Idea Book - for pockets, tucks and envelopes

 It's been a week since I posted - where does the time go? The good news is that I got my second Covid19 vaccination yesterday and my husband got his the day before so things are looking up!

I have been trolling YouTube videos and making lots of different pockets and flips etc for journals and decided that I needed to do something other than have all these notes floating around. I've seen other people make various kinds of idea books but I didn't want to invest in making something from scratch. Luckily I love notebooks of all kinds and have a stash of different ones. I found this one which has a coil binding that I thought would hold up to having a lot of stuff in it.

It's pretty as is, so I won't even decorate it. I removed several sheets from inside to provide more room for the samples I will be inserting and may have to remove more as I fill it up. So far it is working nicely. I clip or glue a prototype on a page and add any necessary instructions. Sometimes I just use old book pages for the samples and other times I use old scrapbook papers. It's great to have a visual resource.

Sample pages

Collage Challenge - Weeks 7 and 8

Week 7

Prompts:
1) something with a bit of pink (various papers) 
2) a place (image of Notre Dame, Paris)
3) piece of newspaper (Chinese newspaper )
4) form or portion, blank or filled (Italian form, lower left)
5) text other than English or native language (Chinese,
Italian, French)
Bonus: art scrap (pink and blue gelli print)

I added an extra background paper, a label, a postage
stamp and a floral washi sticker to complete the collage.  I like the
colors on this one.

Week 8

Prompts:
1) herb or other fragrant plant (mint plant)
2) handwriting (Italian, upper right corner)
3) ink, whatever that means to you (inked edges of pieces, stenciled 
ink through circle stencil on green paper at bottom)
4) circles (circle stencil and circular postal images)
5) illustration (floral image in background - hard to see but below
and left of bird)
Bonus: a key (lower left)

I added a few green patterned papers, the bird image and a few labels
to round out the collage. I like the nature theme and overall feel of this one.

 

February Junk Journal Page Swap - no theme

This is the junk journal page I made for this month's journal page swap. There was no specific theme so I used the bird images I had as a starting point and used yellows, greens, and purples. This page is very interactive, having three different-sized envelope pockets stacked on the base page.

Front of page with all pockets

The first and smallest pocket is a coin envelope attached at the top of the envelope below it.  
I covered all the backs of the envelope/pockets with tea-stained paper for blank space for journaling. 

The next envelope opens on the left with a journaling card inserted. I collaged 
various papers and added a flower and bird torn from a book along with a label.

This shows the reverse side of the pocket above and the largest envelope/pocket.
This one opens to the left for a card as well. I collaged different papers on this and 
added a few postage stamps and a bird image I had kept from a
brochure of the state park we visited at Christmas.

Here is the base page (on left) with another collage, more postage
stamps and another bird from the brochure.

These are the three journaling cards for the three different pockets. 


This is a color combination I don't usually use and was surprised I enjoyed working 
with these colors. I do like the soft look of the finished page and hope my partner 
enjoys it.

Working my way through my paper stash

I've got LOTS of 6"x6" and 12"x12" paper and my goal has been for the past year and is into this year to use it up! I've used many pieces of the 12x12 for scrapbooking but it's harder to use 6x6 for that.

I discovered a fun tutorial on You Tube by Twigs and Tomes here. She made a darling little folder with pockets using two 6" x 6" pages (you could use more if decorating or if you have one-sided paper and want to line it). The best part is that there is no waste other than a few tiny triangles cut off rectangles to make the two tags. Check it out for a complete tutorial and specific cutting information (this is important to make the best use of the pages). Also note that if you could also use 12" x 12" paper for this and cut it in fourths.

I've made several, They are addicting and would make a cute addition to a pocket in a journal or even as happy mail. This was my prototype.

Front - folded 6x6 with rounded corners;
pockets and tag made from second piece

Inside: left page has a pocket topped with belly band; right page
has large pocket with tag and smaller angled pocket on top

Back with two angled pockets

Here's another one I made, again with single-sided paper. This time I added a third page from the paper pad which had small cards with quotes and I made more tags from more paper.

Front with 3 tags

Inside with several more tags, a card and a folded piece for journaling

Back with 3 tags and a journaling card

And still another, this time even more decorated. This was single-sided paper also so I lined the main piece. Another page has lots of little clocks and tiny lined memo spots which I used to decorate.

    Front

Inside

Back

You can see there are also many possibilities for closures. For one I used a large brad with some decorative string and for the other I merely added a tiny black bulldog clip. You could just wrap with ribbon or add eyelets on the front and back for threading ribbon or twine through.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these. I think they are so cute and easy!

Pretty One-Page Pouch

This little pocket is so adorable and is made from one 8 1/2" x 11" paper (I used digitals but you could use any double-sided paper). The tutorial for this is from Angela Kerr on her YouTube channel here.  It's easier to watch her tutorial than for me to redo it so go check it out.

I used many of the same papers as she did but changed up the tags somewhat. This would be great to insert into a journal pocket or even to send as happy mail.

Closed - measures approximately 4 3/4" wide by 3 " high

Fully open with tags

Open with tags inserted

Collage Challenge - Weeks 5 and 6

 Two more of the 5-prompt collage challenges in my Margarete Miller planner.

Week 5

Prompts:

1) a business card (used an old one of mine)

2) a sticker (used many - the round postmarks, stamp, dragonfly, 

word and flourishes)

3) security envelope design (blue pattern on right)

4) text other than English or your native language (upper portion of page -

I think it's either Russian or Greek)

5) a place (house in French countryside)

Bonus: textured paper (blue paper behind house)

I used all the prompts this week and was happy to use up a lot of very old stickers!

Week 6

Prompts:

1) a list (upper left - portion of list of skin care ingredients)

2) anything from grocery store (a tea bag string)

3) piece of washi tape (yellow dotted tape)

4) architecture (images of Parisian landmarks from a digital kit and at bottom

 an image of one of the buildings from my alma mater from the alumni magazine)

5) a star (stamped star)

Bonus: something that came in mail (image of Istanbul from cruise brochure that

arrived in today's mail)

This week I again used all the prompts including the bonus. I also added some dictionary

 text and a floral image.