Stitching Together An Upcycled Junk Journal - Part 2 - The Diva of Junk Journals

As Mary Poppins says, "Begun is half done."
My junk journal proved it. All I had to do was start stripping out pages from my old art journal-style planners and the next thing I knew, I was stitching them together and the diva of art journals was born.

See Part 1 of this blog right here.

She is a mixed-media treasure full of pretty pages, ready to write on or add things to, a key (just some random little key in a box of things), buttons, beads, stitching, stamping, and lots of love. Another beauty of this journal is that I actually had a lot of pages from those past planners where I had written things I would still like to be reminded of and add to. So now, here they are together with plenty of blank pages ready for creating. 

Of course, I could have just used adhesive to stick all the pretty pages together, hide the old weekly planner pages on the insides, and have nice, sturdy, reinforced pages for my journal. I actually did get out the ATG gun and do that with some of the pages. (Remember, part of Stash Dash 2015 Five Simple Rules, is use the tools you have!)

With a majority of the pages, I chose to stitch them on the sewing machine, and also hand stitch around them with pearl cotton floss--I think both techniques look and feel wonderful! Unique! Nobody else will have a diva junk journal like yours when it is done.

Yet another great thing about using my old planners was that the covers were ideal to still be covers. You can, of course, add anything and everything to them. My favorite add was the beads. There's the glamour with some big, sparkly, acrylic beads. Little glass beads would be adorable too, and I think my journal has some in its future.

front cover

back cover

Are you ready to get out your stamps, floss, stickers, ribbon, gelatos, and beads and have a ball?

The diva of junk journals is ready for her debut to share her inner-most pages. Thanks for taking this little journal journey with us, and I hope you are inspired to use your stash and create something beautiful and fun! Imperfection is beauty.

I cross-stitch hearts and applique them to everything!

See that piece of ribbon? It was just laying around and anyone else would have thrown it away!

A leftover diecut heart from making valentines with my nephew.

Used my wavy scissors on some pages!

There are plenty of pages still to write on.

My favorite zig zag stitch on the sewing machine.

That little piece of grosgrain ribbon was laying on my floor! Now, it's art.

I managed to keep some layouts from the original planner together!

I love that caterpillar with the cupcakes, and now it isn't lost in an outdated planner.

I trimmed down and stuck in some craft paper I had used on my gelli plate. Perfect!

Feel free to add an index card here and there! This journal will have some recipes in it.

I punched holes and added grommets to a piece of felt, just for fun. Going to stitch a quote here.

This might be my favorite little thing: a piece of the costume I wore from King & I.

I stuck in a cute little card I love! It came with a blog candy prize in the mail.

Adding pockets is good--just stitch them right in from scrap paper. Divas need pockets.

I used some steampunk style rings for the bind--found them at Michaels. They easily let me keep adding pages. I need to add a little wire bracelet of glass beads now that I think about it. The dressing up of this diva junk journal may never end! But that's why it's fun. I've already contributed lists, ideas, and plans that can be ongoing and don't run out at the end of the year like my proper planners do. Be creative, have fun, and express yourself. Stitch a junk journal!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch a Junk Journal


 

Stitching Together an Upcycled Junk Journal Part 1 - Stash Dash 2015 - The Diva of Junk Journals

If you love sewing on paper, junk journals, upcycling, stamping, gluing, and any of the above, this project's for you!

-Click here for my Stash Dash 2015 Five Simple Rules-

This year I'm upcycling more, shopping stash, and really using what I have, and this junk journal fits right in. Anything goes - really - you could use anything. I was grabbing a little lonely piece of ribbon I saw laying on my craft table and stitching it onto a page to my own delight. That's how this junk journal works!

Gelatos and ribbon stitched on the inside back cover

The basis for my junk journal is my old planners. Every year, I have been choosing a really cute art journal-style planner from Orange Circle. I love how the weekly calendar pages mix in with lovely, inspiring journal pages, and by the end of the year I should have written, colored, or drawn on every one of them! But, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Over the years, I have kept my little planners, and I don't know what it is, but you are not as likely to look back in old planners for thoughts, and lists and things like you do your regular art journals. So, my latest junk journal was born. It is, in reality, an upcycled planner that became a diva.

I had to add a random key in memory of all those girlhood diaries with a key.

My first task was to choose two planners from years past, grab the craft knife, and start cutting out the pages I wanted. That's when I decided that to really reinforce them for vigorous usage in this amazing junk journal, I would stitch the pages together, and at the same time I would be hiding the old calendar pages. I don't really want to see them anymore, and yet they are still there, all tucked inside the pretty pages.

Inside the front cover

Some pages were hand-stitched with pearl cotton floss, and a lot of the pages were stitched together on the sewing machine with a variety of zig-zag stitches. Whatever you like! I added a little embroidery to some pages, beads, buttons, ribbon, diecuts and stamping. You could also do sequins, and really any embellishment you like. Remember - this is the diva of junk journals. When you are done with your handwork, you will be holding a glamorous little mixed-media take-me-with-you-and-write-in-me one-of-a-kind book of thoughts, dreams, lists, quotes...book of you!

The front cover shows off with beads hanging on a cute paper bobbin.

I had some adorable paper bobbins made by Yarnology at Hobby Lobby...so one of them had to go on the front cover with beads hanging off of it. This tells the world, I'm somebody who threads a needle every day and paints with it.

Come back tomorrow, and the diva of junk journals will bare her inner-most pages and how she finally got it all together!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch a Junk Journal

Embroidering Ephemera on Tag Tuesday

 We have had a lot of fun opening up our new Etsy Shop! I found some great tutorials from Renae Christene on YouTube. Our shop is called Vintage Post & Paper and it features authentic vintage ephemera with envelopes and postcards postmarked from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. I even managed to figure out how to add the Etsy mini to the side of my blog here. Woo hoo! Feel free to click on it and visit my shop!

I have a few from our vintage collection that I plan to alter, including this envelope with the two-cent stamp from the 1930's. I was embroidering on it when I realized it wanted to become an art tag! Today's theme over at Tag Tuesday is "text" and I can only imagine the text that was on the vintage letter this envelope once held.

I have seen vintage ephemera in a wide variety of altered art, mixed-media, embroidery pieces, framed pieces, and even scrapbook pages.

It was fun to make this unique 80-year-old envelope into an art tag.
 I actually found some envelopes in the collection that were from the year my mother was born, and those are now special to me. I plan to find a way to use them with mother's photo - I don't know if it will be a scrapbook page or an art piece. I usually find out after I start working on it. 
We will continue to add these postmarked vintage envelopes and postcards to our shop as we go through the collection. Our tagline is, "A tale of mail carried long ago." I love that, because all vintage mail tells a story. And let's face it, when's the last time you wrote and mailed a real letter to someone? A personal letter. (let's think Jane Austen here--someone writing about the joy of buying cake.) 

Real mail is becoming rare. It's truly special to see it live a new life.

Happy Tuesday!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Texture Tag Tuesday

It's Tag Tuesday and today's theme is Texture Tuesday. Visit Tag Tuesday here.

Anytime I am creating art tags, my two favorite things to include are sentiments and texture. So a great way to shop your own stash of scrap papers and supplies is to have a texture tag making session. Anything goes. Paper, ribbon, buttons, fabric, sequins, beads, brooches, trim, stamps, ink, gelatos...just have a ball. And don't forget the words. Whether you use stamps, word stickers or a typewriter, the sentiment is what really makes your art tag sing.

My tag is completely from supplies in my stash - a mish mash of scrap paper, a little piece of ribbon stitched on, a cross-stitch heart, gelatos, and some cardboard packaging that was diecut into a heart, embossed and painted, and another fabric heart on top of that. 

My cross-stitched hearts are always in supply for projects because I keep a little homemade cross-stitch kit in my bag at all times. Anytime I'm in a waiting room, standing in line, or just anywhere really, I can cross-stitch a heart.

Read more about stitching-on-the-go.

Happy Tag Tuesday!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Tag