Spring Time Book for Alpha Stamps

I absolutely love all the new spring time goodies I got my hands on from Alpha Stamps!

I could not wait to make this fun Spring Time in Paris Collage book.  It was so super easy with the help of my trusty goodies from Xyron.

I used a bit of Wild Honey Stain by Tim Holtz to unite the book.

To age the lovely crochet ribbon edges I actually added gilders paste to the material.  It cast a mild blue hue and I just love it.

Some of my left over Ice Resin tissue flowers ended up in my book.

The butterfly Dresden scrap made for a perfect addition.

Lots of Tim Holtz rub ons were used through out the project.  My secret is to try to use up the whole sheet so I don't have left overs.  That way I keep layering and layering them in as well.

The Tim Holtz ephemera made for great embellishments along with collage images from Alpha Stamps.

Cheers,

Rhea

DCWV Shadow Box

I recently made a fun little shadowbox with the new Brooklyn paper by DCWV and lots of my time saving Xyron products as well.  This project was helped along with my: Mega Runner, 5"Creative Station and my 1 1/2" Sticker Maker.  

I layered in lots of ephemera images from the paper line and from my stash.  I used some of the new Tim Holtz ephemera along with ripped up pieces of resinated tissue tape left over from another project.

I added some of my coveted Tim Holtz goodies to the mix to add bit of the story.  

I always love the look of air mail.  I made this cute tape embellishment and there is a Snapguide below!

Check out How to Make Vintage Air Mail Tape by Rhea Freitag on Snapguide.

Cheers,

Rhea

Travel Junk Book

I just had to make another great junk book with a ton of great stuff from Alpha Stamps.  The response to my last one included many requests as to how to put on of these together, so here is a tutorial and video tour. The new worn cover by Tim Holtz, allowed for a super simple version of this book, which I created on one Sunday morning.  Yes, indeed, you heard that right, I made this in a morning craft session...from start to finish.

This time I chose to got with a travel theme for my book.  I chose a few charms and talisman to give my book a bit of movement and soul.  I love the capsule where there is a postal stamp tucked inside.  I also love the compass rose and the Eiffel Tower, great nods to the theme. 

In this version of my junk book I used three different colors of seam binding instead of dying my own silk ribbon.  This took off a lot of time and mess off the project and still provided a great result with varying color.  

Inside I used all kids of fun stuff.  I would go through my packages of stuff in my stash, choose a pile of ephemera, and then flip through and apply everything I chose from that selection.  

Here is just a tiny sample of what lies inside.  Lots of pockets, bits of tape, things tucked inside and tons of postal goodness.  I just adore the postal theme.  I seriously can't get enough.

Stay tuned.  Later this week I will be posting a video tour of this book along with a photo tutorial on how to assemble.

Cheers, 

Rhea

Another Junque Journal

So sorry that my posts have been meager of late folks.  I hope that my creative mojo will be back soon and I will be back to regular postings.  In the meantime I thought I would share something I have been working on for quite some time.  It is another junk journal, again totally made from scratch.   Since it is so hard to get a feel for the book through pictures and I have lots of good stuff crammed inside, I also made a video tour at the end if you are inclined to listen to me prattle on about my junk for about seven minutes.

Here is another peek from the side.  As per usual, my books/journals turn out really fat.  I like to stuff them with lots of unusual stuff. This one was created with a Bind it All.  It was super fun and easy and I love how you can embed lots of unusual papers and envelopes.

Things I used a ton of in this project: decorative tapes, found/recycled papers and lots of scraps.  Nothing matches and I am fine with that!

Here are just a few spreads from the inside.  Watch the video below if you want in on some of my ideas.  This book is not quite "done" yet as there are a ton of places to still add everyday ephemera, doodles and notes.

And without further ado, a full on video tour with lots of inspiration.  Enjoy!

Cheers, 

Rhea

Mail Art Junque Journal

I am delighted to be able to finally show off this treasure.  At one point I thought this lovely little book was lost forever, but it resurfaced and I am so grateful.  This journal started out as a Mail Art journal,  round robin style swap through Swap-bot.  When it was returned to me there were still several pages unfinished, so I just added more of my own mail art and lots of other paper junque.  It is so fun and packed with goodies. 

I am showing off a few pictures to entice you, but I am also posting a You Tube video, as I think this will better capture all of the yummy mail art goodness inside. 



Lots of people contributed to the cover and I love this aspect of the journal.  It is hard to imagine what it looked like before I sent it out into the world.  I wish I had a "before" shot to share with you.  I picked up a few of these handmade books at an art student's garage sale.  In hindsight, I should have grabbed more than the three I did. 





Here you can see how thick this book really is.  There are a ton of flaps and fold outs I made simply by creatively attaching envelopes with  decorative tape.  You would not believe how much decorative tape there is in this book. It makes for really good collage fodder.





These are two pieces of mail art that I had received and added to the book before sending it out.  I just adore the mermaid envelope!



Here is another great spread that is true to the original theme.  These pages were completed by Mandy, aka Farstarr.  She has a lovely etsy shop worth checking out!



Here is another one of my favorite spreads.  I made this one from wonderful mail art items I recieved from Su, aka, TangleCrafts.  She also has a wonderful etsy, filled with zines and all sorts of mail art fun.  The brown insert is actually a self mailing zine that is all mail art themed and just filled with lots of useful information and inspiration.  I thought this was a clever way to add this to my book.  I made a simple hinge with gaffer tape from 7 gypsies.

Hopefully I have teased you enough to want to take a gander at the full tour of my fun journal!  Enjoy!



Junque Book: How to

So as promised, I am going to share with you some (poor quality) pictures depicting how I assembled my holiday junque books.  I am sorry the lighting in my craft area is so poor!  What will be shown here is just how to assemble the book, it is up to you to personalize it with what you put inside.  Here is one of the books I have finished assembling, but there is much work to be done inside.  You will see links at the bottom to see inside a few of my books.  I have also made a video tour of my completed book, if you want to check that out.



To create the basic book you will need:

Wendy Vecchi Art Parts: creative covers, size large

Tim Holtz ring binders, size large

Tim Holtz kraft paper

Ranger Sticky Backed Canvas

Tissue Tape

Yes Paste

Distress Stains

Duct Tape

Basic Craft Supplies: pen, scissors

Get your cover ready by using one piece of the cover to trace and cut out your cover design for both front and back.  I chose Tim Holtz's kraft paper.  I really like how it accepts the stains and how sturdy it is.  Cut out your paper and then color how ever you choose.  On my first journal I buffed in distress inks with an applicator, in this project I used the distress stain. 

Next, prepare your sticky backed canvas.  This will act as the binding of our project.  I simply colored mine with the distress stain again.  You can add some more decorative elements here though.  You could stamp a texture stamp, paint or even emboss a design on your spine before binding if you choose.  Just remember this will eventually bend, so be sure whatever application you decide on can bend once finished.  As you can see above, mine curled a bit when I used a heat tool to dry the stain, it is all good.

Your package of Art Parts will come with extra spines. You have the choice to orientate your book either way.  Above I have laid out the proper one for this project. 

Now simply attach the binder ring to the spine using the brads provided.  I learned a trick that helps, but has not perfected the issue of being able to see the brads through the canvas.  I then added a bit of duct tape to the back of the spine.  It does not matter what this looks like as the canvas will cover it, my duct tape was camouflage in pattern.  This assists in covering up the tails of the brads.  You will still be able to see them a bit after assembling.  Next time I make one, I may try two layers of duct tape.  I found this also helps the brads to stay better as well. 

I then laid it out to plan the assembly.  The band of sticky back canvas I used was four inches.  I cut this off the bottom of one sheet.  You will need to leave a bit of a gap so that there is room for the covers to move.

 Peel the backing from the canvas and carefully place the spine on top.

Add each cover to the binding as well.  Be sure to line everything up as straight as you can.

Simply fold up the extra bit of canvas binding material on the top and bottom as shown. Burnish the canvas down well and be sure the canvas has made good contact with the art parts. 

Now, I did not like the naked look of the art parts on the inside of my book.  So to solve this issue I used a very strong paper adhesive, Yes Paste, along with some tissue tape to cover this area.  The tissue tape worked well as I was able to rip bits and layer to get around all of the binder.  It is a low tack tape, so adhering this on its own would probably not stand up to the wear and tear I plan on putting on this book. I was sure to use a lot of the paste in the cracks between each book component and get every bit of the tape tacked down.   

To finish the inside, I used my assembled book as a template to cut out pieces to fit the inside.  Again I chose kraft paper as it is tough and really adheres the the covers with the help of the Yes Paste. I covered the inside almost to the edge of the spine.   

As you can gather, I ended up disliking the blue and so it ended up brown.  I simply went back over everything with more stain.  Now the blue shows through a bit and I love the layers of color.  To see inside of my book more click here.  Below you can also see the first book I made for a secret Santa.  To see inside of Beth's book click here.

 If your playing along at home, now is the time to embellish at will.  I added a book plate with a personalized message on one, a knob on another.  You could write out a word in grunge board or chip board. Add a closure or a window peeking inside.  I took a big risk and put a hole right in the cover in order to add a large dangle of a charm complete with bells, stars and vintage tinsel. 

   

My inside pages are made from more kraft paper and other holiday paper as well. You will have to use the links above to browse inside.  Most pages I simply glued together two pieces of paper and finished the edges with tissue tape.  I added tabs, reproduction holiday ephemera, pockets, envelopes, recipe cards, junk mail, past Christmas card covers and anything that inspired me. 

Some other ideas:  Save your everyday ephemera, now is the perfect time to collect things such as tags from gifts, bits of wrapping paper, ribbons, envelopes, packaging from gifts, Christmas cards, holiday photos from family etc.  This is what will make your book uniquely yours. To make your journal ecclectic attach your junque with decorative tape, staples, paper clips, binder clips.  Keep your to do lists, holiday invitations, programs from holiday events and pieces of your kids holiday school work inside.  Make it your own and don't think twice about it, just stuff it inside and document your busy holiday season.  This will be a treasure for years to come.

I hope you found this information helpful and inspirational. 

Merry Christmas!

Rhea