn’t fathom cutting them! Suffice it to say, my initial layouts are, comparatively, bland.
What was my biggest game-changer? Learning about the existence of gesso – especially clear gesso. I have zero formal training in physical art, so for everything I do now, I had to learn from videos, experience, and luck! Lots and lots of “dumb luck” LOL! Y’all, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how others were adding wet mediums to their layouts and getting them to move around instead of soaking in and becoming splotches. Then I learned about gesso. Clear gesso when you don’t want to cover everything, and white gesso to create a “clean” area for your feature photos. And, even though I haven’t needed to (yet!), black gesso could easily be used too!
That brings us to my layout! A remarkable evolution from my first layout which had two solid colored cardstocks and two 4”x6” photos. Make sure you check out my process video to see what I did to put it all together!
This project was also inspired by this month’s mood board – maps, travel, and adventure – even if the adventure is a walk and picking flowers. Plus the twist “Oh The Places You Will Go” has both a literal and figurative interpretation. There isn’t just the physical adventure or possibilities of adventure, but the great adventure of life!
After I finally managed to decide which sheet of patterned paper I wanted to use, I added a coat of clear gesso. While that gesso dried, I remembered I needed to coat the Tres Jolie Chipboard pieces – but I had already rinsed out my brush and was preparing to wind down for the day, so I gave them a spray of Workable Fixatif for convenience!
After the gesso had dried, I used the Seth Apter “Flakey” Texture Paste and the Tim Holtz Circle Fade Stencil from the Mixed Media Kit this month to start building my background with a few random areas of texture where I was planning on adding my photos and clusters.
After the texture paste had dried, I mixed together each of the three PearlEx Powders from the Mixed Media Kit with water in a small palette to use as watercolors to add on and around the stenciling – then I just dipped into my three watercolors, let them move around on the background naturally and added a few extra splatters of the “Duo Aqua Blue” and “Sky Blue.” I also added a light coating of Workable Fixatif after my colors had dried to hold those powders in place.
As I started playing around with the elements I had decided to use, I realized I needed a little extra separation between the background and the photos, so I added some extra, torn-edge, pieces of paper as part of my layering process. I have my photos backed with some adhesive foam to help stabilize them, and then I just started positioning everything where I wanted it, then came in and added hot glue underneath the pieces – because I didn’t want to “forget” what I had originally planned if I tried taking everything off then rebuilding with the glue!
For the Tres Jolie Chipboard, I used a mix of the “Worn Jeans” Chalk Ink found in this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit, the three PearlEx Powders from the Mixed Media Kit, and clear embossing ink (refill bottle) and Extra Thick Embossing Powder from my stash. I started with the chalk ink, sprinkled, brushed, and watered down the PearlEx Powders while the ink was still wet, then decided what I really needed was some embossing – and that’s when I used my refill embossing ink to “paint” my powders in place before adding the Extra Thick Embossing Powder. Then I did it a second time – minus the chalk ink – so I have two layers of color and embossing powder!
After everything was in place and the hot glue had cooled down, I came back with my palette of “watercolors” to extend the areas of color and to blend in the torn pieces of paper I had added with my clusters and photos.
I hope you enjoyed this layout and it gave you some ideas of how you can use the mediums from the Mixed Media Kit and the “Everywhere” Collection from the Scrapbooking Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! Have you opened your Tres Jolie May Mixed Media Kit yet? Have you seen all the creative fun you can have with it? I was over the moon excited when I saw the PearlEx powders! I love blues and teals! And a blank coaster set to decorate? How awesome is that? You can easily use these coasters as they are – just adding some kind of protective surface like epoxy resin (self-leveling!) when you have them decorated – or you can use them as mini-art boards and use them as home décor if you want! Endless possibilities!
However, I just already happened to have some square silicone coaster molds and epoxy resin, so I created a coaster set! I added some heavy white gesso from my stash, used the Tim Holtz stencils, Seth Apter texture paste, and the PearlEx “MicroPearl” powder from the kit, and decorated one side of the Dress My Craft coasters. I have a process video for you, make sure to check it out!
Creating these coasters wasn’t at all very difficult! Waiting for the epoxy resin to cure was the most time-consuming! I hadn’t originally planned on using the silicone molds I’ve had for a few years now, but after I added the texture paste to the coaster blanks, I decided to see how well they would fit into the molds. They weren’t a “perfect” fit – the blanks were a hair larger – but I decided it was close enough for me to work with!
To start, I coated one side of the coasters with some heavy gesso, and after the gesso had dried, I added random stenciling using the Tim Holtz Stencils and Seth Apter Texture paste found in this month’s kit.
While the texture paste was still wet, I sprinkled on some of the “MicroPearl” PearlEx Powder, spritzed it with water, and then let everything air dry.
I started my resin process by only adding a thin layer to the mold and letting the resin pool whichever way it decided to. Then, on the now-hardened pools of resin, I added some of the Transfer Me pieces. The next step was to add some color! After I mixed up a batch of resin, I separated some of it into three small cups so I could mix in the three PearlEx powders. I didn’t stir my colors together in the mold, instead, I pressed the texture paste coated coasters in and let any extra just flow over the bottom – which also has a lovely pattern!
After this batch of resin had cured, I unmolded the coasters and added more of the Transfer Me designs to the surface.
To seal up and protect the final Transfer Me design, I used my gloved hands to spread a light coating of epoxy across the surface.
I will be taking my coaster out to the workshop to smooth out the bottom edges a little from when I pushed the Dress My Craft coasters into the molds and then adding a second thin coat of resin all over the surface of the coaster, but overall, these coasters are done! If my resin hadn’t tried to get away from me too badly when I squished the Dress My Craft coasters in, I don’t think I would have even had to do any cleanup!
Thank you for joining me here on the blog today! I hope you enjoyed my coaster-making process and it gave you some ideas of what you can do with all the goodies found in this month’s Mixed Media Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! For my first May project, I have a mini pocket album inspired by the “Tea Book Ephemera Organiser’s” from Bohemian Crafting! When I saw the original video, I knew I had to make my own little book! Not only is this an adorable little book/album, but it is also easy to put together!
Make sure to check out my video and see it all come together!
For my cover, I used a piece of poster board from when my kids were in school. It’s flexible, yet sturdy – I’m not very good and guessing the weight of paper, but I do know it isn’t as thick as the 130# cover stock I like to use as card bases!
I cut out a 10-inch by 8-1/4-inch rectangle from the poster board, then on the 10-inch side, I scored at 4-1/2-inches, rotated the cover 180 degrees, and scored at 4-1/2-inches again. You could also score at 4-1/2 inches and 5-1/2-inches if you didn’t want to rotate your cover piece, I only rotated mine to make sure I had the front and back flaps of the cover as close to equal as I could get! This way, if my original cut wasn’t “exactly” 10 inches, my front and back cover would still be 4-1/2 inches, and any “excess” would just find its way to the spine!
I picked out the papers I wanted to use for my cover and cut four 4-1/2-inch by 3-inch rectangles out of the floral paper and two 4-1/2-inch by 2-1/4-inch rectangles out of the orange-ish paper. I added the extra 1/4-inch to the orange-ish paper to give a little bit of extra to work with to make sure I didn’t have any gaps – which is also why I glued it down before the floral paper! I didn’t glue the paper down to the spine until after I had the pages stitched in, because I knew I wanted to cover all the thread.
After the outer papers were glued to the front and back cover, I poked some stitch holes and added some simple stitches using 6-strand embroidery floss (I used all 6 strands!). Then I picked out the papers for the inside of the covers, cut the background papers just long enough to have the edge hidden by the 3-inch pockets, glued them to the cover, and added the pockets.
I have three different pocket page sizes – 3, 3-1/2, and 4 inches – made from 6”x6”, 7”x7”, and 8”x8” squares of paper. And, regardless of the finished size, they were all made the same – folded in half, then half again! This gives an opening at one long edge of the paper (the top of my pockets) and the two short, outer edges. To seal the outer edges, I didn’t glue them closed, I used leftover strips of the BoBunny paper, solid cardstock, and BoBunny stickers to hold them closed. As an optional step, you can also use a circle punch – or just scissors – to add thumb holes to the top edge of the pockets! I inked the edges of my pages, and since it is chalk ink, I have my pockets a spray of Workable Fixatif to help the chalky finish stay in place.
After I had the edges sealed, I added a strip of green cardstock to the inside spine and finally stitched my pages to the spine through the holes I had pre-poked using a template I had made to help me keep my pages centered and evenly spaced. Each page has two holes for stitching through – 1/4” from the top and bottom of the pocket – and I just used simple straight stitching to hold them in.
Once the stitching was done, I finally added the papers I had picked for the spine to cover my thread.
After the pages were sealed, I used more of my scrap pieces –the solid cutoffs stamped with one of Tim Holtz’s newest stamps – and some of the stickers to add some simple decoration to the pages and cover – sometimes adding another wrap around the edge, sometimes creating tabs for the edges. On the cover I also used one of the Tres Jolie Chipboard pieces, coated with clear gesso from my stash, the Faded Jeans Chalk Ink from the kit, and a little clear embossing powder, and with some of the KaiserCraft pearls on the stem.
Thank you for joining me here today, I hope you enjoyed this mini pocket page album and it gave you some ideas of what you can make 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! Is it May already? WOW! But at least that means it’s time for new Tres Jolie Kits! YAY! As always, these kits are FAB-U-LOUS and perfect for your May creations!
Summer is drawing nearer, soon the season of swimming, bar-b-que’s, and campfires will be in full swing! Make sure you have your Tres Jolie Kit Club kits so you can create your summer memory crafts and preserve your summer memories! Be sure to get your kits before they’re gone! Or, better yet, subscribe to Tres Jolie Kit Club so you will never miss a kit!
Be sure you follow us on all social media platforms (Tres Jolie Kit Club links at the end of the post; Corner Scraps links to the right) and have joined the Tres Jolie Kit Club Facebook Café so you won’t miss a single announcement or project created with these kits.
The May 2023 Scrapbooking Kit is filled with the wonderful 12”x12” Collection Pack, Laser Cut Elements, and Tag Set from 49 & Market’s Everywhere line! You will also find 49 & Market coordinating flower packs, and fabulous Tres Jolie Chipboard geotags and compass pieces! As always, these papers will be amazing for all your upcoming projects, whether they are beautiful layouts, junk journals, cards, or anything in between! You will find a lovely assortment of patterned papers and perfectly coordinated embellishments.
In the Mixed Media Kit, you will find beautiful PearlEx Pigment Powders in Micropearl, Aqua-Blue, and Sky Blue! These pigment powders will add beautiful color to the IzinkFlakey Texture Paste by Seth Apter if you choose or can be used to add some accent color to the Dress My CraftTransfer Me 3D White Damask’s. Decorate the coaster blanks from Dress My Craft using the Tim HoltzMini Stencils, and add more or a different, texture with some art stones! No matter what you decide to do, the Mixed Media Kit is sure to give you hours of happy craft time!
In the Cards, Tags, & More Kit, you will find a 6”x8” patterned paper pad and cardstock stickers from BoBunny’s Garden Grove collection that you can use to create unique cards using the solid cardstock sheets from the kit, decorate the tags found in the kit, create some ATCs, or whatever you can think of! Who doesn’t like creating a variety of projects from one kit?
These kits are for the beginner to the advanced; from clean and simple – to mixed media maven. No matter your style, there is something for everyone. We know you are going to love it!
And now (drumroll, please) the May 2023 Kits from Tres Jolie:
Scrapbooking Kit
Mixed Media Kit
Cards, Tags, & More Kit
Don’t forget to stop by the Tres Jolie YouTube channel and see our video reveal for all our kits.
Love them, right?!?! You can still get one of your own (some kits are in very limited quantities). Become a subscriber and you will never miss out on our gorgeous, coordinated kits. Just visit Tres Jolie Subscribe.
The designers at Tres Jolie have created some amazing layouts and projects with this kit. I have had a busy April, but I have one sneak peek for you!
Please stop by the other designer’s blog to check out their sneak peeks:
We have a new mood board challenge for the month, with the following rules and guidelines:
Place your entries in the April 2023 challenge folder on the Tres Jolie Kit Club Café Facebook page. This challenge ends on April 30th, 2023 at 11:59 pm CDT. All entries must be in this folder to be eligible for the prize (to have everyone eligible to win, we limit the same winner to once every 3 months).
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
All the designers will be revealing their projects on the Tres Jolie Blog all month. Be sure you join us for tons of inspiration, including video and photo tutorials. Also, make sure you check out the newest Tres Jolie Chipboard designs that were just added to the store.
Hey, y’all! For my final project of April, I have some quick and easy MemoryDex Cards for you! I used up scraps I had leftover from the Easel Cards I made at the beginning of the month, finished off the flower pack from the Scrapbooking Kit, and added a little splatter from the “Fairy Wings” paint in the Mixed Media Kit!
There isn’t a lot of “instruction” for these easy-peasy cards, but I do have a process video for you to check out where I go over briefly what I was using and doing!
As I started cutting my cover stock to size, I decided I would use up as much as I could, and that led me to create a tiered set of cards. All three cards are 4 inches wide, but their heights are 3”, 3-1/4”, and 3-1/2”.
I already had quite a bit of the flowers and foliage cut out from my Easel Cards, but I wanted a few larger pieces, so I cut the tags from one of the patterned papers, the hearts and scalloped edge circles from the cover of the elements pack, and picked out a few of the words from a page in the elements pack.
I picked out one sheet of patterned paper to cut to the same sizes as my three bases, punched the MemoryDex holes along the bottoms, and glued the two layers together.
I tried to keep each card similar to each other, but not identical, so I sorted the pieces I planned on using before gluing everything together.
I also wanted to add a little dimension to the layers – help them stand out a bit – so I used a blending brush and inked up the edges of the ephemera pieces before attaching them.
Because I had already opened the Little Birdie flower pack from the Scrapbooking Kit when I was playing with color, I decided I wanted to finish it off! (If you haven’t heard, I don’t like having partial flower packs!!)
I had one cluster, but three cards, so what else was there to do but dismantle the flower cluster and distribute the parts across the cards as evenly as possible?
After I had all my layers glued down and my Little Birdie flowers on, I realized I needed to add a little “something” to the flowers to create a more cohesive look – all it took was a light brushing of ink from my blending brush! Well I could have easily called the cards done after adding the sentiments, I still felt they didn’t look quite finished – so I added a little butterfly, and splattered on some of the “Fairy Wings” Sparks paint.
Thank you for joining me here today! I hope you enjoyed these quick and easy MemoryDex cards and they gave you some ideas of what you can make using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit – or scraps you have left from other projects!
Stay Crafty, Friends
Did you get a kit? Share what you made in our Facebook Group!
Hey, y’all! Have you heard the news this month? Tres Jolie Kit Club has teamed up with Clear Scraps!! How awesome is that?!?! Have you had a chance to check out the other (Tres Jolie & Clear Scraps) designer’s project this week? If not, go check them out!
Last week you saw a couple of Clear Scraps wooden blanks I used while playing with color, this week is my “main” or “feature” collaboration project – Tres Jolie Scrapbooking & Mixed Media Kits + an acrylic “Wave” album from Clear Scraps! As soon as I opened my package from Clear Scraps, I knew, knew, what I had to do with the album! It was a real test to my ADHD to finish other projects I was working on – that had a time limit – before tearing into the Tres Jolie Scrapbooking Kit and the Clear Scraps Album! Are any other ADHDers out there? You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?
I have a tutorial video for you too! I do my best to explain everything I’m doing and how I’m doing it! Make sure you check it out so you can make your own file-journal-album type thingy! Maybe it was because here in the States it was tax season when I started it – all I know is I really wanted to create something pretty and functional to help me get organized () for next year!
I can’t give a “good” answer to why I wanted to add a hidden pocket/faux window to the cover, I just did! Thinking back, I believe it started with the window idea and morphed into not wanting the window to actually show what was inside – so I made a pocket instead of just covering the backside of the front cover.
I found a round lid from a container I had been saving, and it was the perfect size for my window! I just traced the lid on a piece of scrap paper to use as a mask while stenciling, and traced the lid onto the section of patterned paper I wanted to use for the “backing.”
To really make sure I had good adhesion, I mixed some 3D Matte Gel from my stash with some of the “White Sand” Texture Paste and “Fairy Wings” Sparks paint from this month’s Mixed Media Kit before adding it to the cover using the Craft o’Clock stencil also found in this month’s Mixed Media Kit.
I used JudiKins Diamond Glaze to attach all of my paper to the acrylic pages throughout the project. Diamond Glaze has a strong hold and it dries clear – well it dries clear unless the paper “soaks” it up! I wasn’t sure exactly how the Diamond Glaze would work with the paper and acrylic, but it was the best I could think of to hold everything together – so I used it and hoped for the best! In the end, I’m happy with my choice! Even though the glue dries clear, it leaves darker, water-stain-ish areas on the paper – and I’m okay with that because it just adds more aging to the entire project!
I glued the patterned paper circle on first so I could make sure it lined up with the un-stenciled area on the cover, then I added the sheet of patterned paper I had picked to cover the entire inside of the cover. The circle and the floral print are from the same 12×12 sheet, and, shockingly, I had thought this through! With the floral print showing through the cover, the tea-stain look – the same pattern for my window circle – is what shows within the pocket!
After I had my faux window pieces in place, I cut out the piece I wanted to use for the pocket and cut an extra strip of patterned paper out for the (inside) top edge of the pocket to reinforce it. When it came time to attach the pocket, I laid a bone folder in the center of the acrylic cover before adding the pocket. This creates just enough gap to keep the pocket loose enough to remain functional.
To finish off the details on the cover, I added some of the flowers and foliage I had fussy cut from a few of the 6”x6” sheets of “First Kiss” papers in the scrapbooking kit, splattered on some of the “Ginger Magic” Sparks paint from the mixed media kit, and then gave everything a light-medium coating of Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze for protection. Once the Krylon had dried, I added a few of the 49 & Market Epoxy Stickers – adding some Diamond Glaze for extra adhesion since they are on the cover.
The back cover is far simpler – in fact, all of the other acrylic pages are! For the rest of the acrylic pages, I started out with some light stenciling using the “Ginger Magic” Sparks paint, but as I went along, I wanted to try and add some dimension to the pages, so on the side that was still “plain,” I added random stenciling, reverse stenciling, and/or splotches using the “Fairy Wings” Sparks paint. On the sides that had the “Ginger Magic” stenciling, I sprayed a light coating of Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze to protect the paint, but I didn’t need to add the Krylon to the “Fairy Wings” side since that would be where my pockets were going to get attached.
Besides the vintage feel of the “First Kiss” Collection, the “vintage” tape was why I didn’t mind the “water stains” caused by the Diamond Glaze – I had already planned on making everything “old”!!
I used some Duck Brand Clear Laminate and alcohol inks to create my aged tape – because I have had a roll of Duck Brand Clear Laminate sitting around for about six months! The laminate is self-adhesive, not too thick, and flexible! Plus it is in a 12” wide roll, so I inked up a 6”x12” section, then cut it into four, 1-1/2” wide strips for the bottom edges of the pockets (Packing tape or gift wrapping tape can be used just as easy to create vintage tape!). This gave some reinforcement to the edge of the pocket that the holes went through and the bottom “hinge” of the pocket.
For the pocket construction, each page is created using one of the 12”x12” sheets. I determined what sections of the pattern I wanted to show, traced the wave edge of the acrylic sheet where it needed to go, made light marks if needed at the straight edge, and added 5” from the straight edge for the pocket front. Where the straight edge of the acrylic page was marked is where my first score line went, then I added a second score line 1/2” over on the front of the pocket. The reason for the two score lines was simple. The first one is the main fold line of the pocket, but because I needed to account for the book ring holes, I added a second one to create the functional part of the pocket.
In that 1/2” section, I added some double-sided tape and glue and sealed it up – leaving me with a nice sturdy edge to punch my holes though!
For the accordion fold edges of the pockets, I cut two, 4-1/2”x2” strips for each pocket – eight in total – scored at 1/2” and 1-1/2”, then added a 1”x5” strip of the laminate (without alcohol ink) between those two score lines. I added the extra 1/2” to the laminate so I could fold it over the top of the accordion edge to give it some extra strength. After the laminate was in place, I added a score line right down the center of the strip, then folded everything at the score lines to create a W.
I decided to add a separator to my pockets – to create two sections inside – so all I did is grab up a couple of 8-1/2”x11” pieces of cardstock from my stash and cut them in half. This gave me the four dividers I need for all four pockets. I added a strip of patterned paper to the inside of the front (straight edge) of the pockets and the top, front edge of the divider to reinforce them.
I checked and re-checked that my divider was the right size, attaching one accordion side, doing a dry (glue-less) assembly, and marking how much needed to be shaved off to make sure my divider didn’t buckle in the pocket. Then, after I was sure everything would fit, I added my second accordion side, did another glue-less assembly (because it would be far easier to remove the accordion ends and make a new divider now!), quadruple checked for fit, then finally I glued the divider to the accordion sides and set it off while I worked on the closure.
I have added this quickly-created graphic to show you where the pocket and divider are glued to the accordion sides. The pink-ish lines represent the edges for adhesion – hopefully, this is a far better explanation than I could have ever done trying to use words!!
For my pocket closures, I wrapped a 1-1/2” wide by 5-3/4” or so long strip of patterned paper with some of the laminate – cut in a 4”x3-3/4” square. After getting my magnet in place with a little Fabri-Tac, I add some of my homemade vintage tape, then the 4” width gets wrapped around the latch (1-1/2”+1-1/2”=3” plus an extra inch for overlap), and the edge of the latch (with the rounded corners) lines up with [one of the] the 3-3/4” edges – this leaves about two inches of the paper unwrapped, making it easier to ensure good adhesion when glued into the back of the pocket! Or, at least in my thinking because I find it easier to glue paper to paper than laminate to paper!
Starting about two inches from the edge of the latch with the magnet, I add about 1-1/2” of score lines – my scoreboard has 1/8” spacing, so I made about 12-13 score lines. I had cut the laminate wrapping the closure just long enough to reinforce all the score lines on the latch and to go about 1/2” or so past the last score line. Since some of my score lines are “inside” the pocket, this also ensured that all areas of the latch “outside” the pocket had the laminate protection. Then, all that was left to do is glue the latch in place – center along the back – using some Fabri-Tac because of the laminate, add a couple of clips at the edge to hold it together while the glue dried, and add my paperclip magnet catch to the inside of the front of the pocket.
I used jumbo paperclips and glued them in vertically so that as the pocket got full and expanded, the magnet would be sure to catch on some part of the paperclip!
Once my latch and paperclip were in place, it was finally time to glue the center divider and accordion sides in!
Although, for my pockets, the eyelets are both decorative and functional, I consider them only decorative because adding a little glue between the accordion folds would create the same effect – to help create the V shape when the pocket opens. And, honestly, you don’t really need to add glue or eyelets, the pocket isn’t going to not open in a V, but I think it does help to keep the “strain” [of the accordion folds] off the front of the pocket, if that makes sense.
And, for some extra decoration and a way to hold more papers without covering up all the stenciling I did on the acrylic pages, I made up a few hidden or covered paperclips! (You can search YouTube for “covered paperclips” or “hidden paperclips” to get a list of different videos!)
Thank you for joining Tres Jolie and Clear Scraps this week! We hope you have been enjoying the collaboration projects and they have given you some ideas of what you can create using Tres Jolie’s beautiful kits and fabulous Clear Scraps products!
Stay Crafty, Friends
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C.J.'s Corner Scraps 