Saturday Showcase - Tim Holtz Memoranda Paper

Hi there.  It is Cec here and today I am presenting the Saturday Showcase featuring the wonderfully vintage Memoranda paper pad from Tim Holtz.

I thought it might be fun to make an accordion mini album that could be mistaken for a little junk journal in the making.  I sure hope I haven't confused you but as you walk through this project with me I think you will understand why I could not decide what it really is.

This little album is about 3" square and 2" thick at the thickest part and before I share the instructions for constructing the base, here is a little walk through.  I think the most fun part of going through this little album when it is untied is that because it is an accordion, it is never ending.

This is one of the covers and since I wanted it to lie flat when it was completely open I decorated it very simply:

• Flower made from Kraft Core (Tim Holtz) cut from the Shabby Posies die (Tammy Tutterow) with a button for a centre
• Leaves cut from Kraft Core (Tim Holtz) cut from Garden Greens die (Tim Holtz)
• Venise lace
• Chitchat sticker (Tim Holtz)
• Ephemera (Tim Holtz)

Left side:

• Triangular tuck spot
• Hand cut tag with burlap string at top.  The back is left plain so it can be used as a journaling spot

Right side:

• Pocket trimmed on an angle and glued on right side
• Quote chip (Tim Holtz) inked with Vintage Photo DI
• Two rectangular journaling spots

Left side:

• Rectangular tuck spot with carved coconut shell button
• Rectangular journaling spot with punched trim

Right Side:

• Flip-up that can hold more journaling or a small photo
• Ticket from my old stash (Tim Holtz) 
• Punched circle to hold the flip-up down when closed

Left Side:

• Half circle tuck spot with venise lace
• Rectangular journaling spot

Right Side:

• Pocket with metal key
• Little folded book with journaling spot inside

Left Side:

• Rectangular side tuck spot
• Rectangular journaling spot with punched trim

Right Side:

• Triangular tuck spot
• Hand cut tag with Ephemera topper (Tim Holtz)
• Flower made from Memoranda paper (Tim Holtz) cut from the Shabby Posies die (Tammy Tutterow) with a carved coconut shell button for a centre

This is the other cover and it was decorated in the same way as the first one.

Left Side:

• Pocket trimmed on an angle and glued on right side
• Quote chip (Tim Holtz) inked with Vintage Photo DI
• Hand cut tag with Ephemera topper (Tim Holtz)

Right Side:

• Band tuck spot
• Little folded book with journaling spot inside

Left Side:

• Rectangular tuck spot with filigree metal embellishment
• Rectangular journaling spot

Right Side:

• Triangular tuck spot
• Hand cut tag with burlap string at top

Left Side:

• Flip-up that can hold more journaling or a small photo
• Ticket from my old stash (Tim Holtz) 
• Punched circle to hold the flip-up down when closed

Right Side:

• Chevron tuck spot
• Rectangular journaling spot with punched trim

Left Side:

• Pocket tuck spot
• Hand cut tag with Ephemera topper (Tim Holtz)

Right Side:

• Half circle tuck spot with flower made from Memoranda paper (Tim Holtz) cut from the Shabby Posies die (Tammy Tutterow) with a button for a centre
• Rectangular journaling spots

Left Side:

• Pocket tuck spot with metal key
• Little folded book with journaling spot inside

Right Side:

• Rectangular tuck spot
• Hand cut tag with burlap string at top

I am going to explain how this came together even though I did make a few changes before I decorated it.

These instructions are just meant to be guidelines and can be altered to suit you. My husband kindly made a template for you to follow.  If you have a printer that will print on legal sized paper (8 1/2" x 14"), you can print this to size if you wish since he made it to scale.

• Create the accordion base from a 12" x 12" piece of kraft card stock or whatever heavy weight card stock that size you choose.

• Cut card stock into three strips 4" x 12" and score each piece on the short side at 1" and on the long side at 3", 6" and 9".  
• Clip from the bottom up to the 1" score line on each of the folds at 3", 6" and 9".  Now you will be left with little flaps that can be turned into pockets.
• On at least two of the strips, cut away the bottom right section as shown in grey.  
• Glue the remaining portion of this section with the bottom cut away to the corresponding section on the left side of the second strip.

• Add the third strip in the same manner as the second strip.  
• Starting with the first strip, fold on all the score lines as indicated by the dashed lines making sure to alternate mountain and valley folds.  You should now have an accordion folded strip about 30" long with a mountain fold at each end. 
• Mark the two end panels as covers and leave alone for now.  The pocket flaps on each end should be folded to the back.

To Finish:

• Decorate each remaining panel and create inserts.  
• Cut a background piece of Memoranda paper 2 7/8" square for each panel, distress the edges and ink with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
• Create pockets and tuck spots on each panel, decorating everything with Memoranda paper.  At this point I decided I didn't want little pockets on every panel so I removed some and replaced them with a variety of tuck spots.
• Turn the accordion over and decorate each panel on side two, including the back sides of the two covers panels.
• Add a strip of ribbon centred across each cover panel.  These will act as ties to hold the album closed and the length of ribbon will depend on whether you want to make bows or knots as I did.
• Cut two pieces of chipboard 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" and adhere to cover panels over the ribbon.
• Decorate the covers.

There you have it - a little album that could be turned into a little junk journal if you want to add more "stuff" in each tuck spot.

If you want an album that is large enough to hold photos, then just adjust the size of your strips but join them together in the same manner as shown to make a larger accordion.

Despite all the pages, tuck spots and inserts, I only used a few pages from the Memoranda paper pad so watch for more projects from me featuring this fabulous paper.

(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology 12 x 12 Paper Stash Memoranda	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Snippets Ephemera	Natural Jute Mesh (Burlap) Ribbon	Tammy Tutterow Shabby Posies Die	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Garden Greens by Tim Holtz	$6.39 Core′dinations Kraft Core By Tim Holtz - 4.25x5.5" Paper Pad
Venise Lace Trim- 5/8 inch	Set of 10 Metal Keys for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat Stickers	Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 18mm	Carved Coconut Shell Buttons - 5/8"
4 Piece Antiqued Bronze Filigree Pieces	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool - With 4 Blending Foams	Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet	Scor-Pal Scor-Tape 3/8" x 27 Yards	Scor-Pal Scor-Tape 1/8" x 27 Yards
Scor-Pal Scor-Tape 1/4" x 27 Yards	(APRIL PRE-ORDE) Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Black Kushgrip Snip w/Non-Stick Blade & Cap 7"-Small T817	(APRIL PRE-ORDER) Tim Holtz Tonic Studios Black Thread Cutter/Paper Distresser 370E	Ranger Multi Medium Matte 4 oz.

Letter It Sunday Step by Step

Hi everyone and welcome! Jenny here with an impromptu post to brighten your Sunday which is part inspiration, part tutorial. As many of you may have seen on social media the lovely folks at Ranger Ink have just released the 'Letter It' range, a carefully curated collection of stamps, pens, embossing powders, mediums, tags and surfaces designed to work together so you can create beautifully personalized cards, tags, gifts and more for all of life's occasion. You can see Linda un-boxing her collection HERE and me diving into mine HERE. And now you can pre-order your own 'Letter It' products from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

So many people loved what they saw and were keen to see the range in action, so I've put together three cards to share with you today with hints and tips along the way; as you would expect they are not CAS, partly because it's not my style and mainly as I wanted to see how the range worked with my favourite Tim Holtz 'Memoranda' Paper Stash.

For this card I layered up some Memoranda Paper Stash and used the 'Letter It' Metallic Markers to colour some flowers to add on top. I stamped the image with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink, coloured it with the gold, blue and green Markers, then re-stamped with the Jet Black Archival Ink. These Markers give an instant opaque cover with a beautiful sheen and they dry permanently on porous surfaces.

The Hello sentiment from the 'Greetings' set was also stamped with the Jet Black Archival Ink onto some of the Letter It Ivory Cardstock, ageing it a little with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. Make sure you 'season' the acrylic cling stamps with Jet Black Archival Ink before using them with other inks as this will ensure a clean sharp image.

This next card again uses the Memoranda Paper Stash as a base and also inspires the textured layer beneath the sentiment.

I embossed some of the Letter It Grey Cardstock with an embossing folder and coloured the centre of each circle with the silver Metallic Marker. I then gently tapped the Embossing Ink Pad over the raised areas on the card and covered them with Marigold Embossing Powder, using my Heat It tool to melt/set the powder with a golden shine.

The sentiment for this card came from the 'Thank You' set and you can see here where I'm applying the Jet Black Archival Ink onto the stamps before pressing them onto some white card.

As the papers are aged I repeated the process of ageing the white card with more Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. The edges of each element were also blended with Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink to make them stand out.

The final card is also based on Memoranda Paper Stash, though in this case it's a much more subtle background to allow the embossing to shine through.

After spreading Ranger Texture Paste through the Flourish Layering Stencil I poured Bridal Tinsel Embossing Powder over it and allowed it to air dry. It's at that point the powder could then be heat set to produce a beautiful smooth sparkle.

To produce the bridal bouquet die cut foliage was coloured with Gold Tinsel and Silver Tinsel Embossing Powders and Sunflower Sparkle, Perfect Pearl and Pewter Perfect Pearls. I strongly suggest mixing the Perfect Pearls powders with water and using a paintbrush to apply them to your diecuts for a consistent coverage. The resultant shimmer and sparkle throughout the bouquet is magical. The bow had two coats of Navy Embossing Powder and the words from the 'Wedding' set were stamped in Cobalt Archival Ink.

That is by no means all of the Letter It range used here so I'll be creating more cards over the coming weeks to share. Hopefully this first batch have whetted your appetite and shown you how the range can be combined with your existing stash as well as in their own right. Remember, Linda is now taking pre-orders at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Jenny

Saturday Step by Step - Dwell in Possibility

Hi everyone and welcome! It's Jenny here with a fun tutorial for a framed picture based on the new Distress Oxides and Sizzix Cityscape dies.

I started with a Tim Holtz Framed Panel and having given it a base coat of black gesso, moved on to cover it in a patchy dry-brushed fashion first with Ground Espresso Distress Paint, then Frayed Burlap Distress Paint using my Collage Brush.

The layers continued with a lighter coat of Iced Spruce Distress Paint and finally Antique Linen Distress Paint.

I have an absolute love affair with the new Tim Holtz Paper collection 'Memoranda' and selected a piece from the back to cover the frame base; I went to the trouble of stitching around the paper patchwork before adding it with the Crazing Distress Collage Medium.

Once dry I added some Ground Espresso Distress Crayon into the crazing to emphasise it before adding a little Evergreen Bough Distress Paint to the frame to coordinate it further.

Having put the frame together and created the scene inside I realised it looked a little too bright and clean, so added a layer of Vintage Collage Medium over the frame edge and base. In hindsight it would have been much more sensible to do that at this stage in the process rather than waiting to the end - hence my reason for including it here!

Now I got to play with those new Distress Oxides. I smooshed the Iced Spruce pad onto my craft mat, spritzed it with a little water, mopped it up with two thirds of a sheet of Mixed Media Heavy Cardstock and dried it with my heat gun. That process was repeated using the Vintage Photo pad, after which I spritzed and dried the card to get a beautiful mottled look.

The card was die cut with the two Cityscape Skyline dies (you need one and a half of each to fit the length of the frame) and the building portions of the Cityscape Suburbia dies. I edged each one with Walnut Stain Distress Oxide using a blending tool before covering them with Distress Glaze to fix the colour in place. Having applied the first Skyline towards the top of the frame (the one with the thinner bottom edge) I layered the second over it using Ranger Black Adhesive Foam to add dimension.

To add even further dimension (and fit with our current challenge theme of using folds) I folded a strip of the mottled card to create foam tape supported mounds onto which I added the Suburbia buildings.

Using the final third of the Heavy Cardstock I created smaller coloured pieces using a combination of Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink first with Fossilized Amber ink, then with Fired Brick ink, then with Faded Jeans ink and finally with Peeled Paint ink. As before I spritzed each with water to mottle them before adding a coat of Distress Micro Glaze.

With the main Suburbia building portions already cut I used these coloured pieces to cut the roofs, window frames, balconies, trees, washing etc, gluing them in place before adding the finished buildings to their mounts.

To finish I added words from the Metallic Quotations Stickers, supporting them with more of the Black Adhesive Foam. I also glued the new Mini Foundations on the corners of the frame. And with that my framed vintage scene was complete! Here are some close ups to show the details;

I hope you've enjoyed seeing one idea for using the new Distress Oxides and Cityscape dies. You'll find links to all the products used below, now available to order from The Funkie Junkie Boutique for a permanently discounted price.

Remember our current challenge 'You've Got to Know When to Fold 'em' runs for another week and we'd love to see your folded creations. I'll be back with the rest of the Funkie side of the Design Team next Wednesday to unveil our inspiration for you.

Until then have a great weekend, take care of yourselves and have fun!
Jenny xxx