Finally did a little work on the junk journal project.
It took a couple tries putting an edge on the cover – the first attempt was not good but I’m happy with how it ended up.
Next I went through the signature pages to see how the tags will look – okay; it’s not as full and decked out as a lot of the ones I’ve seen but I’m going to call it ready for assembling.
Had an idea to make some hidden paperclips with wire words on them so that’s my next project.
The wire I used is welding wire; it’s very hard and holds its shape really well – it will break if you bend it too much though.
The coffee dyed papers didn’t need to go in the oven which was a nice surprise.
Some of the edges are really saturated with coffee, seem a little sticky and have a really strong coffee smell. There are some really pretty ones though.
Hmmm, since I have some dyed papers I’ll have to assemble a junk journal!
I did a fruit tea dye yesterday, leaving the papers in the pan over night then putting them on drying racks through the day. I could tell they weren’t going to be that vibrant – a really pale greyish mauve.
I put them in the oven tonight – at 250 degrees and checked on them every 20 min or so. They dried up really nicely, I could pull a couple of the top papers off every time I checked.
I was a little disappointed in the colors so I decided to try an instant coffee dye.
I may have gone overboard on the coffee – I didn’t measure just poured a few spoonfuls (probably more than 3 heaping!) into a cup and went for it.
I wonder how much caffeine you can absorb through your hands – we’ll see if I can sleep tonight!
The papers were left in the coffee for a couple of hours, when I checked they were VERY dark. I drained the coffee off and rinsed them a bit.
I tried to rush it and put them in the oven before letting them drain over night – it didn’t work out very well.
They were in for about 15 minutes, when I checked the pages were getting sticky and the edges were looking burnt. There is a lovely pattern on the bottom sheet though!
They are going to air dry until tomorrow night then I’ll try them in the oven again. Fingers crossed they aren’t too saturated!
Half way mark today! Time has gone by quickly.
I soaked some papers in tea and made some ephemera for junk journals with stamps.
Cutting corners is a breeze with this new toy – literally and figuratively!
Finally picked papers, cut them down AND folded them!
One signature ready to be embellished!
A couple of hidden paperclips too.
Productive 😁
I made a few hidden paperclips. Fun but I don’t love them. I definitely need some practice putting papers together. I keep reminding myself this is for fun and to let go of the expectation of “perfection”.
Finally started pulling some pages for a signature. This isn’t for the book covers I started prepping though. I had an idea for a smaller/simpler notebook to get me over my creative block around covers and paper picking and it’s really taken the pressure off. Having a theme is helpful too!
It was a beautiful day today so took advantage and did some outside work on the house.
Then I had low energy and couldn’t decide what I wanted to do for the creativity challenge so I started looking for an old music book I’ve been carrying around for years – no luck but came across the really old envelope addressed to my Grandma. Check out the natural aging on them!
Finally decided on old teabags for junk journal texture and ephemer!
The 3DPen got busted out today and it is pretty cool! I used an outline to draw the feathers and tomorrow I’m going to do some research on YouTube to learn more about it – then the big decision of what else to make!
More tags in the works tonight – added messages and left the backs blank for a little journaling or quote space.
DQ coupons in the mail today – perfect for little tags!