Vintage Letter Journal Part 1...

Hi all Vicki-Ann here today and I am talking about *letter journals and how Helmar glues make it so much easier to do them.

List of items for this project...

Helmar Tacky Craft Glue
Helmar Decoupage and craft paste
Helmar paint and glue spreader
Sewing machine
Assorted Ephemera
Stamps
Distress ink and blending tool
Envelope Punch board
Coffee or tea stained papers
Twine
Brads
Vintage images from
www.milliande.com, Nikthebooksmith.blogspot.com, ephemeravintagegarden.com, thegraphicsfairy.com

Well I have been busy coffee staining papers. I was all inspired by Nik the Booksmith and all her awesome journals. So I gathered a heap of all different papers. Book papers, copy papers, maps and dictionary papers and coffee stained them.

Now I had a supply of papers to play with. I started by getting my envelope punch board out and making some envelopes. I used Helmar Tacky Craft Glue

to stick them together. I ended up using this envelope to insert my list of addresses where my letter journal is traveling off to.

To make my cover of my journal is inspired by Nik the booksmith she called them frankenpages. I thought what fun. So I gathered all my scraps of papers in brown tones and glued them together with some watered down Helmar Decoupage glue. Just adding layers so they all held together. I left it all to dry well. Then I cut it to the size I wanted 8 inches by 8 inches. Using my sewing machine I sewed here and there. I sewed around some elements and in lines along some. Then I sewed all around the edge.

Then I went on the computer and printed out a few collage elements. I love these bees by Ephemera vintage garden Its a free collage printable and so lovely to use. It is one of my favourites. So I cut 2 of them out. I stamped the word Journal out on some more coffee copy paper and then using some Helmar Tacky Craft Glue

I glued them all down on to some coffee stained card stock. I inked around all the edges of everything with Tim Holtz distress ink and a blending tool in walnut stain. Then I popped some brown cotton on my sewing machine and sewed around the edges of them all.

I folded it in half and then looked at where I wanted to add my bee collage and my journal word. I thought it looked cool on the front so using some Helmar Tacky Glue I popped some glue on the back of each and pressed it firmly on to the front. This is were it gets so handy to be able to use the Helmar Tacky Craft Glue as I can make all my elements before hand and then decide were I want to put them and they still have the sewn details so it all matches.

I made a pocket for the inside by sewing around some coffee stained printed paper. I popped another bee collage inside the pocket.

Because this is a letter journal I need to pop the addresses of were this has to go so. I typed the addresses and some quotes up on my computer and printed them out on coffee stained copy paper. Then I tucked the addresses in the envelope that I tacky glued on to the inside back cover.

To be continued... Stay tuned for Part 2. More of what I popped inside this letter journal next month..

*So a bit about letter journals. A letter journal has a group of 4 people. You choose a theme for your journal and then make a 8x8 inch cover and you have 4 A4 pages folded in half inside that are sewn in. You add an introduction at the start and add the addresses of all the people in the group in the inside back cover. You do a double page spread in your journal and then send it on to the next person in the group.

When you receive a letter journal in the mail, you then do 2 double page spreads in the journal and then send it on to the person after you in the group.