Multiple Mouse earrings

Okay, so I LOVE all of the fun Bits and Pieces in the Scraps & Ink Crafts shop, and my daughter loves them too… and we love them enough to want to wear them! I had a great time turning some of these cute embellishments into earrings! 

It was so easy to turn the Mini Bits into earrings: I simply glued flat pad earring studs to the backs! I used super strong E6000 glue and made sure to let it set for at least 24 hours. 

It was almost as easy to turn the Mouse Shakers and Small Padded Appliques into adorable dangly earrings!

I used my 1/8″ single hole punch to cut a hole at the top of the mouse head between the ears, then I set coordinating eyelets in each of those holes. 

In order to allow the mouse heads to dangle freely, I attached a 1/4″ jump ring through the eyelet, then used a 1/8″ jump ring to link it to the earring hook.

These are seriously addictive to make, and you can bet that I’ll be making more as soon as I get myself some more jewelry findings!

supplies:
Scraps & Ink Crafts: Mouse Shakers – Basic Set, Mouse Shakers – Pastel Set, Mouse Shakers – Tropical Set, Summer Mini Bits, Small Padded Appliques – Royalty Collection

Note: I was provided products from Scraps & Ink Crafts as a past member of the design team.

Locker magnets and gift box

My daughter was invited to her friend’s birthday party, and we decided to give a gift themed around locker decor (they were starting middle school!). In addition to a few other items, we decided to include a set of fun magnets. My daughter selected a half-dozen padded Mickey appliques that featured her friend’s favorite color: purple!

I used a strong glue to attach magnets to the back of each of the appliques.

Of course, you need a magical little gift box for a magical magnet set like this!

I found a small cardboard box and cut cardstock panels to attach on the outside. Before attaching the top panel, I did some layers of all-over stamping in various shades of purple ink using the Birthday Girl stamp set.

As a finishing touch, I stamped the large sentiment with purple ink and embossed it with clear powder.

supplies:
Scraps & Ink Crafts: Birthday Girl clear cling stamp set, Padded Appliques (Carousel, Fairytale, Spellbound, Wishes)
additional supplies:
cardstock, stamping ink in various purples, clear embossing powder, super glue, magnets, small box

Note: I was provided products from Scraps & Ink Crafts as a past member of the design team.

junkjournaljanuary 2024 prompts 30 and 31

prompt 30: travel. When I think of travel imagery, I think of maps and the beach! Fun fact: none of the map papers I originally pulled out to use made it onto this page…except the compass rose that I detail-cut from one. I used extra die cuts saved from past projects, some stickers from Making Memories circa 2010, and I just played and made something pretty! I finished it off with some camera stamps because of course I take a multitude of photos when I travel!

prompt 31: reflect. I set out to simply have fun creating this page with scraps from my box, and to have a pocket holding a tag with my thoughts about the whole project. Inadvertently it turned out to be very similar to my page for the first prompt—sort of a reflection that shows how my style and comfort evolved over the course of the month.

junkjournaljanuary 2024: prompts 28 and 29

prompt 28: grungy. If you had talked to me in the summer of 2022, I would have told you in no way was grungy anywhere near my style. Having started junk journaling, I am finding that I can embrace at least a little bit of grungyness. A little! For this layout, I leaned into the “brown” and “messy” aspects of grungy. I featured a book page that I had embellished with bubble painting, some coffee-dyed tissue paper, as well as under paper from painting the circle grid from the “peeking out” prompt. I added lots of splatters and thread bundles. And then for some contrast/juxtapositioning, I added some translucent gold paint!

prompt 29: geometric. When I think of geometric, I think of polygons. I went through my supplies and pulled out anything that seemed to qualify! I started with daubing paint through a stencil I’d cut with one of @paigetaylorevans’ cut files, then I added several layers of stamping, and finished with fabric hexagon stickers (from @studio_calico; fairly ancient!). I had a square vellum metal-rimmed tag that I inserted into the pocket I’d created in the base page by pleating a security envelope.

junkjournaljanuary 2024: prompts 26 and 27

prompt 26 – translucent. I was looking back through my previous entries for this month and really liked how my “layers” pages came out. I decided to try that technique again here (random collage covered with tissue paper applied with matte mod podge). I have to admit that while it did give a translucent effect, I do not love this page. I tried adding more and more (stenciling, splatters, translucent stickers, rhinestones), and honestly it didn’t help—haha! Oh well, you can’t win them all! But it was freeing to just play.

prompt 27: lyrics.  It’s funny, I often have songs running through my mind, but it was like I froze up when this prompt came up. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to highlight on this page! However, I had this little typed prayer/poem that my grandma gave me years ago, and I decided to use it as my focal piece on a partof a years-old wedding invitation. I made a tag to tuck inside, the foundations a dictionary page with stenciling, and I added a quote card with a phrase (lyrics!) from Psalms that paired well with the poem from my grandma.

junkjournaljanuary 2024: prompts 24 and 25

prompt 24 – fabric. This was the perfect opportunity to use these BasicGrey “petals” embellishments I’ve had for years (over a decade?!) I also used some Maya Road trinket pins (also over a decade old!) and some actual corsage pins to embellishment my flowers.

prompt 25 – ombré. I combined paper scraps, fabric bits, embellishments, stickers, and even a covered button to create this ombré strip for this prompt. I absolutely love how it turned out—so much texture!

junkjournaljanuary 2024: prompts 22 and 23

prompt 22 – bookshelf. I took this one pretty literally, creating “books” with pieces from my box-o-scraps. I embellished with stickers and other details. The shelves are the pearlescent border torn from a greeting card.

prompt 23 – texture. I delightedly crumpled and wrinkled and crinkled. My fingers got sticky with glue and bits of thread. I was a happy camper making this page.

junkjournaljanuary 2024: prompts 20 and 21

prompt 20 – nature. This page was based around this very cool postage stamp on a Christmas card from friends! Often when we think of nature, we think of green and growing things, but space is nature, too! I love creating these layered watercolor “galaxy” backgrounds, and I decided to let the first layer of colors peek out around the edges. I created a simple cluster on a detail-cut botanical illustration and tucked in a tag on which I wrote Psalm 19:1.

prompt 21 – peeking out. Ooh I had fun with this one! (I mean, I’m really having fun with all of them, but this one seemed particularly enjoyable!) @megjournals video inspired me to use some cardstock from which I had cut circles with my Cameo. Would you believe it was bright red? I painted it with taupe craft paint and stenciled a lighter pattern. I filled each hole with little things that peek out and make me smile!
The starry background from the previous prompt overflowed onto this page and I let it “peek out” from behind the grid of circles.

I’m continuing to play with my pages spilling over onto the next. The accordion journal is so fun for this.

junkjournaljanuary 2024: prompts 18 and 19

prompt 18 – borders. Ok, so the video by @kia.creates was so inspiring that I wanted to try all the ideas, but most of all, I wanted to do some stickering! I began with some layers of tissue paper and washi (combining some of the other techniques from her video!) and then added stickers, stickers, and more stickers!!! I stickered while I participated in an online D&D game—a fantastic way to keep my hands busy but my mind engaged in the game. I finished off the spread with some stamps—the envelope is for the next prompt!

prompt 19- interactive. The collaboration video by @bbhenry_art was another wildly inspiring one! I especially loved her use of fabric and stitching in combination with papers to create so much texture. I brought those ideas into the page I made for this prompt, imitating her use of tags.

First, there are two double-sided tags inside the envelope. Both sides of each tag have collaging, but the back is a bit less “busy” so that I could include journaling about prompts 18 and 19.

The envelope also folds out to reveal more collaging.

junkjournaljanuary 2024 prompts 16 and 17

And here we start onto the back half of the journal– literally!

prompt 16- flow. After spending too much time thinking about this prompt, I decided to just play with layers of mixed media. I added clear gesso as a base since the papers here are pretty thin. I applied several shades of blue watercolor using the packaging technique, then added a layer of aqua ink stenciling. To add more texture and detail, I stamped with black ink, splattered with white paint, and finally stenciled on some gold metallic paste stars.

prompt 17 – whimsical. I have had this illustration (it came from a greeting card) for what seems like forever. When I saw the whimsical prompt, I knew it would be perfect. After fitting it behind an embossed paper frame, I had a thistle left over, so I detail cut it out and added it as another layer. The grouping of fabric and fibers at the bottom came from another greeting card!