Some of my very favorite projects to put together are for memory keeping or altered art. I love switching things up in paper crafting. Most of the time I create cards but there's something so wonderful about making something for yourself now and then. Something to treasure and keep.
Today I'm excited share this new project I've created. It's kind of a multi-purpose project. It's a bit of memory keeping and journaling and little bits of treasures all mixed together. And actually, the project that you will see really isn't finished yet. It's just the beginning. I plan to fill it with inspirational quotes, a bit of journaling, photos and just random bits and pieces of my life.
To start off with I am using a Tim Holtz Folio. These come in two sizes and the one I'm sharing today is the larger sized one. It's such a great and unique way to store ideas or memories, to art journal or even a little porfolio. The Folio is held together with elastics and you unfold it to open it up.
Inside the Folio you find the binding piece. This can be left loose in the Folio or adhered. I suggest not adhering it before you are done as this makes it easy to pull out and embellish or even stitch, like I did.
You can use any kind of paper or ephemera in this Folio but for this project I used some of the great Tim Holtz Pocket Cards. There are a TON of cards in this pack and I mixed and matched prints and sizes throughout my folio project.
There's really no right or wrong way to create this project so I'm going to give limited instructions on it and let a LOT of photos do the talking. After all, they are worth a thousand words are they not?!
My first step when creating my folio was to gather bits and pieces of things and layers that I thought would work well together in my project. You may notice that not everything in the above picture made the final cut but most did. That's often how it works. Go with the flow.
I decided to keep the exterior detail to a minimum on my folio. This was for two reasons. 1. This way it can store easily on a shelf and not collect dust. 2. When you keep the outside simple, it's like a wonderful surprise to open it up to find all these layers of wonderful things.
Many of the embellishments on the cover are repeated throughout the folio. I love adding machine stitching to my projects. It gives them a sweet feminine look and it's also a great way to adhere lace so that it doesn't fall off.
Here's what my folio looks like opened up. The fun idea behind the folio is to layer and stagger the layers so that you get little peeks here and there of what lies beneath. Each panel or layer is adhere along the stitched spine and forms a flap.
Inside the front cover is a great creativity quote from the Tim Holtz Pocket Cards. It's also embellished with a Tim Holtz flash card and a Maya Road Travel Token.
This is a very interactive project so make sure when you are adhering things that you use a very strong adhesive. Hot glue, a strong liquid adhesive or Ranger Adhesive Strips are good options.
Too add to the peek-a-boo features of this project I've used some sheer and translucent layers. First of all I used an Avery Elle Vellum Envelope on one of the top pages/layers. It's also a great place to tuck in little mementos.
As you lift each flap more and more of the project becomes visible.
I plan to fill in the spaces with notes and musing and photos. This is one of those projects that will keep growing along your journey.
In this photo you can see that for one of the pages I've stitched some White Dot Acetate to the create the layer. I love how it shows you some items from the other side right through it.
Each page has little touches and embellishments adhered to it. Some have flowers, buttons, flair, stitching or trims.
This page has some sweet Tim Holtz Photobooth images on it for a vintage touch. Don't you love old photos?
This project is very much a creative experience in collage.
When creating your folio make sure you repeat some of the design elements throughout the project to give it cohesion.
That brings us to the last page/layer. Now it's all ready for me to fill up. I suggest using a Copic Mulitliner or other permanent marker or pen as this will be a project you'll want to keep and treasure.
Thanks for joining me today in the CLASSroom! I hope you've been inspired to try out a folio of your own!
Happy creating!
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