Hello friends,

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  Today I’m sharing a project from the gorrrrrrgeous Tres Jolie July scrapbooking kit featuring ScrapBoys “Dream Garden” paper collection, 49 & Market florals, and stitched frames, and Prima Marketing shabby chic treasures. You can see a full listing of all the kit’s contents here.

The minute I saw this kit I immediately knew I wanted to create something ethereal and romantic.  The final result is not what I envisioned, but I really had fun creating this project and am excited to share it with you.

I’m calling this an “Envelope Flip Book & Journal” because it was made with a combination of different size envelopes; some were created using the We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board (not included in your kit…sorry!) and some were junk mail envelopes I had in my mail pile.

The top portion is the flip book, a concept made popular by the Happy Mail crafting community on YouTube and Instagram. It is meant to be “flipped through” and usually has lots of tucks and pockets so you can include ephemera, die cuts, or other “flat” goodies for your pen pal. It is also meant to stay flat for easy mailing; all I can say is thank goodness mine is not going to be mailed because it definitely is not flat!

I did include several “flips” and at the end there are two flaps that open up to reveal my favorite Love poem; Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda. It is so beautiful and “soul-filled”. If I ever marry again I will most definitely have this recited at my wedding. This was also my first time making coffee-stained paper. I love the way it turned out! All I did was print the poem out onto copy paper, and soaked the paper in a solution of warm water and instant coffee. I then “baked” the paper in my oven (yes, my kitchen oven!) at 375 degrees for 20 seconds. I will caution you that if you try this please don’t keep the paper in any longer than 20-30 seconds at the most! I almost burned my house down at 2am when I left it in longer! If your paper is still a bit damp either let it air dry or use your heat tool to finish drying it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second part of the project is an “antique” journal.  wanted to mimic what may have been found in a 19th-century ladies drawing room. I used lightweight chipboard (a cereal box!)  and Cosmic Shimmer crackle past from last month’s scrapbooking kit for the cover. Inside are more coffee-stained pages that make up the “journal”.

My apologies for not having a tutorial ready for you today, but I did include a video walk-through below, and will work on a tutorial for next week. Stay tuned!

Thanks again for visiting today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend

xo
Cris