No Sew Journal with old book pages

I've been making a couple of these No Sew Journal using old book papers. I saw a video by Amity Bloom on You Tube how she had made them and thought they looked fun and so quick to do.  Here's one I'm sharing that is in it's early stages.

This is how the journal starts it's life.  An old book page which is folded at the top half to create the 'V'.  This can also be either stuck down or left as an extra pocket. You can add as many pages as you like depending on how big you want your journal to be.  I tend to decorate each page before gluing them all together. 

I've then used the lovely new papers from Sam Poole which I downloaded from her Etsy site.  This was my first time attempting a download and it was surprisingly easy.  And I now have all these lovely images to play with.

I used some of Sam's old stamps which I had when I was on the DT for Creative Expressions.  It's a shame Sam doesn't do stamps any more so I'm glad I still have some. 

Of course I just had to add some of the eggs I'd recently stamped with Tim Holtz stamp set Bird Feather. I shared a lot of them on Instagram.

I'm adding this into the following:

Simon Says Stamp Monday - things with wings 

Creative Crafters - AG 

Creative Inspiration 
Ellibelle's Garden Party - from the garden 

Dream Valley - all creatures 

We love 2 create - AG 

Love those pretty papers 

Addicted to Stamps and More - Christmas

We are back celebrating Christmas at ATSM and this time I have a mixed media tag for you made mainly with Tim Holtz products.  The tag itself is a Tim Holtz Die as is the bird as are the background leaves, bow and letters.  The word Joy is from a very old Tim Holtz stamp set.

I started by making a mixed media background with Distress Inks and stamps.  I cut the top layer of the bird out of some old book pages and used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Festive Berries for the bird.  The letters were coloured with Festive Berries and Peeled Paint with a touch of Forest Moss.  I used a white gel pen to add some faux stitching around the edge of the tag.

I'm adding this into the following

Krafty Chicks Challenge - Christmas 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday- use Dies 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - things with wings 

Neglected Stuff - the dies and stamps 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #516 - MAKE YOUR MARK

Time for another Make Your Mark challenge at ATSM where you can use pencils, marker pens, inks, paints to make your mark on your project.

I have had this stamp a while and never used it - its an old Aallandcreate one by Bipasha BK and I thought it deserved an inking.  I used Prismacolours for the colouring. I kept it simple with just the stamps and some Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide ink around the edges of the paper. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Retro Rubber - soft colours 

Art Nudge - the colours of the cup cakes 

Neglected Stuff - this old stamp 

Avenue 16 - flowers 

We love 2 Create - AG 

Polkadoodles - AG 

Triple B - blooms 

INSPIRATION STATION #85

We are back with another inspirational photo for you from Inspiration Station.  How will you be inspired by this?  I was inspired by the colours of the red and blue and also the idea that these people have finished their studies and are off out into the world.  I know this happens in May in the US but doesn't really happen in the UK until July which is when our schools and universities finish for the summer. 

I chose to create a tag using one of Tim Holtz die cuts to create the tag which gives a nice big tag to work on.  I started off by painting red and blue stripes with a paint brush with some Tim Holtz paint direct to the tag. I also added some strips of washi tape in red and white.  I then added some extra stamping from Bipasha BK for Aallandcreate - I liked the words which I thought really fit the theme.  

I then had a look through my Tim Holtz paper dolls and found these three ladies who looked as though they were just about to embark on something exciting and I found the perfect sentiment from Tim's quote book.  I added some ephemera pieces too which fit the theme. I added some cheesecloth behind the image to add some extra texture and I hand drew a stitch line around the edge of the tape as I really can't sew! 

I'm adding this into the following:

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Feminine 

Crafty Gals Corner - AG 

The paper players - feminine 

Tag Along 

LOVE TO CRAFT - #92

Here we are ready for another challenge at Love to Craft.  I'm sharing another tag from my tag book which I am currently working on with the theme of butterflies.  It has all the elements which I love to play with as a big Mixed Media fan.  You will see other examples of my book on my blog as I share some of them for other challenge groups I'm part of.

This one has used the Paper Artsy paint again in Snowflake and Seaglass.   I then added extra stamping by Alison Bomber and Creative Expressions. I have a lovely old set by CE which has signatures on it and I've used one of them here as part of the ephemera.  I cut out the lovely butterfly which is part of a free set by Shawn Petite and added it to some ephemera.  I stamped some linen and added it to the bottom of the tag.  The little tag sentiment is by Bipasha BK for Aallandcreate.

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #126

Welcome back to another challenge at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge where we love to see at least 3 different mediums on your projects.  

I've created a canvas this week as it's been a while since I did one.  I just really wanted to have a little play and I love how this turned out.

My starting point was some lovely rice paper with the image of the garden gate on it by Studio Light.  I loved the idea of going through that gate and exploring.  I created my background with some new paints I've recently bought from Paper Artsy and they are fast becoming my favourites to use.  I only used a few colours here as I only have 3 so far - I used Steel Grey and Seaglass. I added some texture paste with a stencil and then did some stamping and stencilling using products by Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans. 

I added some extra texture and interest by using some scraps of book pages and ephemera for the butterfly which is one of Tim Holtz's Ideaology butterflies.  I fixed it to some netting. I then found these two Tim Holtz paper dolls and they just reminded me of my grandchildren who are 7 and 3 and just love being out doors exploring so the words I found from Tim's quote books were just perfect.  

I created the circles with the top of the paint pot of Snowflake also by Paper Artsy.  I love how this turned out and it has pride of place on my wall.  

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES #189 - ONE OR MORE BUTTERFLIES

Welcome back to another challenge at Moving Along With the Times and we are on butterflies this month. I'm back in my usual happy place of mixed media for this one.

I am currently working on a large tag book on the theme of butterflies so thought I would share one of my tags.  

It has background stamping with stamps by Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans.  I've added some stamped linen and attached a Tim Holtz Ideaology Butterfly to the material.  There is extra stamping from Creative Expressions set Butterfly Walk by Sam Poole.  I cut out the words No Regret for the top tag from an old dictionary.  

PEARLY SPARKLES #119 - ONE OR MORE BUTTERFLIES

Welcome back to another challenge at Pearly Sparkles where we would like to see one or more butterflies on your projects.

This is a slightly different style to my normal grungy mixed media.  I used a mask by Lavinia Stamps for the circles and edged around it in Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass.  I added some stencilling with the same colour.  The left me with the white inside circle and I used an old stamp by Tracy Evans for Aallandcreate with the lovely butterflies on it.  I added a circle in the middle and cut out a butterfly die cut out of the same backing paper I had used for layering.  I used Versafine Clair Avocado and Verdant for the stamping.  

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #515 DIE CUTS/STENCILS

Time for another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More and we are on Die Cuts/Stencils.  I'm working my way through a mixed media Tag book at the moment.  They are large tags 7" x 4" which gives lots of room to play with.  I'm sharing one of my latest ones and I have about 4 more to go.  

The background is a pull from the gel press using Paper Artsy paints and a stamp set by Alison Bomber.  I'm loving these muted blue tones at the moment.  I've also been making some mood boards so I've added some of these cut up as ephemera pieces to add interest behind the butterfly.  

This is one of Tim Holtz Die Cuts called Scribbly Butterflies and they are some of my favourite die cuts.  I used the same paper as the background to cut out the butterfly and added the word Specimen to its body.  It is attached to some netting  and I've also added some scraps of ribbon at the bottom of the tag.  

INSPIRATION STATION - #84

Welcome back to another challenge at Inspiration Station and I hope our lovely image can inspire you.  I took my inspiration from the colours of the little watering cans hanging on the wall.  

I used an old stamp by Tracy Evans for the watering can and added a pop of yellow for the welly boots. I used a stencil in the same oval shapes as the ovals at the front of the picture and stamped one of Tracy's flowers for the background.  I used Prismacolor pencils to colour in the flower. I added some faux stitching around the outside with a Micron pen.

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp set Wild Birthday. 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #125 - TAG BOOK

Time for another Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge and we would like to see your Mixed Media projects.

I'm really enjoying creating little books and junk journals.  I seem to have so many cards that are just piling up with no-one to love them that I need a different outlet to be creative with.  Hence creating books.

This has been my latest project - a tag book.  It is still a work in progress and I haven't yet decided exactly how many tags I will add to the finished article but so far I have finished 5 tags double sided.  The tags are quite large 7" x 4" so are great to work with. I am doing all the pages as a nature theme and each one will have a butterfly on it somewhere. 

I've used various stamps by Tim Holtz, Tracy Evans, Alison Bomber, Studio Light, Creative Expressions to name but a few. I've added die cuts by Tim Holtz, Tim Holtz Idealogy, Distress Inks and Oxides, Paper Artsy paints.  Texture Paste is by Daler Rowney which is my favourite to use.  I've also used old book pages and various material pieces, linens and lace.  

I'm adding this into the following:

Outlawz - anything but a card 

Mix it up plus Die Cuts - Tim Holtz 

Lets Craft and Create - plus butterflies 

Birds Butterflies Blooms 

Allsorts- AG 

Tag Along - Butterflies, Blooms 

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - #188 - SPRING

Welcome back to Moving Along With The Times and our challenge of Spring.  There are so many ways of interpreting Spring and I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

I've used Alison Bomber's gorgeous Apple Blossom stamp set again as I do love to see my apple trees in blossom.  They are very young trees and so far we've only managed a few apples of them but I live in  hope! 

I used some watercolour paper for my background and added some subtle Distress Oxide in Speckled Egg and Spun Sugur.  I added some extra background stamping from the same set - stamped off in Versafine Morning Mist to keep it subtle.  I stamped and cut out the main apple blossom stamp and coloured it in with Distress Inks in Spun Sugar and Peeled Paint. I stamped the lovely birds nest ephemera stamp in Versafine Verdant to give a contrast to all the subtle colours.

PEARLY SPARKLES - #118 SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW

Welcome back to our challenge at Pearly Sparkles this month and it's my choice of Something Old Something New.  I'm sure lots of us received new goodies over the Christmas period - maybe even some we haven't used yet so now is your chance.

I recently purchased some new dies from Lou Collins Textures - the set is called Clipboard Coverings Vol II.  I don't really go for dies unless they are Tim Holtz but I really loved this clipboard set and all its little embellishments like the paper clip, the bulldog clip and the actual clipboard.  It also has two great add on dies that give a stitched edge and as I don't do sewing that's great for me.

I've created my little clipboard to go into my journal. I'll use it as a tuck spot to add some journaling behind.   The old part is the stamp set from Alison Bomber EAB46 Apple Blossom.  

After cutting out the clipboard with the die I used some Paper Artsy paint in Sea Glass and Snowflake to add some interest.  I also cut out the inner which gives the frayed edges.  This was a gel press paper I had which had been made with an old stencil and a new stencil - the new one was from 13 arts called Back in Time Dress Circle and one of the stamps from Apple Blossom.  I then stamped an extra flower stamp and added it to the surface keeping the colours soft and muted with some Prismacolor pencils.  I added a little tag with one of the paper paperclips and some netting and a number.  The butterfly was cut from some new decoupage paper from Lou Collins.

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #513 - BIRTHDAYS

Welcome back to our Birthdays challenge at ATSM.  March is a very busy time in our household for birthdays and this one was for my daughter who loves her chickens.  She has about 20 of them and has raised most of them from chicks.  

I just had to use this lovely chicken stamp by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs. together with the cheeky mouse.  The wellington boots are from an old Tracy Evans set for Aallandcreate.  I added some stencilling behind and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Wild Birthday stamp set. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Paper Funday - fur or feathers - we have both 

We Love Stamping - wildlife - mouse 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA #124

Welcome back to Creative Artiste Mixed Media.  I'm having great fun creating little books out of upcycled packaging and this one started out life as the inside of toilet roll holders!  Who knew!  There are a total of 6 pages both double sided. 

I covered the papers first with white gesso to give me a good base to add all the extra stamping and collaging.  

On the one side are some lovely images of vintage birds I found in an old book.  The other side has stamped images of birds from my stash - mainly from Tracy Evans various stamp sets.  I've also added stamping by Tim Holtz and some of his collage tissue. 

Each page has a motivational word which co-ordinates with the tag so that journaling can be added. The ribbons on the tags were stamped with a butterfly collage stamp and then torn.

I've also been enjoying making my own paper beads so I've added some of these to the book binding ring together with some charms.  

I'm popping this one into my Etsy shop so it can find its way to a new home. All the 12 sides of this project can be seen there.

We look forward to seeing your mixed media pieces this month - don't forget to use at least 3 mediums on your project. 

I'm adding this into the following

The Outlawz - Anything but a card 

Triple B - Birds and Blossoms 

CRAFT - AG 

Creative Inspiration - AG 

Ellibelle Garden - something from the garden 

Paper Rock Scissors - everything but a rock!