Gratitude Journal

It is time for the new challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog. Suzz, our hostess for this one is calling it A Time to be Grateful and here is how she describes it:

Around this time of the year when we start to get into the holidays and the rush of everything it is a good time to reflect on what we are grateful for. My challenge to you is to capture that in your art. Show what you are grateful for in any type of project, it could be a journal page, a card, or anything else that expresses your gratitude. You choose how to show your thankfulness and share it with us.

I thought it might be fun to make a little paper bag Gratitude Journal that is part junk journal and part mini album. I started with a kraft lunch size bag and I find that the ones you get from the grocery store, which is where mine came from, are not always the same so I dug through the pack to find the one that was the best of the lot. There are often little tears on the opening but since this was going to be part junk journal, I was OK with that.

To start, I laid the bag as it came out of the package on my craft mat with the opening on the left and the bottom on the right facing up. I opened the bottom to the right and added Scor tape on each side of the narrow section and folded it back to make a little narrow pocket. Next, I folded the whole bottom to the left to create a flip out. Leaving the flip out folded to the left I folded the bag from the opening all the way to the right to make the top cover.

Next I cut a variety of panels of paper from the Stamperia Oriental Garden collection and added them to the front, inside front, middle, flip out inside, flip out outside and back. Each panel was inked with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink before I glued them down.

Next I made pockets for the inside, middle and both sides of the flip out.

The next step was to make the junk journal that was stitched in the fold of the front cover. To make this I cut and folded a variety of single sided papers with a bit of an Oriental look from my stash and inked the edges. I also inked a few pages of copy paper that I had tea dyed some time ago. I also used my computer to print a piece of tracing paper, folded it in half lengthwise and created a tube. Then I used some deckle scissors to cut each end and then folded the two open ends together. All the pages were stacked to make a signature.

I added a variety of tuck spots throughout the junk journal. The tuck spots have images from free online sources, such as the New York Public Library Digital Collection and I printed them, trimmed them and inked them before they were added. Here are a few examples of the pages and a look at the little tracing paper print that becomes a pocket when the signature is sewn into the bag.

The next step was to stitch the signature into the book in the fold between the inside front cover and the middle. Once it was in I realized it was too thick and would not stay closed so that is why I made the vertical belly band.

I wanted to fill the pockets with some Gratitude quote tags and some tags that could be used as journaling spots. The quote tags are computer generated on cream card stock and then hand cut. The hole at the top was punched and a reinforcement was inked with Gathered Twigs DI and added. The journaling spot tags are cut from cream card stock that I printed with an Oriental text pattern on one side. I added some paint and stenciling to the opposite side along with an embellishment - punched butterfly, die cut red sun and die cut fern. The journaling tags have some red raffia added to the top. I decorated the pockets with items cut from the paper collection as well as computer generated images. The number 8 is a die cut and apparently is a special number in Japanese culture.

I also added a couple of simple rectangular journaling spots to the pocket created in the bag opening when the signture was stitched in. Finally I made a belly band to hold the whole journal shut by cutting a strip of paper from the collection and then adding the computer generated text.

I know that the US is celebrating their Thanksgiving tomorrow and that always is a time to express gratitude but those of us who don't live in the US can also use this time to be grateful as well. With the world in such turmoil and the pandemic raging, I am grateful that I have followed the guidelines and I am safe and well. I am also grateful that so many of you are also safe and well.

I hope you will enter the challenge. It runs through 11:55 pm EST on Tuesday, December 8th. One randomly chosen winner will receive a gift certificate to shop at The Funkie Junkie Boutique and the Design Team will choose their Top Picks with the overall winner receiving an opportunity to be a Guest Designer at a future date.

Supplies list:

Stamperia - Oriental Garden 12x12 Paper Pack SBBL58
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs TIM32823
Ranger Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black AIP31468
Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint - Sand - 1oz Bottle
Scor Tape
Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool - With 4 Blending Foams IBT40965
Tim Holtz Alphanumeric Die Set #660056
Tim Holtz Garden Green Die Set #661206
EK Success Circle Punch
Wendy Vecchi Dots and Stripes Border Stencil
Geometric Stencil
Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch
Raffia