A sale in my Etsy shop and some freebies in my Kofi shop

 Hello friends, this is one of these rare occasions when I decided to do a blog post again. Really just for those who don’t follow me on other social media platforms.

With Christmas coming closer and many people struggling with the cost of living crisis, I decided to have a sale in my Etsy shop, both for my journals and my digitals. So if you are after some unique gifts, or would like to purchase some digitals at a sale’s price, now is your chance.

As it’s the start of the month, I am also offering some freebies, you can download those for free in my Kofi shop.

Here’s what they look like:

You can either download just the ephemera, or the more autumnal one with the mushrooms added, or if you like working on a smaller scale like I often do, there is also a sheet with both the plain and the mushroom one on one sheet. If you want, you can of course download all three of them too😀

Happy September to you all and thanks for visiting here.

Sharing an Autumnal journal and some freebies

 Hello dear blog friends. Once again I have to start my post with an apology for my long absence, but here you are, back with a little share and a freebie.

Recently I created a new Autumn themed junk journal collection which you can find in my Etsy Shop and I am in the process of creating a little journal with the papers and embellishments.

I'll share some photos and explanations of how I put it together:

Here you can see the cover, it's quite a fat little journal, roughly 6" wide and 4.5" high. I cut 2 pieces of chip board that size for the front and back and then a 1.5" wide spine. The pieces of chipboard are held together with wide masking tape, leaving a 1/8" gap between each of the pieces so the can easily bend and close, and then |I covered every thing with bits of paper from the collection.

Here you can see the spine. On the inside I fastened two pieces of elastic, travellers journal style, so it can hold two inserts, which can easily be taken out to make it easier to journal.

Here you can see one of the inside covers, with a pocket and two little journal cards.

And here the cover of the first insert. Both inserts contain a mix of papers from the collection and coffee stained papers, some decorated and some left blank for journaling.

Here is one of the inside pages, the left side has a tuck spot and journal card, the right side a pocket with die-cut edge and a little additional booklet tucked in the pocket.

Here's a closer view of the pocket and below you can see a collection of the journal cards and some stamped tickets I made to use for decorating the journal and journal cards still further.

Here are a couple of faux CD sleeves I made, they are 3.5 by 3.5". I cut out the circles before gluing them together, and lined them with acetate. I then decorated both the out and inside further still, so now they are ready to be filled with embellishments and tucked into some of the pockets.

If you would like to see a bit more of the journal, there is a quick flip through of some of the pages on my Instagram, just click here

Here are some of the papers from the collection still, so you can see what is all in there:

OK, and now finally for the freebie which I created to go along with the collection:

Now like usual, this is a huge file, so what you see here is just a low resolution version. So if you would like to print the freebie, please email me and I will send you the full resolution version.

Well, that's it for now, thanks for your visit like always and see you next time.

xxxxx

Spring is in the air, a short tutorial with another freebie

 Hello friends, hope you are keeping well!

Here in Edinburgh Scotland, where I live, it is slowly turning warmer and there is a first feeling of spring in the air. This inspired me to create another paper collection, which I have called "Spring is in the Air", and like usual I have created a project tutorial and a freebie for you to enjoy. Let's start with the projects:

This is a little folder with two pockets and space to hold a little notebook or journal inside. They are good fun to do, in fact I enjoyed it so much I made two, just a little different from one another. They would make a great little gift for someone, just a bit more elaborate than a card, and who would not want to receive a special little gift made by you?

Here is the second one, just a little bit different from the outside, but made in exactly the same way. Below you can see what they look like from the inside. The elastics in the middle are there so you can slide the notebook underneath.

This is the one, it has a little tuck spot that can hold a bookmark or something in the flap.

This is the other one with the flap on the other side. Below are some instructions on how to put it together:

Project instructions:

This is what you need: I made mine out of a piece of mat board that was 12 by 12 inches, but you could make it equally well out of a piece of A4 strong card, or by slightly adjusting the sizes out of 81/2 by 11 card.

The bit that will make the cover is cut to 11 3/4" by 6 1/2" and scored at 4 1/2, 4 5/8 and 4 3/4; - so 3 score lines with 1/8 between them, this is to provide a slight curve when folded with space to hold the things inside. Then you score again at 9 1/8, 9 1/4 and 9 3/8  the space that is left is for the flap. I rounded the corners, but that is not needed, I just like the look of it. For the pockets you need 2 pieces of 3 1/4 by 4 1/2 . Cut at an angle by measuring 2 1/2 along the short side, making a mark and then cutting a straight diagonal edge to the bottom corner. For the closure you need to cut 4 larger (I used a 1" circle punch) and 6 smaller circles. Glue 2 larger and 3 smaller ones on top of one another like a little tower. The smaller ones will "lift" the larger ones from the backing, to provide the space for your ribbon or twine closures. Once everything is covered with paper they are then fitted to the cover with the help of eyelets. There are many tutorials on YouTube on how to do this, here is a link to one. I decided to round the corners of my pockets, as they are cut at an angle, you can't do that with a corner rounder punch, so I just used one of the circles to draw around.

 
After your basic construction is done, all you need to do is cover it all with papers of your choice. As I said at the start I used the Spring is in the Air collection that matches the freebie, but obviously you can use any papers you like.

The little book that fits inside is made from papers that are approx. 5 3/4 by 5 3/4  folded in half and then stitched together with a simple 3 hole pamphlet stitch. I always like to zig-zag around my projects, but of course that is totally optional. There are about 4 or 5 double pages, some design and some coffee stained as you can see below.

Below just a few close ups still, I decorated with a mix of embellishments of the freebie and the collection and some laces and cheese cloth.

                            And here are some of the tags still that I made to fit in the pockets. They are just made with left over bits of the paper and then decorated in a similar way as the pockets of the folders.

And now for the freebie, like usual, if you want the full resolution for printing please email me as the file is too large to add to a blog. All you need to do is CLICK HERE

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for your visit and happy crafting!

xxxxx

Some easy Valentines project tutorials and a freebie

 Hello friends, I am back much quicker than I usually am, but that is because Valentines day is getting so close already and I wanted to share some projects with you that use my new Valentines Collection, it's called Romantic Roses, and I have created a freebie for you to go along with it.

The projects are easy and use mostly tags. Here's the first one:

This is a little wallet, made from a size 12 tag. These tags are 10.5 inches tall and 5 1/8" wide. If you don't have one of these you could of course cut one from A4 (8.5 by 11") card, or 12 by 12 scrapbook paper. Next you score the tag along the long side at 3 7/8 and 7 3/4", which leaves the rest to form the flap.

I wanted mine to become like a little pouch to keep some ephemera in, so I cut two pieces of coffee stained paper 2" wide and 3 3/4" high, and accordion folded them every half inch.

I then covered the inside with book paper, leaving the flap for later and then glued the accordion folded bits in place like you can hopefully see from the photo.

Time to start decorating the outside. You can obviously do this in whatever way you like. I took one of my printable papers and cut it to size, covering each little panel with a separate bit. I also sewed around it all, but of course that is totally optional. It's much easier to do this before you fold the bottom part of the tag up to form the pocket!

Once you have covered all panels of your tag, fold up the bottom bit and attach to your accordion folded paper strips to form the pocket. Mine closes with a tiny magnet, but you could also tie a ribbon around it.

Hope the photo above makes this step clear. 

Now all that is left is to decorate your little folder in whatever way you like. Because the papers I used have a shabby chic feel to them I used lace and bits of coffee dyed cheese cloth plus some further elements from the paper collection and freebie. 

The next project is a little accordion folded tag booklet. It's made from 3 size 8 tags, but they can obviously be any size. I made a smaller one from the tags that come with the collection also.

                                                    This is what it looks like from the front

And here you can see how it is made, just three tags which you decorate with papers and embellishments. They are then laid out next to each other and then attached with bits of lace. I use Fabri Tac glue for this which is excellent as it dries super quick and is totally invisible. Most of the decorations used are from earlier freebies.

Here is the other side, a bit more grungy, using bits and pieces from my stash. Because the lace binding is flexible, you can fold the tags in a variety of ways, making it fun and interactive.

I have closed it with a little binder clip decorated with some beads and ribbon etc.

Below is a second smaller one, made in exactly the same way, mostly using just elements from the paper collection that you can find here

                                                                            The front

                                                                               The outside

                                                                                The inside.

The final project is a Valentines card, made entirely with bits from the freebie. I specially added some larger pieces to this freebie, so you can use them for cards.

. All I did was mat it onto a piece of background paper from the collection which I printed on card. Then I added some lace and a little metal embellishment from my stash. I sewed around it and it was done, super quick.

Well, that's it, below the freebie, - like usual you can get the full resolution one for printing by sending me a quick email.

Have a lovely Valentines Day on Sunday and happy crafting

xxxxx