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
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In addition to this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit, I used:
Tim Holtz “Book Cover” Embossing Folders , Distress Spray Stain “Ground Espresso” , Distress Paint “Ground Espresso” , Distress Paint “Villainous Potion” , Dina Wakley “Olive” Acrylic Paint , Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher , Tim Holtz Sanding Block , Tim Holtz Jute String , We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper , We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile II , Finnabair Soft Matte Gel , Glossy Accents , Fabri-Tac , thin chipboard (ex: cereal box) , fabric scraps , Dritz 1/4” Eyelets , 1/2” Herringbone Edging
C.J.'s Corner Scraps 