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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, 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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Vintage Office Stamps
In the last year or so, I have scored some wonderful vintage office stamps on eBay. They are in desperate need of organization, which I might work on today. 😉 We’re getting a new, custom made storm door installed and my office is right off the front hall and steps away from the door, so I’ll likely be hanging out in case the crew needs anything. I just finished some gifts for the OWLs (Our retired lunching buddies – OWL stands for Others Who Lunch.) J, my husband, wanted to be surprised with the other OWLs. He hasn’t seen them yet, so I’ll post those pictures later in the week.…
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Vintage Encyclopedia and Junk Journal Planner
In 2023, I bought a wonderful set of old encyclopedias on eBay. They were actually Annuals and were in a replaceable binder format. In a haze of excitement, I decided to make 9 Junk Journal Calendar/Planners to give as Christmas gifts to family and close friends. I started in July. (What was I thinking? lol) I did finish them in time, although it was close, since 6 of them had to be mailed. Fast forward to late 2024. Jeffrey, my DH (Dear Husband) ACTUALLY used his. He tracks his medical readings every morning and used his to do so. He requested a set of 2025 calendar pages for one of…
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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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More Vintage Office Stamps
Here are my two newest vintage office stamps. I have found some great ones on eBay recently. Stamp 1 From Communist Bulgaria I love the grungy frame around it, the dotted lines, and the graphic script. Stamp 2 This is a Registered Architect stamp from Pennsylvania. I particularly like the graphic in the inner circle, with a sun and building, and the leaf frame motif. I love the Grunge, almost Steampunk style, they have. I anticipate using them often!
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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, Ephemera, Grunge Style, Junk Journal Ephemera, Junk Journal Making
Field Notes Booklets – Tim Holtz Grunge Style
Field Notes Booklets I made eight of these and sent seven off to friends and family. This one went to a cousin, because the picture on the front reminded me of one of our aunts as a young woman. It isn’t her, but still… These were a lot of fun to make. Jeffrey did the stitching for me on our vintage Singer 401, a gift from my Baby Sisty, who also was sent one. 😉 I am currently working on a similar mass make of a triple fold tag, the first of which was used as the base in Memories of Mocha. I’ve focused on the 3 x 5 format…
