DIY Ephemera Folder

A few weeks ago I made this folder to hold some of my paper ephemera which I've been storing in various locations - not very conducive to seeing and using. I saw several versions of this on You Tube so this is not my original idea but I think it's ingenious.

The base is made with two 12"x12" pieces of heavy scrapbook paper. I used old papers from The Girl's Paperie (anyone even remember that?) that I love and have been hoarding. I thought I might as well use them on this so I could see it and enjoy it regularly rather than being stashed away in a drawer! The finished size is 9"h  x 6"w and is tied shut with a torn strip of muslin.

First I cut two papers 12"x9" and scored each in half at 6" (folded to form the inside cover flaps). I adhered the two papers together with a 2.5" wide strip of heavy fabric glued along the two 9" adjacent edges, leaving an approximately 1.5" space to form a spine. I took two more papers and scored and folded them in half at 6" and then at 9" to form pockets. I glued these inside the front and back covers.

For the inside pages, I used some Tim Holtz embossed kraft papers from an old paper pad that I have never used since they will be mostly covered and are sturdy. I cut them to 12"x9" and folded in half to create the pages. On each I used pieces of plastic cut from old page protectors for the pockets for the ephemera.  

I had quite a time adhering these to the pages. My liquid glues wouldn't hold the plastic - I tried several kinds. Some people had sewed theirs but I didn't want to go to that trouble. I ended up using Scor-tape and my ATG tape which is holding up ok. A few overstuffed pockets are starting to come apart so I may have to redo those but most are fine. I used either two or three pockets on each page for different sized ephemera. I sewed these into the spine with a three-hole pamphlet stitch.

This folder holds quite a lot and I'm really liking the portability and accessibility of it. So far so good!

DIY Travel Watercolor Kit

I came across a brilliant idea while surfing You Tube last week. Jennifer Charlee Art posted this video with a tutorial for making a travel watercolor kit from a Dollar Tree eyeshadow palette. You could also do this with any brand or an old palette you already have. I have seen other tutorials to make          one with Altoids tins but they were more complicated with having to make little inserts for the paints.

This eyeshadow palette was super cheap and perfect with 12 pans, so I purchased the same palette from Dollar Tree. I forgot to take a "before" photo of the palette but you can see it in Jennifer's video. And I already had a set of tube watercolors that I'd never used. 

Here is my finished palette and supplies.

If you are interested in doing this, do check out Jennifer's video linked above.  Basically you chip out the eyeshadows from the palette and clean it. Then fill each compartment with any liquid watercolors.(I had an old set of Niji watercolors I'd bought years ago but never used.)  Be sure to leave the compact open until the watercolors totally dry out. This may take a day or two.

I cut a small piece of watercolor paper to fit inside the lid for the color chart. At some point I may make a label for the cover to hide the original palette name. I may even cut off the handle of a watercolor brush to fit inside the compact.

This was fun to make and I will definitely use these watercolors now. This is small enough to fit in any purse and will be perfect for traveling! I love it!

Let me know if you make one!

DIY Enamel Dots

Type in "DIY enamel dots" on You Tube and you will come up with a bunch of sites showing how to make these.  My husband was out of town all day yesterday so I decided to make some (didn't want to have to explain why I was baking the beads our kids used to play with eons ago!).

I had found a small bag (only 400!) of perler beads (also called pony beads, but they are a bit larger) at the dollar store so I had plenty to work with.  Mine were actually called pony beads and I had learned that you should bake them at 400 degrees for about 8 to 10 minutes.  "They" also said that the pony beads smelled bad while baking, so I took my toaster oven out to the patio and baked there.  I put a piece of parchment paper on the tray and arranged the beads with the holes at the top and with some room between each bead. Then I started baking. I timed it for 8 minutes, but they weren't done until about 10 minutes.  They flatten out and the hole disappears.

I forgot to take photos along the way, but these were my finished beads. You can see that about 2/3 of them turned out. Maybe I didn't leave them in long enough. The red, yellow, dark blue and some of the green didn't bake perfectly round and some still have dimples at the top. The white and pink and lighter blue came out really well! I also didn't space some of them far enough apart, but this was a trial run. The good ones look just like the ones you can buy!

So, if you have any leftover from your kids and want to have a bit of fun, go try this out! 

Now, I must run - it's almost midnight and I still have to pack and then get up at 4 am to catch a flight to Albuquerque. We will be with two of our daughters and our two grand boys over the weekend to celebrate Mother's Day. 

An early Happy Mother's Day to all of you! See you again next week.