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Creativity, Ephemera, Junk Journal Making, Paper Arts, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling, Tools and Supplies
How to Save Paper When Using a Whale Tail Punch (Junk Journal Tip)
Whale tail tabs are one of the most popular elements in junk journaling. They’re useful, decorative, and add that layered, dimensional look that makes handmade journals feel special. But if you’re using a punch to make them, you may be wasting more paper than you realize. Today, I want to show you a simple method to maximize your paper and get more whale tail tabs from every sheet. The Original Whale Tail Punch The original whale tail punch from Stampin’ Up is no longer in production, but many crafters still use them. You can often find them: on eBay at thrift stores at garage sales They’re sturdy, reliable, and perfect…
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Creativity, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Making, Steampunk, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling, Tools and Supplies
Tink’s Tip: Using Glitter Glue for a Grunge-Style Junk Journal Finish
I’ll admit it right up front… I’m not a Glitter Girl. I’m much more at home in the world of vintage, distressed, and grunge-style junk journals. But every once in a while, a project calls for something a little outside my usual comfort zone. This was one of those times. 😉 The Problem: What to Do with Tiny Detail Holes I was working on a junk journal page featuring a stencil-style letter “D” (for Dog). The letter itself looked great, but it had small holes in each corner — the kind that are meant to suggest rivets or fasteners. Normally, you might use tiny brads for something like that, but…
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Creativity, Ephemera, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Making, Paper Arts, Steampunk, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling, Tools and Supplies
How to Use Distressed Tape in Junk Journals (Simple Techniques That Make Pages Feel Real)
Inspiration, Motivation, and Celebration for your junk journaling What is Distressed Tape in Junk Journals? If you’ve ever wondered how to make junk journal pages look more real, distressed tape is one of the simplest ways to do it. Distressed tape is regular clear or cello tape that has been altered (usually with ink or stain) to give it an aged, vintage look. It’s often used in junk journals to: • make ephemera look naturally attached • add realism to collage pages • create hinged or interactive elements • add subtle texture and layering 🌿 Inspiration – A Little Detail I Always Come Back To When I’m putting together junk…
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Creativity, Ephemera, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Making, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling, Tools and Supplies
Stamps that fit the original Whale Tail Tabs…
I’m working on a pair of Junk Journals (you can see them open at the top of the picture) I recently purchased a set of fun alphabet and number stamps. They hook together, making it easy to form words. Today I realized that four letters fit well on the classic whale tail tabs, in the 7 x 5mm size. You can see how they link together at the bottom of the picture. Here are some examples of how I used them… (Yellow Post-its are there to mark pages that still need embellishments 😉 ) Here they are on Amazon: Here is their Amazon link. Note – You get two sets!…
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Creativity, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Making, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling
Quilt Shop Fat Quarters for Junk Journals: Vintage Chickens & Grunge and a Freebie
Inspiration – Play Day at the Quilt Shop In case you didn’t know, quilt shops are a great source of interesting fabrics for junk journaling. They sell pre-cut fabric in small sizes called fat quarters, which are usually about 18″ by 22″ depending on the original bolt width. A piece that size will last junk journalers quite a while and gives you plenty to play with for covers, spines, pockets, and more. This past week, my husband and I took a little play day and drove to a nearby town. We stopped at the local quilt shop “just to look,” and of course, we didn’t leave empty handed. The photo…
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Ephemera, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Kits, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling, Tools and Supplies
Using Full Sheet Label Paper
I love to use full sheet label paper for my small labels. I age the label paper sheet first before printing it with the label shapes. I either print with an aged paper background image or I distress with ink and interesting stencils. When the label shapes are printed on and then cut out, they have a lovely, randomly distressed look.
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Tips from a Big Sister for Living a Creative Life (wink, wink)
Here is something I wrote to my sister, who has spent her life telling herself she isn’t creative… which is ridiculous. We are all creative… and even better, creativity can be honed/developed/expanded… Here is what I wrote to her… Tink Tips – Tips from a Big Sister for Living a Creative Life (wink, wink) Creativity is for fun. Try to avoid pressuring yourself. That said, some of us do better with some structure (waves hand) 1) Try to *Do Art* – create/draw/write – every day (See Creativity is for fun – above) (See Challenges and Streaks – below) 2) Put a mark/sentence/anything on the paper/project before you start. This will…
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3 x 5 Projects, Ephemera, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Cards/ATC, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Making, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling, Tools and Supplies
Using Dictionaries in Junk Journaling
One of the best sources for Junk Journal supplies is thrift stores. 😉 Quite often people donate partial boxes of stationary, games with cards, partial spools of ribbon… pretty much anything you can think of. We have a great Goodwill store the way home from the dentist. My husband jokes that is how he bribes me to go… lol Many thrift stores also have books. Tink Tip When you are thrift store shopping, remember to look at the used books, but not just ones with pictures. I have two wonderful vintage dictionaries I got from our local Goodwill. The older one – not sure of the year, maybe the 1940s?…
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3 x 5 Projects, Ephemera, Junk Journal Cards/ATC, Junk Journal Kits, Junk Journal Making, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling
Vintage Penmanship Junk Journal Cards
I recently got a Silhouette Cameo 4 as a gift. I’m happy to say that I love it. I REALLY LOVE it. I’d been having hand problems, so being able to cut out ephemera without scissors has been wonderful. Anyway, as one does, I have been cutting out all the digital ephemera I have been collecting – both my designs and that of other designers. Here are a couple of Junk Journal cards I created using some of my ATC cards. NOTE – I did resize them so I could cut them out on my Silhouette. This year I have been making a LOT of ephemera based on the 3″x5″…
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#100DayChallenge, 3 x 5 Projects, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Making, Mini Books, Tink's Tips for Junk Journaling
The Mini Stitched Booklets are Ready
I initially wrote about the Mini Stitched Booklets concept here: https://junkjournalephemera.com/how-a-junk-journal-idea-starts/ The first of the Mini Stitched Booklets are ready to go to their new homes tomorrow. We have two good friends we eat lunch with about once a month, so they are the recipients. 😉 I decorated the envelopes last night. The Stencil Ephemera are for a new product I’m currently working on. The ones I had cut out and ready to use were a squinchy bit too big for the envelopes I had, hence the staggered layout. Thank goodness for Junk Journal forgiveness. 😉 Tink Tip – Punching a Cut-Out (Pun Intended) 😉 I used an UltraFine Sharpie…
