November 2021 Crafty Goals

I didn't do too badly on my crafty goals for October:

1. Make a birthday card and some gift tags for my Mum's 70th birthday
2. Complete at least 4 different papercraft projects using challenges for inspiration
3. Get started on at least one journal using one of my Bigz dies (make the cover and at least one signature of pages, more pages and other items can continue next month)
4. Sort out 5 pages of dies or stamps
5. More sewing practice - some sewn journal pages and some sewing on actual fabric!

I also made quite a bit of progress with the Geometric Mocha collection. This collection was in my "Use It or Lose It" challenge: my plan was to try and use all of the different types of elements that I have from this collection, and I'll dispose of any items that I can't find a use of. So far, I've created 3 junk journal style travellers notebooks along with several journal cards and other elements to go in them. I'll post about these once they're completed. 

I think that I'll put off  organising my stamps and dies until the New Year - hopefully the Totally Tiffany Get Organised Challenge will run again, which helps me get motivated. In the mean-time, tidying up my desk area would make it easier to craft and to get my sewing machine out!

Here are my crafting goals for November:

1. Make a birthday card for my sister
2. Make and write my Christmas cards
3. Complete at least 4 different papercraft projects using challenges for inspiration (this can include projects for any of the other goals)
4. Finish the Geometric Mocha junk journals and items to go in them
5. Make some Christmas cards to use as pages in Christmas junk journals
6. Make another Christmas journal using the Eileen Hull Pocket Notebook die 
7. Make a Christmas junk journal using the Eileen Hull Full Size Journal die
8. Make a Christmas junk journal using one of the vintage books in my stash
9. Make some Christmas-themed journal cards, tags etc to go in the journals
10. Use at least two of the "Use It or Lose It" items that I picked out last month (accordion journal and Sara's Surfaces pockets)
11. Find storage for my junk journal supplies
12. Tidy my desk

Mini Christmas Junk Journal

One of my goals for October was to start working on a journal using one of my Bigz Dies. The aim for this month was to make the cover and one signature for the journal. I decided to create a mini Christmas junk journal using the Pocket Notebook die by Eileen Hull. 

I've had some rolls of double-sided adhesive sheets in my stash for a long time, but never actually used them because I was worried about 'wasting' materials. I always tried to be frugal using my materials, but I've realised that I have so much stuff, and I should just use it! Using these sheets to attach my card to the mountboard before die-cutting was much easier than trying to line up the cover and card after cutting them.

The journal cover is created by joining the spines of the 2 pieces together. The spine for this journal has 3 scored sections. Initially I joined the two covers together by overlapping one section of the spines and attaching them with red-line tape but I wasn't very happy with the results, so I cut off the joined section and tried again! The second time around I overlapped the remaining two sections of spine and again joined it using red-line tape. The result seemed much sturdier. 

I wanted to create two signatures for my journal which are similar in style but not identical. I started by cutting pages for the journal from Christmas papers and plain cardstock. For the first signature I created a pocket page using plain card-stock and a window page using some snowman vellum. For the second signature I used a pearlescent card blank to create a page with side pockets and patterned paper to create a page with a diagonal pocket. Each signature has a pearlescent envelope to create a central pocket page, and a cover made from foiled and embossed cardstock.

I created 3 different journal cards to go with the journal:

1. A simple card using the aperture die-cut from the vellum page, decorated with peel-offs
2. A card featuring a tree and snow-flakes made by layering two die-cuts together, then decorated with some stickers and peel-offs
3. A card with a vellum window and the word 'winter'. To make this card , I folded a piece of white card and placed the fold just inside the edge of the die. This meant that the two die cuts were joined along one edge, so I could add some vellum in between and the two layers lined up perfectly.

This journal is a handy size and pretty quick to make, so my goals for next month will include a second Christmas journal using this die, along with some more items to go in both journals. 

I'm entering this journal in the following challenges:

1. ABC Christmas Challenge - V is for Vocabulary (on the journal cover and journal card)
2. Tic Tac Toe Challenge - TTTC #137 (Dies, Snow and Tree)
3. bastel-traum Challenge Blog - Christmas
4. Christmas Crafts All Year Round - October Challenge - Something that starts S or T (Snow, Snowmen and Trees)
5. CraftyHazlenut's Patterned Paper Challenge - October 2021 Patterned Paper Challenge
6. CraftyHazlenut's Christmas Challenge - CHNC Challenge #566
7. A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge - Challenge #146 October / November Anything Goes