Junk Journal, I think.

I've been watching a lot of videos on Junk Journals and I thought I would try my hand at one.  I saw one really cool video, I think it was by Vintage Ephemera Gardens (I'm not quite sure that's the right name)  and she had made these really cool journals out of file folders.  I already had all the supplies on hand so that's what I ended up doing!

I started out with a Target Dollar Spot file folder and cut it to the size I wanted.  This one is the exact same size as an Amy Tangerine Day Book, I think 4x6.  Then I rounded the corners.

 The next part took me literally days.  Gathering up the papers for the inside.  It took me forever and really, it shouldn't have.  A Junk Journal is just that.  Whatever junk you have around.  Some of the patterned papers I chose were white on the backside.  Too white.  So, this was something else I learned from the video...

I put coffee in a small spray bottle and spritzed the backs of my papers to age them.  Then I put them in the window sill and they were dry within minutes. 

Here's a look at the finished, aged paper.  I'm sure you could spray another layer on to darken it even more. 

My other pages consisted of an envelope,

Some old railroad ledger paper that I found at an antique store, patterned paper from a paper pad,

A tag and a bag :)

And just a few other pieces I found.  

To bind the book together, I punched three holes down the center of the book and did a simple stitch with some twine then tied it off in the center.

My initial plan for this journal was to use it as a mini art journal of sorts, but I've decided to play along with the #listersgottalist again this month over in Instagram.  For a sneak of what I did to the cover of the book you can find me over there:  @fourthouseontheright

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you have a wonderful day :)

Wow, two months. Really?

Good grief, I had no idea it had been two months since I blogged!  We have had a wonderful summer, and other than keeping up with Project Life and decorating my planner each week, I have done a lot crafting.  To be honest, I haven't wanted too and going back to my old job (  :)!!) I took over an intensive caseload that takes up A LOT of time.  Haha! 

However, there is something about the girls being in school again and fall coming that makes we want to hunker down and craft! 

Today I wanted to share with you a mini book I created back in May or June of our trip to Chicago last year.

The last two years, Mike has ran in the Chicago Marathon.  Last year we took the girls with us.  I thought it would be fun to incorporate Mike's bib and some other ephemera from the trip into the album.

I used his race bib for the cover and LOVE how it turned out!

Here I included his training calendar.  We kept this on the inside door of the cabinet and we both looked at it to see what he would be running that weekend, etc.

Here are the girls :)  They were posing for Mike and didn't know I was taking their picture too.

Ooohh, sorry about the blurry pic here!   This was a copy of the race map.  The girls and I ran around the city a bit to try and get pictures of Mike and cheer him on :)

These pictures were taken in Charity Village, Mike runs with a team from his work for Ronald McDonald House.  I LOVE this picture of the girls running over to hug their Dad :)

For the back cover, I used the bottom portion of his bib. 

I love how this album turned out :)  I'm still struggling with how to store it, and my other non traditional albums though.  How do you store yours?

Thanks for stopping in today!!  Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Bahamas Mini Album

Today I have a mini album to share with you.  The first of three!  I had three vacation/trips I needed to scrapbook and I wasn't sure exactly how to tackle them.  The first set of photos I worked on were from last year's vacation and I had well over 100-200 photos.  After much research and deliberation, I decided on a Project Life 6x8 album and used page protectors for a snap album.  I bought three different styles of page protectors and mixed and matched them throughout the album.

I started by adding all my photos in first and then went back and added in journaling as needed.  This album only has embellishing on the cover page.  I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, so I would finish it :)

Here are a few photos.

Here's my cover page, with minimal embellishing :)  I used a plain 6x8 page protector for this, then on the back, I was able to stuff all of our maps and flyers we had collected.

I used several of these 4x4 page protectors throughout the album.  They have an adhesive strip along one side so you can add them anywhere.  LOVE them!

Now these page protectors were a little odd, but worked out great for journaling strips.

 Another odd one, but the little squares worked out good for bits and pieces of journaling.

And another 6x8 page protector, for those photos I just didn't want to cut up :)

What do you do for vacation photos?

My first pocket letter! (that I made)

In my last post, I shared the first pocket letter that I had received, from my friend TRACY.  After I received hers in the mail, I started working on one to send back to her.  I felt like it took me forever! 

Here's an overall picture of the whole pocket letter.

Then a close up of the top row.

Close up of the middle row.  The middle pocket there, I included a letter on the backside.

And here is a peek at the backside of the top row.  I tried to include goodies on the backside or the front side.

Here's the letter, all wrapped up.  I had to add a bit of extra padding to the envelope with that pencil I sent :)

And here's a look at the bottom row. 

This was a lot of fun to make, once I figured out where I was going with it :)

Hope you're having a good weekend!

Pocket letter from a friend.

Hey there!  So I guess it's been a long time, huh?  I have been doing a lot of things in my craft room.  I just haven't been taking pictures and posting on the blog.  I've been super lazy in that area.

I have three mini albums a card and a pocket letter to share with you though, in addition to today's post, and I'm happy to say photos have been taken and uploaded, so the hard part is done!

Today I want to share with you a pocket letter I received from my good friend Tracy.  She asked if I would want to exchange letters with her and I was so excited!  I had seen people all over Instagram doing these and thought they looked like so much fun.

So here are  pictures of the letter Tracy sent me :)

Here's how the pocket came, all wrapped up with a large doily and some twine.

And it fit perfectly in a business sized envelope.

 

Then when I opened it up, full size, this is what it looked liked.  She said she went with a birthday theme since it was sent around the time of my birthday.  She is so sweet :)  If you know Tracy or read her blog, you know she has this crazy attention to detail.  Look at that little tag in the lower right hand corner, the heart punch, the inking, stamping and twine, so cute!  Each little card is a mini work of art!

 

 

The back size of the letter included little treats; candy, labels, washi, tags and a handwritten letter from Tracy.  I loved all of it!

 

Here's a picture of all of the fun goodies Tracy sent me.  Such a fun exchange! 

Have you created a pocket letter yet?  I made one for Tracy too and I'll share pictures soon.  Hope you have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Embossed thank you cards.

Happy Monday!  Sorry for the long absence here.  I've started a new instagram account just for my crafty projects and I've been posting more over there,  @fourthouseontheright

Today I wanted to share two cards I made for Abie's volleyball coaches.  I used the same colors, just flip flopped the backgrounds and then embossed the sentiment with black powder.  I always love how this looks :)

Hope you have a fabulous week!  Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm working on.

Hello Wednesday :) Ever since I came back to my old job, the days have just been flying by! Best decision ever!

Today I wanted to share what I was working on. A few weeks ago, I cleaned up my craft room and found a bunch of unfinished albums and projects.  So I made a list and am slowly checking it off. Right now I'm working on our vacation album from last summer.  I decided to use an 8x8 album and divided page protectors,  which has become somewhat of a challenge for me since they are so small! 

I also wanted to show you guys these fun FELT doilies I picked up at Michael's!  Aren't they awesome!

What are you working on right now?

Project Life Update.

Happy Monday!  Did you have a good weekend/holiday? Ours was busy but so good :)

Today I wanted to share a Project Life Update.  This is week 13 and an insert.  One of the things I love most about scrapbooking this way is including the girls school papers like this,  as the year progresses. 

I've fallen into a routine, on Sunday afternoon,  I prepare my planner for the upcoming week and then take about ten minutes to print my pictures and fill out my Project Life cards from the previous week. 

I'll be back later this week,  with a peek of what I'm working on and a fun little something I picked up the other day.  Have a fab Monday and thanks for stopping in!

15 year old boy birthday card.

What do you do when your nephew turns 15.  Besides have a slight panic attack because it seems like it was just yesterday that he born, you try and figure out what type of card to make for him :)

I'm not sure about the sentiment, a little worried it's too girly, but I know he won't even notice :)

I cannot believe he's 15.

Thanks for sopping by today.  I hope you have a great weekend!  Abie's last volleyball tournament is this weekend, but other than that, we have the regular stuff on the schedule.  What about you?

Birthday gift card.

So you know I always make the same gift card holder.  4x6 and score at 1 1/2" and 4" and usually round the corners.

Landry had a birthday party over the weekend and I put off the gift card holder until the very last minute, like walking out the door last minute!

I will say, for waiting until the last minute, I LOVE how this turned out!!!!  (excuse the spray paint on my thumb, I was giving our wicker furniture a fresh coat before I ran in and made this Saturday!)

I literally trimmed the paper for the holder and then grabbed a couple of tags from my leftover bowl, did some quick stamping and I was finished!

I hope you're having a great week so far.  Thanks for stopping by.

Glittered clothespins!

Did you have a good weekend?  Ours was awesome!  It flew by, but was still great.  We got a ton of stuff done around the house, ran errands and spent a lot of time outside :)

Today I wanted to share with you some fun glittered clothespins that the girls made last weekend.  I saw these on Twitter, I think.

The girls set up shop at their craft table with Mod Podge, clothespins and glitter.

The first step was to spread the Mod Podge on, a good thick coat.

Then sprinkle on a nice layer of glitter.

And knock off the excess glitter.

Your finished product!  A lovely glittery clothespin :)

What was awesome about this was that even Landry got in on the action :)

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you have a fab week!

Nephew birthday card.

Happy happy Friday!  Today I wanted to share my younger nephews birthday card. 

It was super simple and fun to make. I used a little plastic jewelry bag, from a craft store,  to hold three different types of confetti.  Then I covered up the top of the bag with some patterned paper and little tag I stamped :)

I kept the inside simple, with just a stamp.

Sorry about the lighting,  it was really sunny when I took the photo, but no complaints from me on that!

Any big plans this weekend?  Mike is working on our fence,  changing it from a 4ft to 6ft and I have the normal house stuff to take care of :)

Hope you have a good one!  Thanks for the visit!

New planner stamps!

It's Wednesday already! Woot woot!

A couple of weeks ago I saw a picture on instagram with a link to My Sweet Stamp Shop and they carry the cutest stamps for your planner!

I picked out three sets that I thought I would use the most, they were $7.95 each. The shipping was super fast and they are the heavy acrylic stamps :)

I've been using them for a few weeks now and love the orderliness they add to my weeks ;) I've been using chalk inks to stamp with,  they seem to bleed LESS through the paper. If I clean the stamps immediately,  they don't stain. I've had problems with chalk inks staining my acrylic stamps in the past.

So here's a peek at the three sets I ordered and one of my weeks :)

Do you stamp in your planner?

Dad's birthday card!

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  We had some fantastic weather here and were able to spend a lot of time outside, it was great!

My dad's birthday was on Friday and I whipped up this card for him.  I just love that Starburst,  but I still haven't mastered the spacing when I'm stamping with it. Need to work on that.

Thanks for stopping by today!

St Patrick's Day Banner!

Now that is officially March I figured it was okay to post my new banner I made!

I picked up two different packages of shamrocks at the dollar store,  some foam glittered ones and then a package of different sized cardstock ones.

I punched holes in each of the corners and ran twine through, then strung this puppy up!  And it was only $2!

Have you made anything fun for St Patrick's Day?