How About Some Paper Crafts?

It’s Easter Sunday, and I’m sure many of you have plans today. If you do not have any plans, I hope you have a relaxing day doing whatever makes you happy. We’re still on our biweekly video schedule for the time being, and it happens that this is an off week. Well, kind of (Bree is totally working on a video as I write this). Still, the next new video will be coming next week. We can’t wait to get back to weekly uploads, and hopefully that will be sooner than later. As soon as we go back to weekly uploads, I’ll certainly post about it here.

Aside from catching up with some family, I plan to get a little drawing in today. If there’s time, I would also like to spend some more time learning how to use some tech I recently purchased for a future project we have in the works. But that said, I might just catch up with the fam and do some relaxing, low stakes, sketching in my journal—it is a holiday after all. Either way, you can be sure I’ll have videos playing in the background the whole time.

If you’re like me and plan to spend some time today doing creative work with YouTube playing on the side, let me suggest a playlist. Check out our playlist of Paper Crafts and DIY videos at the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN81Ci1keJOWoTZixzUs6JsHjQzRxtu7R

Happy Mail Ideas

For this week’s blog entry, I would like to look back at Wednesday’s video (note that there is a new video up today, too!) In Wednesday’s video, Bryonna shares three ideas for Happy Mail. Happy Mail is always a fun project because it means sending something to the pen pal. 

In this tutorial, Bryonna makes a Happy Mail full of stationery and ephemera. The video overviews a few great ideas for the Happy Mail: 

1)    Sending mixed papers for your pen pal to collage with!

2)    Binding mixed papers into a DIY envelope (decorated with washi, wax seal, and vintage stickers)!

3)    Making a transparent card and trifold pocket! 

Don’t worry if you don’t have a pen pal. Everything in this video tutorial can be used in your own personal junk journal. Now, check out the video linked below and get inspired to create something new!

Please, like, share, and subscribe to the channel for more paper crafting inspiration!

Cottage Core Journal

Cottage core is whimsical by nature, which makes for a good escape. If you’re new to cottage core, watch the video for an introduction to the aesthetic. Also, in this week’s video, learn how to use clear resin epoxy, design with dried flowers, and how to use the Coptic binding method. 

Bookmaking is a great cottage core activity. Creating a cottage core inspired resin cover with dried flowers is the perfect project for beginning bookmakers! Watch the video below for more, and note: the tools used in the video will be linked in the description. 

Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

Three Fun and Crafty things to do from Home this Christmas

Like many, we’ve spent a lot more time at home than usual this holiday season. We have, though, managed to keep up the holiday spirit while maintaining our social distance. With Christmas only a couple days away, I’d like to share a few of the fun and crafty things we’ve done this season. The best part is, you don’t have to necessarily be very “crafty” to do these things.

1)    Make Peppermint Garlin

Bryonna discovered this one while watching a Netflix show; I believe it is called Mr. Christmas. For this craft, you need a few bags or so of peppermint and a hot glue gun. We had two bags of peppermint, which wasn’t quite enough for our tree (but I think I made it look okay with what I had). I would suggest picking up three bags of peppermint to make a string long enough to wrap a few times around a large Christmas tree. On the show they used peppermints that had the plastic wrapping twisted at the ends. Ours were flat; they still worked, but I think the twisty ended ones would have worked better. So, use the peppermints with the twisty ended wrapping if you can.

The process is simple. With your hot glue gun, put a dab of glue at the edge of the peppermint’s plastic wrapping. Then, press the edge of another peppermint’s plastic wrapping to the dab of hot glue. Create a chain of peppermints by repeating this process. The plastic wrappings tend to hold well together with the hot glue. 

2)    Make a Gingerbread House

This one could be as simple, or complicated, as you want to make it. For the real baker out there, you can probably pull this off from scratch. For the rest of us, gingerbread house kits are available at many retailers this time of year. We picked ours up from Five Below, so it only cost us $5.00. 

The gingerbread house was pretty simple to put together; which makes it a fun project (I recommend a glass of eggnog while building your gingerbread house). Once the four walls and roof are secured, it’s time to decorate the house. I find it tempting to try to follow the picture on the box, but the real fun is in coloring outside the lines. As you can see by the picture below, we went a little sloppy with the icing.

 Next year, we might make two of these!

3)    Make Christmas Cards

It might be a bit late to send out Christmas cards, if you want them to get there by Christmas that is. It doesn’t hurt to get some handmade cards ready for next year, though. Bryonna is the papercraft savant around here, so I was pretty happy with the designs she came up with. Bryonna put together a video recently about making Christmas cards. The video is linked below; use it for inspiration when making your cards. Do a few test-run cards. Get comfortable with making a basic card, then add to your designs. 

 Check out the video below for some card making inspiration!

 And Happy Holidays!

Pop-Up Christmas Card

This week, Bree shows how to make a pop-up Christmas card. As usual, a number of other crafting techniques are demonstrated as well. See a collage made with stickers from the Antiquarian Sticker Book. Also, watch Bree create DIY marbled paper.

Follow along with Bree to make your own pop-up Christmas cards this holiday season. Sending your friends and family handmade pop-up cards is a fun and creative way to spread a little joy this Christmas.

Enjoy the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe for new videos every week!

Ghost in a Mirror

As we continue further into “Spooky Season,” with our Spooky Photo Album in hand (see last week’s video), we crank the creepiness up a notch. In this week’s edition of our Halloween themed video series, Bryonna shows how to put a ghost into a mirror. Well, not really. Actually, Bryonna makes a ghost mirror; it’s not only a really fun Halloween decoration, but an appropriately ghastly edition to the Spooky Photo Album.

There’s a good chance you already have much of what you need to create a ghost mirror. As usual, though, links to necessary tools and materials can be found in the description beneath the video. And be sure to hit the subscribe button as not to miss the next update in the series.

DIY Traveler's Notebook Cover for Junk Journal Inserts

In this week’s video we continue with the Nature Junk Journal Series. This week, Bryonna shows how to DIY a traveler’s notebook cover for junk journal inserts. The final product looks so cool, and anybody can do it. Bryonna even shares links to were to procure everything one would need to create notebook cover.

Bryonna also shows how to make charms and decorate the cover. The charm making process could be used for any number decorative circumstances, though. The video is worth a watch for this alone (in my humble opinion).

Find the video below, and give us a like, subscribe, and share. It helps more than you know!

DIY Scrapbooking on a Budget

Would you like some inspiration for DIY scrapbooking? How about scrapbooking on a budget? We have a new video up that will give you some great ideas. Check out the video and get some great tips from Bryonna. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share—thanks!