Mochi and Tea- junk journals

 Mochi and Tea.

I'm still breaking into my stash trying to tackle some more book projects, and finally decided it was time to use up the pretty mochi boxes I've been saving. so far I've made these two albums and have enough to make a third with extras, possibly to sell.

I had fun adding in extra things like green tea packaging of different kinds, along with small Pepero packaging. It's a book to heighten the mood of tea time in a room with sliding doors and silk paintings.....at least that's where I'd like to be while filling these books with stories. :P

Enjoy the video flip through and following images.

 Fronts above, backs below. I didn't change anything on my covers, loving the natural gloss finish they have. My favorite album is the one to left, the browns and greens make me happy. I used two different brad colors, an off gold for the sesame one, and a copper for the peanut butter one.

 Eyelets were hammered into place to hold the elastic band closure.

 They stay closed rather well, and the spines are immediately inviting on a book shelf. The sesame edition is a much thicker book, containing an extra signature and a few items that add bulk.

 In the peanut butter mochi album, the first page is a pretty yellow pocket with tag made from scrapbook paper and box tabs. 

The inner cover of both albums is a piece of cardboard with wrapping paper that's been sealed with Liquitex satin varnish. I also inked the edges of the cover with a black stamp pad.

 You can see thickness difference of the peanut butter one on the left verses the sesame one on the right. Both have items that vary.

 For the peanut butter album I added a red Peppero box that serves as a signature with papers inside. I thought it looked nice next to the yellow pocket.

 A little brown on the edge of a page to compliment the brown paper of the peanut butter album.

 The peanut butter album has three tags total with room for extra things.

 I love the sesame album for the main page, a green tea bag with metallic gold on it. This specific kind of tea is very pleasant in taste.

 I carried the green tea and its color theme throughout the book.

 Added a little more green in with a grocery list. Fun thing about the lines going vertical instead of horizontal is that Asien writing can be written this way.

I carried the green and gold scheme and added a ginger tea I like.

The tea box was made to have a pocket for holding a tag.

 Yellow, gold, green, and orange, complimentary colors side by side.

 The jewelry bag was just the right peach color with green flowers, makes me happy and fits the theme.

 I'm glad I remember I had a green Peppero box in my stash, already painted and pocket ready, so I added that in.

 You can see the sesame book contains more tags and includes a small booklet.

The booklet happens to look like a green tea bag. I varnished this wrapper and glued it to some card stock cut to size, creating my little booklet with scrap papers from the project, then gave it a green thread closure.

BIG Food Book- completed junk journal

I mentioned about this book in two previous posts, the one being  BIG Trader Joes Food Journal- DIY where I shared a video on how to make the pages of an album this size. I also have a post where I shared a video on how I made some of the inserts in this album TJ Food Catalog Food Box Inserts-DIY Vid

Now that's it's been a long time, I decided to finally show my progress in the book, which has been mostly finished and getting too thick to add more to. There are places here and there I may add a few last details to, but it's time for a video to show what all I have down, not progressing much further past its current stage.

Enjoy the following video and pictures.

Inside I collaged my inner cover with images from the bags themselves, then glazed it over. As mentioned in the video, I learned things about glazes and glues which became helpful for future projects.

My favorite picture of them all is the man with the spyglass (left). I created sections with a decorated page to introduce category, the first being the food category with more Trader Joe's images collaged on (right).

For my categories I created tabs using end scraps from cereal and other food boxes. I then stamped on my categories.

My first page with all things cheesy.

Another favorite section with lots of color and a glazed over yogurt box. I also kept sugar brands the family wanted to remember.

Not only did I enjoy this cheese, but I also love the box art of it, so here it stays where I can look at it.

A place for salsa brands and favorite meats. Printed out my own description and found images of foods that contain prosciutto.

Past the pizza section we have some sub bags I liked the look of, and liked the subs too.

A happy page that leads into the comfort food category. Mac n cheese, chowder, and instant noodles.

The comfort food section continues a few pages and I include more Trader Joe's fliers along the way.

I made a separator for the drinks section, used a Trader Joes bottle bag to decorate it.

Quite a few of the soda labels I include I just liked the look of, despite the fact I didn't get to try them.

I loved the look of the vintage style used for these labels, so I saved them, and also learned that Liquitex jell medium is super shiny, but doesn't dry well in humid environments, so it's best to use varnish for sealing your papers, or else you face sticky pages.

The very back of the book is also decorated with collage, the book cover sealed with Mod Podge paper glue.

Teal Blossom Tissue-junk journal

 Teal blossom tissue book. A junk journal made of tissue boxes, drawing paper, green graph paper, and O wires bound with the Bind-it-all.

The pattern of the tissue box I used to make the cover happens to be my moms favorite, mostly because the colors, happening to be my favorites too.

I figured it was time I try using some of these materials and make my mom a notebook, something she's been wanting to keep in her desk for when it's needed. I kept it simple, knowing my mom prefers simple and useful over pocket filled and scattered.

Thankfully I have a box of white O wires in 3/4'' size, a nice touch for the book (not to mention easier than sewing it).

The inside cover took some choosing. I only had one tissue box with that particular pattern, one I happened to like myself, but decided I'd use it on this book since it matched so well, and could be forever till I found a better use for it. 

Only thing I had to do was cover up the puffs label with some craft tape, and distressed the edges of my cover with brown ink.

I wasn't sure about adding graph paper at first, but decided it was a good idea, knowing my mom sometimes needs the graph paper for things like math scribbles and quilt block measurements.

 Adding a separator seemed like a good idea, made a place for holding business cards and extra notes.

 

 Plus the divider indicates where the next pile of graph paper is.

 

All in all, I enjoyed myself and relaxed from the project, ready to tackle a few more things till I have less stuff in my stash. XD I still need to purge. 

And now for the video flip through, enjoy. ^_^

Detective Case File-junk journal

Detective case file theme, a junk journal that's sort of an experiment, the most simple junk journal I think I've ever done.

The theme of this book is inspired off the theme of case files and crime scene paper work, like stuff you dream about in mystery novels or see while watching detective films/ tv series.

I've always been a bit odd in the sense that case files full of paperclips, photos, paperwork, bits and pieces of evidence, and hand written notes have always come across as interesting to me. It's like a book you're not suppose to look into.

My inspiration for this theme only carried further from the ideas of detective stories I like to write myself, thinking of concepts and acting the detective, in this case her name being Sicline Orvel, changed to Sicline Silver after marriage (odd story, no need for me to go further).

I stamped classified in red ink on my cover, highly simple, the rest very plain as it's meant to be.

 though the book is filled with all recycled materials, garbage destined for the recycling bin, I tried to assemble it in a creative manner as I do all my books, so it seemed less trashy and carried the theme I was going for.

Not sure if I pulled it off, knowing it still looks very junky, but as the theme goes, an investigation file doesn't always look clean and organized, ideas and scraps spread all over the place make sense, leaving room for creative concepts.

I plan on using this book for collage, sketching, anything that seems fitting for the theme of crime scene investigator. It's sort of like a place to work where I can get in touch with my inner character, play detective and be a nut. :P

I'll probably slip plenty of things in the pockets, add paint splotches to pages that need a little mud or grit, slip in loose papers using paperclips and staples. Basically I'd use the book with the thought of how actual information is filed.

I even added some old scanned notes in the back from another project, liking the idea of collaging the pages, using text as texture and even adding some striped and plain paper to the very end for actual notes of my own.

The biggest challenge I faced while working on this book was deciding what materials I'd use, and what materials I'd set aside for other projects. I sat there for awhile determining which papers I felt would work better for collage texture, and which papers worked well for pages and inserts. In the end the papers I left out may still end up in it, just used as texture and elements for collage instead of a page base.

  I of course made a basic video to show all the elements added in the book, including a beat up memo pad.    This project has been a warm up, something done to help nudge my creativity back into shape. It might be fun to see others try out this theme in their own style. I know people have made Cherlock Holms journals before, so why not a crime scene file book, a place to create your own mystery.